To have found this place where I feel so close to God has been a huge blessing
I FOUND myself channeling Elizabeth Gilbert (best-selling author of “Eat. Pray. Love”) several weeks ago when I went off to my slice of paradise down south.
Chema’s by the Sea is my refuge from the world. Located on Samal Island in Davao, this resort is a 10-minute jetty ride from the Davao Insular Hotel. Whenever I need a quiet place to write, be alone with my thoughts and away from the world, this is where I go to hibernate —well, sort of.
Chema’s is owned by one of Davao’s oldest families. I was pleased to discover from one of the owners that my dad used to come to this part of the island as a young boy. His best friend in the 1950s was from the clan that owned the property. They would ride motorized bancas, steered by young Muslim boys, as they crossed the Davao gulf to get to the other side.
Taking pause
I held these thoughts and images in my head as I sat on the terrace of my little cottage on a hill, taking pause as I looked out into the cerulean blue waters of the gulf. There is something about solitude and being close to the water that makes the words flow incessantly.
I don’t know whether it was the gentle rays of light that would peek through my gauze curtains, but each day I was there, I would wake up early enough to catch the sun rise slowly over decades-old mahogany trees, under whose shelter I would spend the rest of the morning writing away.
After a full day of writing, I would make sure to dip into the clear waters of the gulf and, as in a ritual, wash away the sadness of the emotions I had managed to put on paper, letting the waves carry them off to some distant place. Later on, back in the quiet of my hillside hut, I would give thanks for the day that had been, this time watching the glow of a glorious sunset paint the skies.
And then it would be back to writing once more.
On my last evening, a cousin joined me for dinner and, together with the resort owner, we sat under starlit skies, listening to ’80s jazz music and sipping wine. Through the darkness, my eyes were transfixed on the sight of lights coming from huge ships passing one another through the night. And then a gentle drizzle began to fall.
Quiet and solitude
It’s been said that women hold up half the sky, and to be honest, it can get tiring and weary sometimes. We all need these moments of quiet and solitude to refresh ourselves.
To have a found this place, not too far from home, where I feel so close to God, and where I can write to my heart’s delight, has been a huge blessing.
So I wrote, and prayed, and learned to fall in love, all over again, with the self I was getting to know better in the second half of my life.
As we celebrate women this March, I hope you are able to find those springs within yourself that would help strengthen and inspire you to go on with whatever it is you need to do—to keep on holding up your half of the sky wherever you may be.
For information on Chema’s by the Sea, call 0917-8140814.
I FOUND myself channeling Elizabeth Gilbert (best-selling author of “Eat. Pray. Love”) several weeks ago when I went off to my slice of paradise down south.
Chema’s by the Sea is my refuge from the world. Located on Samal Island in Davao, this resort is a 10-minute jetty ride from the Davao Insular Hotel. Whenever I need a quiet place to write, be alone with my thoughts and away from the world, this is where I go to hibernate —well, sort of.
Chema’s is owned by one of Davao’s oldest families. I was pleased to discover from one of the owners that my dad used to come to this part of the island as a young boy. His best friend in the 1950s was from the clan that owned the property. They would ride motorized bancas, steered by young Muslim boys, as they crossed the Davao gulf to get to the other side.
Taking pause
I held these thoughts and images in my head as I sat on the terrace of my little cottage on a hill, taking pause as I looked out into the cerulean blue waters of the gulf. There is something about solitude and being close to the water that makes the words flow incessantly.
I don’t know whether it was the gentle rays of light that would peek through my gauze curtains, but each day I was there, I would wake up early enough to catch the sun rise slowly over decades-old mahogany trees, under whose shelter I would spend the rest of the morning writing away.
After a full day of writing, I would make sure to dip into the clear waters of the gulf and, as in a ritual, wash away the sadness of the emotions I had managed to put on paper, letting the waves carry them off to some distant place. Later on, back in the quiet of my hillside hut, I would give thanks for the day that had been, this time watching the glow of a glorious sunset paint the skies.
And then it would be back to writing once more.
On my last evening, a cousin joined me for dinner and, together with the resort owner, we sat under starlit skies, listening to ’80s jazz music and sipping wine. Through the darkness, my eyes were transfixed on the sight of lights coming from huge ships passing one another through the night. And then a gentle drizzle began to fall.
Quiet and solitude
It’s been said that women hold up half the sky, and to be honest, it can get tiring and weary sometimes. We all need these moments of quiet and solitude to refresh ourselves.
To have a found this place, not too far from home, where I feel so close to God, and where I can write to my heart’s delight, has been a huge blessing.
So I wrote, and prayed, and learned to fall in love, all over again, with the self I was getting to know better in the second half of my life.
As we celebrate women this March, I hope you are able to find those springs within yourself that would help strengthen and inspire you to go on with whatever it is you need to do—to keep on holding up your half of the sky wherever you may be.
For information on Chema’s by the Sea, call 0917-8140814.
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