A couple of days back, R asked me to come with him to a trip to Coron to meet with his main tour guide who was moving from Coron to Puerto Princesa. It would be a quick two-night trip. I adore Coron and I love traveling with him so of course I did not give it a second thought. I was looking forward to a dinner in Bistro Coron. The plan was for R to meet with his suppliers during the day while I work in Village Lodge then meet up in town to have dinner. Just an ordinary work routine for us.
We landed in Busuanga airport and boarded a van with several other guests. When the van entered a docking area, I was puzzled when R told us that we'd have to go down. A speedboat was waiting for us with a European man seated on one side with a silkscreen printed "Divemaster" shirt. In my mind I thought we were just stopping by some area to meet with one of R's suppliers. A good 20 minutes in the speedboat with the constant chat with the divemaster about his vacation to his home country Germany and about his children who goes to school in Coron town, we were in Sangat Island.
It was a lean season and there were very few people there. Barely 15 guests. We were served orange juice and cheese & cucumber sandwiches. I asked R what we were doing there and he said that we were there to spend the night so we can dive the next day. Apparently, there are great dive spots around the island.
A lady in batik-printed skirt oriented us about the meal times. Typical me, I'd never forget a meal schedule! The schedules was 7:00am breakfast, 12:00nn lunch; 3:00pm snacks and 7:00pm dinner. Since the cottages are quite far apart, the start of each mealtime will be signaled by a bell.
We settled down in our cottage. The accommodations were very basic and rustic. Since this is an isolated island, there is no electricity. I thought to myself..."So much for my work plans, at least for the day". There is solar-powered light bulb inside each cottage and running fresh water which is the most important thing for me. The is a mosquito net for the bed which proved to be very useful.
Now, it was mosquito season in the the island. Boy they were HUGE! Their bite was almost too painful. I have a mosquito bite allergy so just imagine my agony. In a few hours, the mosquito bites on my legs were red and swollen.
I was not about to let the mosquito ruin my impromptu "no work" day so I immediately changed into my beachwear and headed to the beach in front of our cottage. I took photos while R relaxed in one of the many hammocks. The whole day basically went like this...read, sleep, photo op, chat, read again, sleep again and so on. We slept through the afternoon snack time and it was almost dark, around 5:30pm when I woke up. R was already awake and was reading a magazine. I asked him if he wanted to come with me to the clubhouse to get some snacks. He insisted that I just wait in the cottage while he gets the food for us so I just stayed and read my book. It started to get dark so I got worried and a bit impatient so I got up and walked towards the direction of the restaurant. I had walked barely a few steps when I saw R hurrying to met me. He said he just got caught up chatting with the resort staff. I'd find out only the following day that he was checking if everything was ready for his dinner plans. That was why he insisted on going to the restaurant alone.
It was past 7:00pm when I started to wonder why the dinner bells did not ring. We were just in our room reading our books and magazines the whole time and I would have heard it if it rang. I was pestering Russ about it but for some reason, he appeared apathetic about it until I told him I'd check the dining area because I was already starving. Moving very slowly, he agreed to go together. He brought his backpack with both our laptops inside. The plan was to work in the restaurant while waiting for the buffet to open.
As we were walking towards the well-lit restaurant area, I saw a resort staff on a wooden raft, setting up a dinner table, with lit candles on the raft floor and on the table. The table had a wine bucket with wine cooling on it. The staff was spreading flower petals all over the raft and on the table. As we came nearer and nearer I whispered to Russ..."Ay, may nag aanniversary!"...He did not say anything in return and since it was dark, I did not see his reaction to my comment. He just led me to walk to the restaurant. We sat on a stool and placed his backpack on the table. I was surprised to see people already having their meals and I said..."Hindi mo din narinig yung bell?". The hotel staff then gestured something to Russ and pointed us toward the raft. Confused, I asked why we were being led to the raft and Russ told me that he had it set up since we've been both busy and we have not gone out on a date in quite a while. I believed him, I really did not have a clue.
We had a Sinigang na hipon soup in a small cup and a plated meal of Beef caldereta, a chicken dish, a stir fried vegetable dish, fried battered fish fillet and lots of steamed rice. As we were having dinner, I'd give comments that this dish was dry, this dish was delicious, that there is too much rice in our plates, and many more of my usual comments. I noticed that he was barely touching his food. He just said that he was still full from the merienda that he ate in the afternoon. I continued to eat my dinner but started getting really thirsty. The staff forgot to give us water!!! Nabubulunan na ako! I was saying over and over..."Yohoo, kuya!!!!". No one came to bring any water so I just drank the soup. When I was done with my dinner, he extended his had across the table where my hand was and gave a very sweet speech. In my mind I was trying to think why he was acting this way but things were going too fast and before I knew it, he was on knees beside me, opening a red velvet box. Then...he popped the question. I'm not exactly sure if I even understood everything that he said after seeing the red box. I just remember feeling a hot flush in my entire head then seemingly all the blood was drained out of it. I could not reply. In my head I was saying "YES YES ABSOLUTELY YES!" but the shocking surprise was just too overwhelming and for a time, I could not let the words out of my mouth. He even had to to ask..."Hon, anung sagot mo?".
After he got up on his feet, the staff approached with a heart-shaped cake, the water (Seriously kuya? Ngayon lang talaga?), and opened the champaigne. The whole night was just complete bliss. The island was dark since everything ran only on solar power. As I looked up, millions of stars filled the night sky as we talked. We talked all night about our plans and about many other things about our future...things that I never thought we'd ever talk about. Because really, I never thought we'd get there. If he was ready to get married, he sure did not say anything or show any sign.
I know it may not make sense to a lot of people but honestly, marriage nor having kids were never in my plans. What was and forever will be in my plans and in my dreams is to spend the rest of my life with Russ who is a blessing in my life...I know it has been overused many times but really, we are bestfriends and soulmates. When he popped the question, all apprehensions and doubts about the idea of marriage went away because I was sure...so so sure about US.
As I reminisce this experience, almost 4 years after, I still cannot believe we're married. Every waking moment is a new adventure for us.
Cheers to many more years of love and friendship! :)
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