Horny Week

Last year I went to Puerto Galera for the Holy Week. And god, it was far from being a holy affair indeed. In recent years Puerto Galera has risen to become the epicenter of the gay population during Holy Week. It is the time of the year that Manila's gay scene is transplanted to a tiny stretch of sand in Mindoro Island (White Beach in particular), roughly three hours travel from the city (which includes a bus and boat ride). Forget the gay bars in Malate or Makati, and forget even the bathhouses. Any self-respecting gay man knows that there is nowhere else to be during Holy Week than Puerto Galera.

When I went to Puerto Galera for the first time last year (and obviously it was the Holy Week break), I was with J and a couple of his friends. Golly, the place simply exceeded all my expectations about the infamous hedonism in White Beach. For one, most gay guys were shirtless. No wonder starting January all gyms in Manila are filled with gym bunnies. Holy Week in Galera is apparently the ONLY motivation for the hours on the treadmill, the endless crunches, and the frantic lifting of dumbbells and whatnot. Come Holy Week, the gym bunnies are ready to strip and parade their newly-ripped bodies and shaved chests, giving the air a palpable sexual energy. It was cruising central! And I'm definitely not complaining.

We tried catching the sunset just like everybody else and it was then that I realized the magnitude of the gay population in Manila. Remember how it feels to be inside the MRT during rush hour? That is how packed the beach was. Honestly I have never seen so many gay men assembled in one place. It feels like… HOME. I was afraid however that a tsunami would hit the beach right where all the queers were. Two-thirds of Manila's gay population would've surely been decimated. Que horror noh?

As evening came, the hedonistic indulgence simply went beyond wild. The party places were packed by more shirtless men than I could've imagined. The crowd heaved in unison to the blasting music. Pitchers of Mindoro Sling (the signature drink in Galera) were passed from one hand to another. In no time pairs (or threesomes) would find their patches of sand in the dark parts of the beach. The White Beach has an interesting expanse of grassland that serves as the main venue for such trysts (but I heard the local government unit fenced off this section after a TV program did an expose about it).

Until about a week ago, I was dead sure that I would be spending Holy Week in Puerto Galera. I figured it would be my yearly pilgrimage as a pink card holder.

But then, the caves and white water rafting in Cagayan Valley beckoned. One word… butch.