MEDIUM RARE
Somewhere between grade three and four I must’ve missed out on geography as a “must” subject, otherwise I‘d know more about Batangas and its scenic, painterly beauty. After a visit there last weekend, I can now describe one spot in the province as the place to escape to, away from the congestion and traffic of Metro Manila – only 75 km and three hours away.
Punta Fuego, literally “tip of fire,” is a privately owned and developed beach resort, the better to explain why all those lovely houses perched on the slope of a mountain seem to be facing the same direction, which is the sea. Why a trip to Punta Fuego is almost a cinematic experience, every street and corner with its trees and gardens, its landscaped vacation houses designed to capture the light, the moment, the view, with a simple click.
Thanks to our energetic host – who drove a golf cart as easily as a motorboat – we enjoyed a daytime tour as well as a nighttime drive, the latter allowing us to see, from afar, how sparkling (like champagne) a party on a private island can be. A Manila-based company was celebrating what must’ve been an anniversary, their guests’ cars parked on half a kilometer of the street and half a dozen vans of the food caterer taking up the other half. The scene reminded me of wholesome, romantic movies like Sabrina and Meet Joe Black, where guests in their elegant clothes danced to the music of a band as the major characters flirted with each other under the moon and stars. Old-fashioned, I know.
In real life, the children could expect to see baby turtles crawling out of their sanctuary along the shore, and teenagers could be enticed to go jet-skiing. For painters and photographers, something about the sunlight – or the air? – could seemingly clean the canvas, allowing every line, color and shade to look their best, painting or picture. The pity of it all, that the owners of those photogenic dwellings do not, alas, get to visit as often as they’d like. Still, spaces like Punta Fuego could very well become, someday in the future, models and memories of the way we want to breathe, inhale and exhale, without fear of poison tainting our lungs.