The road going there is smooth and paved. Most noticeable is the cleanliness of the towns in Bataan that we passed by. Almost every after barangay or so, we see groups of people cleaning the road for any trash or heaps of dry leaves that scatters on the ground. It is indeed a very pleasant sight and journey.
Along the road, we see markers of the Death March that happened after the the fall of Bataan. Remember General Douglas Mac Arthur's "I Shall Return" story? Well, he did not say it here but this is where it all started. And you can all see it at the Mt. Samat war memorial erected by then President Ferdinand Marcos. It happened to be along the way to Montemar and so I thought to bring my family there to see this piece of history. So up we go Mt. Samat amidst the rainfall that met us as we were on our drive up to the site. Atop the mountain, a gigantic cross welcomes you with the wide spread of its arms. We were taking pictures infront of the cross when we accidentally discovered that can actually go up the top of it. A small elevator awaits anybody who would like to climb up as a guide operates it for us. A few seconds later, we were hundreds of feet higher than Mt. Samat and walking inside the cross' arms as we enjoy the cool breeze and the magnificent view. The sight is amazing. It was raining hard that day, and we got so excited to have had the oppotunity to experience fog on an April summer day. This explains why some of our pics are a little cloudy. Too bad I can't get a picture of the cross atop Mt. Samat from the highway when we went down as clouds and fog hamper the view from below. The story of how the gallant Filipinos and American soldiers tried to defend this place from the invading Japanese forces can also be recalled in the museum as the entire story has been written so eloquently on the walls of the memorial center.
The abnormally stormy weather left us with not much to do at Montemar. We could not swim in the beach as the lifeguards advised against it due to the strong undercurrent that comes with the unruly weather. We can only enjoy the waters from the shore line. Good thing that the resort has a lovely pool so the kids did have a blast swimming with their friends.
The morning we left for Bataan, we had our breakfast at McDonald's and got a free newspaper. It was as if the lifestyle section was written on the perfect time that we will be travelling thru Pampanga en route to Bataan. In it was a review of Kapampangan restaurants ( http://archive.inquirer.net/view.php?db=1&story_id=200851 ). Since we will be passing thru Pampanga on our way back home, Suzette suggested that we can include in our itinerary trying some of these restos for a food trip. This will be another educational trip for us plus have our bellies filled. We left Montemar about 11 am the next day so that we can be in Pampanga by lunch time. After saying our thanking and bidding our farewell to the Reyeses, we proceeded towards Clark in Pampanga. We used the newly built SCTEX and I told my kids how the engineers carved the sides (or center) of some hills and mountains to build this new expressway.
We did see a lot of the restos that were in the newspaper and after several rounds, we decided to try out Everybody's Cafe. Inside, I was bribing the kids with a hundred peso bill to whoever will try out the Kapampangan's specialty fried frog's legs and kamaru (crickets) but they all respectfully declined their now annoying dad. Jiego opted to get the tocino instead next to the kamaru but my conscience dictates that I should reveal to him that it was actually tapang kalabaw "carabao meat". Anyway after seeing their now disappointed faces, we instead ordered the resto's specialty morcon, shrimp with kamias, adobong pusit, and Pampanga's version of the palabok. It was a very tasty and filling feast for all indeed and the trip was well worth it.
For dessert, Suzette bought halo-halo from Corazon's which is also near Coolspot, and the now famous in Manila, Razon's - all popular for their own versions of the halo-halo. We also tried Susie's which sells a wide array of delicious native delicacies. You should see the queue of people waiting for their turn to buy something. Being first-timers there, Suzette and I were overwhelmed on the different delights that you can buy that we forgot to buy the tibuk-tibok (made with Carabao's milk) which is what makes Susie's famous as well.
