Southern Belle: Little Adventures: Caliraya

To say that it has been a chaotic week at home would be an understatement so I'm really glad for this timely weekend escape with Ced's family.

I spent Friday night over at Ced's house since we were going to leave early the next day. I always embark on long trips with my friends or Ced's family. Ergo, there are many consecutive days when my parents don't mind not having their least stubborn child and unica hija at home. But when the situation calls for a sleepover at Ced's house, my dad and grandma would instantly object saying it's inappropriate for a lady to sleep at her boyfriend's house. I always sleep in his sister's room but it's being under their roof that makes it look bad in their opinion. It's getting easier as I age though (hooray for being 22!) #ConservativeFilipinoFamilyProblems

But it's also not easy for me to stay at Ced's because as much as I love his family and their really comfy home, they always have too much food -- and Ced's dad won't let me leave the dining table until I have a baby bump made of food. I tried all the tricks up my sleeve, but no matter what I do he just keeps on scooping food onto my plate until I tell him I can no longer breathe. Ced always tells people that's the reason why they have a "healthy" family. Every after trip with them, I have to starve myself like a protester on a hunger strike and exercise like someone working out her way to rehab due to exercise addiction -- else I'd swell up like a balloon.

So, Saturday morning, we went on a 5-hour roadtrip to Caliraya Resort in Lumban, Laguna along with their family friends. It's a recreation center perfect for team buildings and barkadas looking for a venue to have an Amazing Race-ish experience or just to try out different activities.

We had to cross the lake to get here and this view welcomed us as soon as we arrived at the loading dock. I'm still in awe looking at this photo now. Beauty beyond words!

They have several activities and amenities to choose from. Swimming pools (of course), wall climbing, rappelling, bungee jump, mud slide, sky bike, zipline, zorb ball, earth ball, obstacle course, basketball and volleyball, and even water sports like kayak, jetski, windsurfing etc. But having barely two days to spend here, we only got to try a few.

The mud slide was worth remembering, especially because I have a bukol on my forehead to remind me everytime I look in the mirror. You can slide down as a group so we lined up arm-locked to each other like a train. We were warned by the staff to mind our heads because "pwedeng magka-untugan". Out of 7 heads, 3 bumped into each other and only 1 forehead grew a lump from the impact. It turned out to be mine. The odds were not in my favor.

I really loved this trip because everyone was game. Even the middle-agers played with us. Shh.

And of course, we went for a swim (but forgot to take pictures). So here's a pre-swimming photo of Ced and I. Oh, this big boy!

But of all activities, this one is my favorite! The Sky Bike. I was a little nervous while they were putting on the safety gears, but had this mayabang thought in mind "This will be easy. I'm not afraid of heights. *smugface*" But as I was cycling towards the middle and the wind started to sway my bike and the cables (which I thought were thick enough), my knees also began to shake. And to make things worse, when people tell you "Don't look down", I always, always look down. Because where's the fun in not doing so? #FeelingAdrenalineJunkie

Have I mentioned the food??? Our package was inclusive of breakfast, lunch and dinner (ALL-YOU-CAN-EAT BUFFET). Not everything was good and the selection was pretty small but food was decent in general. This is why I have to take this diet thing to a whole new level.