No Work And All Play @ Laguna

All work and no play makes a dull SMARTee.

Last April 25, the SMART CPG-SAQM held the culmination activity of its two-part Team Cascade entitled "Outwit Outsmart Outplay" at the Forest Club – Bay located at the heart of Laguna. Assembly time was 5:30 a.m. at SMART Tower, after which the participants were divided into 5 teams of BLUE (my team), GREEN, YELLOW, ORANGE, and RED. Originally, the venue for the event was supposedly “top-secret” and we were advised to just bring extra comfy clothes, wear flip-flops instead of sneakers, and take lots of rest during the day before. There were also hints of the ‘slight; possibility of getting wet, which roused my curiosity all the more. Eventually, I was able to pull some strings and found out that Forest Club will be the venue.

My team was the second to arrive at the place after almost 2 hours of travel time from Manila via South Luzon Expressway, and I must say the place was quite impressive. Upon entering the gates, you will be welcomed by the tranquil surroundings made up of various trees and plants. The pool with its lukewarm water (not sure if it’s really intended to be lukewarm or if it’s just brought about by the heat of the sun) was inviting, and there was ample outdoor space for various activities. We rented this really big air-conditioned family room for us to leave our bags and personal belongings. It also served as our siesta place in the afternoon after taking our baths and changing into our clean clothes.

Come activity proper I was in for the surprise of my life when we were told of the activities that we will be doing for the day. It was a total of 10 relay activities in all, including having to cross a 400-meter makeshift bridge that consisted of a single bamboo pole in mid-air (Without a net to catch you if you fall accidentally, can you imagine?!?), barefoot; cross to the other side of the man-made creek by means of rope; going to and fro the creek aboard a makeshift raft in pairs; maintaining a 10-man human pyramid while reciting the English alphabet from A to Z, and many others. I was lucky enough to keep myself dry throughout the entire 10 relays without any serious cuts and bruises. Some of my friends, however, were not so lucky. Whew!

The food? It was VERY good! For breakfast, we were served with ripe mangoes and suman combo (Only then did I actually realize these two really go together as far as the taste is concerned). Lunch was a sumptuous buffet which consisted of fried bangus, pork liempo, ginataang kalabasa (squash) at sitaw (string beans), salad with vinaigrette, and melon juice. For the afternoon snacks, we were served with baked spaghetti with toasted bread and iced tea. Now this is what I call eating, Laguna style!

Towards the end of the day (after countless photo ops courtesy of Ms. Teng, Tintoots, and Cris), our team finished second together with the ORANGE team during the awarding ceremony. Finally it was time to head back to Manila, and the fun continued all the way home. There were nonstop talks and chitchats, jokes and unadulterated laughs. When I got home, I was downright tired and exhausted, but I felt great having had the chance to take some time off from work and have fun with fellow CPGees.

PS: Click here to see the write up for the said event and visit the website of Forest Club - Bay.