It all started last summer of 2010. The whole Bonifacio family went on an overnight get together and that was quite a success. I must remind you that the Bonifacio brothers, five of them, each owns a business that they cannot simply leave behind even for a day. Sun up until sun down, they are committed to their bread and butter. So it was really a shock for some of us that the summer outing last year was a success. Almost everybody was there! That was really fun.
And so because we craved for it so much, the Bonifacios, courtesy of the younger gen, planned another escapade. Last year was in Antipolo, this year it was in Laguna. The place: Villa Bellagio. We rented the whole place for 25,000 and I must say that it was all worth the pay given the fact that all of us enjoyed the stay (not necessarilly because of the place, I must stress that out).
There were five airconditioned rooms (2 large rooms and 3 just-enough-size rooms) each having its own bathroom that functioned just as right(that was a plus point). The rooms had enough space for additonal mattress if needed (another plus point for we really needed tons of it). The bed and beddings were decent and clean. Despite the appearances of some uninvited crawling creatures which I was able to get rid off in a flash with screams here and there, I was able to sleep well and tight.
It has two swimming pools that catered kiddos and adults. I must say that one nice thing about the set-up was the net that served as a "ceiling" that covered almost the entire pool. Thanks to that net, we did not mind the supposedly scorching heat of the tanghaling tapat sun. The net provided the shade that we needed! So that made the dip sulit na sulit because nobody wanted to get off the pool even if we were reminded constantly of our check-out time.
Aside from the pool, the place also has a billiard hall and the staple of all households--videoke machine. The younger ones had a wonderful time playing the billiards while the oldies took turns in damaging the microphone :)
Since it was an out of town gathering composed of five big families, food was assigned to each to save a bit on the budget. Every family brought their share, and since we were really that big, simot na simot ang pagkain. We even had to rush to the market to buy a new batch to be cooked the next day--from breakfast to dinner. The place has a small kitchen anyways, so cooking was never a problem.
Overall, our stay at Villa Bellagio was a pleasant one. But I must say that family gathered together as one, enjoying each other's stories and sentiments, with food and drinks (toxicating or otherwise) on the side, made this escapade a blast.
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