Eldest daughter’s Christmas message was too good to be true.
Bring my nephews and nieces for a three-day staycation in a Makati hotel on a weekend and let’s have a reunion.
That reunion will happen after three years of the pandemic.
Of course, we will all be there.
But she is not through yet.
After Makati reunion, would you like to join your granddaughter Katharina for a week-long extended vacation in Amanpulo?
When I heard the word Amanpulo, I told myself my daughter has got to be kidding.
I associate that resort with the likes of Britney Spears, Tom Cruise, Robert di Niro, Brad Pitt and now ex-wife Angelina Jolie.
According to the Daily Mail, Madonna stayed in Amanpulo for a month and left with a $6.2 million bill!
And one of my favorite pianists, Murray Perahia, also stayed in Amanpulo some years back.
Would I like to have an extended vacation in Amanpulo with my youngest granddaughter?
You’ve got to be kidding? I told my daughter.
She wasn’t.
After which she asked for our (my wife’s) valid IDs, our vaccination cards with proof of booster shots.
We are advised to be ready to fly on a private plane three days after Makati reunion with all my grandchildren.
Yes, not all can make it to Amanpulo.
My grandson Emman and his cousins have classes after weekend. We have to make the most of that initial three-day reunion.
My eldest granddaughter Keya could not make it to Manila as she couldn’t be absent in her Frankfurt school.
(Nevertheless, we got in touch by video call from Makati to Amanpulo.)
That initial three-day reunion in Manila was for the most part touching.
For one, I’d see my youngest granddaughter Katharina (now four years old). She was only six months old when I last saw her in Singapore.
I recall babysitting her on the 56th floor of Marina Bay Sands and gamely posing with me and her cousins.
Seeing her for the first time outside the Changi airport in 2019, I was stunned to see her for the first time asleep in her baby stroller. I have never seen a more angelic face in all my life!
Of course, I have seen her in our frequent video calls.
She has grown so fast!
Suddenly she is in her kindergarten schooling, taking ballet class on the side. She is also drawn to sketching and now she can sing Brahms art songs and has taken to singing German folksongs like a pro.
When I heard her for the first time in Manila, I just realized she has perfect pitch! (Which I cannot say for my vocal cords.)
My daughter Karenina knows exactly what to do to break the ice between long-missed German cousin and her Antipolo and Pasig counterparts.
In a Makati hotel where we stayed for three days, daughter introduced her nephew and nieces to German games and in less than an hour, they were all yelling and laughing together as though they have known each other for years.
I myself was at a loss how to get close to Katharina. The only German I know were titles of German opera and German art songs and names of German composers. I keep on copying her German accent and she would laugh at the way I pronounced them. Before long, we were laughing and giggling together. She is getting used to English. She understood English but could only respond in German. Every time she coughs, I would tell her, “Are you okay?” She would nod. Then she would do a lot of forced coughing just to hear me ask her, “Are you okay?”
That Greenbelt café was heaven sent for my grandchildren. We had one lunch there and discovered a play area. Cousins bonded once more and, oh boy, they now looked like they have been together for years.
(We bumped into Chit Santos and Vergel Santos in this Greenbeltcafe and saw my FB-famous grandchildren which I called my Von Trapp family singers on FB.)
Katharina met her cousin Emmanuel and gamely posed with him. Kalon (my daughter’s nickname) told her “celebrity” daughter cousin Emmanuel has a rock band and has several well-reviewed compositions in Spotify. She looked excited to hear them.
On a Sunday evening after dinner, we had to part with other grandchildren as they have classes the following day (Emman is now AB Math sophomore in UP Diliman and two granddaughters attend schooling in Antipolo).
Quick fond embraces at hotel rooms.
Grandchildren Tyra and Teo were in tears. They said they will miss their hotel rooms.
The instructions in our last day in that Makati hotel: be ready to be picked up early in the afternoon for a one-hour flight to Amanpulo.
I still can’t believe I am finally seeing that special island identified with the rich and famous.
We were taken to a private airport, served coffee and tea before takeoff.
Amanpulo’s name is derived from a Sanskrit word which means “peace.”
Its brochure says Aman has enjoyed an organic evolution for over three decades to become one of the world’s most intuitive and pioneering resort, hotel and residence brands.
It was made for clients seeking seclusion and appreciation of beauty which is part of the Aman lifestyle. Its main concern – so the brochure says – is to provide a level of service and a home-away-from-home experience that is peerless in every way.
From the air, you see islands all over and you realize Amanpulo in Pamalican Island is part of the Cuyo Archipelago in northern Palawan.
(Amanpulo is some five hours away by boat from Cuyo town where a film called Ploning was shot in 2008 starring Judy Anne Santos, Gina Parreno, Mylene Dizon and Joel Torre, among others. Directed by Nico Garcia, the film was an entry in the Oscar’s Best Foreign Language category that year. It is based on the childhood memories of the director who grew up in Cuyo town.)
Fantasy has turned to reality when I hear the gentle thud of the 20-seater plane land in the Amanpulo runway.
We are assigned a cart each and driven to two villas – one for my daughter and partner and daughter and one for me and partner.
In our villa, we have a private pool, a chef and butler at our beck and call.
And yes!
A panoramic view of the Pamalican sea.
I ask the butler to help me open my laptop I have not touched for over a year (at home I still prefer the desktop).
It is a writer’s dream to be transported to a special island, given a luxury villa with a private pool with a view of the wide, tranquil sea which feels like a lake. I thought I could write here forever.
But I did not come here for the luxury and for commissioned writing.
I only want to be with my youngest granddaughter before she flies to Frankfurt in a week’s time.
I know Katharina is awake when I hear her coo outside the villa and raring to explore the beach.
We have bonded quickly in Manila and now she looks forward to “coughing” so I can ask her, “Are you okay?”
First day she was at the beach with her mother and grandmother. We witness our first Amanpulo sunset.
It was divine.
That’s the same beach where the likes of Mariah Carey, Tom Cruise (with family), Britney Spears, Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie (before their separation) and Madonna frolicked. It is the same beach where Lucky Manzano and future wife Jessy Mendiola celebrated their engagement before the formal wedding.
It is also the favorite pictorial setting of Maja Salvador and other Filipino celebrities.
Katharina can’t have enough of the beach on the first day. At night, she asks her mother to give her a lamp. She wants to scour the beach for crablets coming out during low tide.
On second day, my daughter Karenina and I go kayaking. I feel my age catching up with me.
In the middle of the sea, I feel a sharp back pain and hurry back to the shore. But it was a good try. Being an islander myself, I still know how to steer the boat and go the direction I want. First time I bonded with my daughter after three years! It brings back memories of our early morning walk on the black volcanic sand of San Roque in Legazpi City.
My daughter also tries kayaking with Katharina. She is now a seasoned paddler. I can’t help remembering my late daughter Kerima as we paddled around an islet in my hometown while Pavarotti was singing O sole mio in my cassette tape recorder. It is a good memory of her youth. Now it all comes back to me in another island in exotic Palawan!
Meals are served in our private dining area.
But on some days, we try the club house where a staff remembers watching the shooting of Ploning in her native Cuyo town some five hours away by boat from Amanpulo. She recalls being thrilled to see Judy Ann Santos in person and Gina Parreno and Joel Torre, among others.
On our last day, I think of giving my daughter and family a culinary treat.
I always cook her favorite clam soup and crabs with coconut milk with malunggay every time she visits my Pasig abode.
I ask her permission to take over our official chef’s kitchen and cook her favorite island food.
She has no time to visit our home province. Why not cook her favorite dishes right there in Amanpulo? (I planned to cook for Cecile Licad after our 2018 Roxas City outreach concert but she changed her departure schedule. She had an urgent meeting with Gerard Salonga and she had to fly ahead to Manila.)
I consult with the chef for available ingredients.
There is no fresh coconut milk but they have the instant version on can. That will do I said. Fresh malunggay leaves are available from the Amanpulo garden.
Meanwhile, the only available fish is lapu-lapu and I said that will do. My first choices are blue marlin and tanguigue. I would have liked camote tops or kangkong to go with my island cocido (sinigang) but they only have the Vietnamese pechay. That’s fine, I said.
After initial consultation with chef, I suddenly get nervous. What if my island cooking gets a bad review from my Frankfurt based family?
Wearing the official Amanpulo chef’s apron, I supervised the preparation of ingredients and reminded my Amanpulo kitchen assistant: you only pour the kalamansi juice only after the fish and vegetable are cooked. I get it, Sir, said the official Amanpulo chef who has been temporarily designated as my assistant during our last dinner in the island.
One hour before meals are served, I get nervous. This is how I feel before my artists’ performance.
I get more nervous when I see the Amanpulo staff prepare a special dinner set up as though it were a farewell dinner for APEC delegates.
I was given a special seat in the head table as chef for the night.
It is good, said my daughter.
It is very good, said my daughter’s partner after tasting our island cocido.
I resist doing a curtain call.
We had proper cocktails after dinner with recordings of Fritz Wunderlich, Marlene Dietrich and Arthur Espiritu in the background.
I told Matti (my daughter’s partner) I saw Marlene Dietrich’s 1930s picture with President Quezon in FB.
But then all good things must come to pass.
Katharina gave me a farewell hug after dinner and another round of embrace at the airport terminal in Manila.
I thank our hosts for this rare Amanpulo treat.
Pardon the presumption, but taking the Grab car back to my Pasig abode, I suddenly feel like I am already in the league of Mariah Carey, Madonna, Tom Cruise and Murray Perahia, among others.
But this is all illusion.
I arrived in my Pasig abode as a commoner wary of deadlines and more deadlines.