A n A F i L i B i N i: Let Me Take You To Gumasa

Thursday, January 31, 2008

Let Me Take You To Gumasa - The Great Escape

Organizing family and friends for an out of town trip during my latest Philippine vacation was more than I bargained for.

Especially if the people I wanted to be with comes from all over the place and of from different walks of life. Some had to travel for 3 hours and others was sent ahead to the resort. A designated meeting place for 2 dozen people was finalized, to where else but at Pizza Hut KCC Mall of GenSan.

First was the resort booking. I've never been to Gumasa but I heard a lot about if from my Aunt who made it her personal favorite place to be every time she's in the country. She was the one who gave me the contact number of Dr Ernesto Adarna(63)9189400421, the owner of White Haven Beach Resort. We went to his clinic to pay for 4 family tents and 2 cottages as the private huts were all fully booked with Americans.

The white sand beach was liken to Boracay minus the nightly rave parties. Loud music is banned therefore making it the perfect place for people who wants to commune with nature and friends. It's not yet equipped to handle throngs of tourist but the beach is really a beauty to reckon with.

We went to Gumasa by private car but it's not that difficult to go there by public transportation whether by van or jeepney. It's a 45 minutes to an hour ride from General Santos City to Glan, Sarangani Province. From Glan town proper one needs to ride the "habal-habal", a motorcycle that can carry 5 passengers at one time, to Gumasa beach.

View from the top!

No time to focus as photos was taken from inside the car.

White Haven Beach strip.

Our special guests.

No, we did not eat them. Although the locals sell them for that very purpose. We bought food from GenSan but the resort offers limited selection of food that they can cook for guests too. They have a small store for the basic needs. We availed of their cooking services wherein we gave them our raw stuff and they'll cook it for a price.

The amazing view

A friend once exclaimed how fantastic and post card perfect the view is.

There are 3 other beach resorts on this 3 KM sliver of nature's best.

But we chose White Haven because aside from my Aunt's recommendation, it's also owned by an old classmate of ours.

Although no amount of wasta benefited us coz there simply was no room available. We ended up roughing it and drinking by the sea shore beside these infamous painted coconuts on sticks.

The boys scaring me to death by sailing out to see w/o their life vest. I called them back and was adamant that they use it despite their jeering laughter.

Gumasa has a lot of potential and great promise for it to rival any other famous tourist spots. They say this is what Boracay must've looked like a decade ago.

I had loads of fun that night. The torrential downpour of rain was like a cleansing water as a friend and I had one of our heart to heart talk while chasing the waves in the darkness of dawn.

I had loads of fun that night as the almost decade of friendship was celebrated. As the promise of youth and new year was discussed with great longing. As the camaraderie and steady support was once again shown despite the distance and changes.