Here is a (very be-lated) look at my family's trip to the Philippines early this year. Click to see full-size!
I miss it and my family a whole lot.
Manila
I didn't take many pictures in Manila, unfortunately. It was mostly family time and going from house to house and sitting in (lots of) traffic. We did visit some nice places though, but I seem to have prioritized Snapchat in lieu of actually photos. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Baguio
Our first little side trip was to Baguio, on the north of Luzon. It's a relatively cool-weathered mountain city that was originally set up as a hill station by Americans in 1900. Had a lovely time climbing through the hills and watching an overwhelming abundance of fireworks for New Years.
Boracay
Probably the most relaxing part of our trip was spent in Boracay, a popular island getaway off the coast of Caticlan. We hung out, ate good food (my first halo-halo of the trip!), and went snorkeling and suchlike. Vinny, my brothers, and I took a little trek out to Spider House, a resort and restaurant situated on the side of a hill, basically on top of the sea. You could actually jump from the side of the restaurant right into the water if you so cared to (I did not).
Batangas
The Batangas is where the Perezes are from. There is a farm full of mangoes and coconuts (o'course) and a little vacation house about a mile away. We drove ATVs through the mango groves and got super muddy. And we ate lots of good food courtesy of my Tita and Lola.
Tagaytay
After the Batangas, we decided to climb Taal volcano, which contains an island in a lake (the crater) on an island in a lake on an island (Luzon). So yeah, I've done that! It was as exhausting as it sounds, but entirely worth it.
