Zean Villongco

22/09/2021

“Dude, I’m getting married.” It’s been nearly a decade since my good friend and adventure buddy Leo Cuesta told me the news during what I think was one of our sessions at the indoor climbing gym. Well dang good for you, dude!

I first found out about Cami Sarmiento , Leo’s girlfriend back then and now wife, when Leo started posting Facebook photos of himself constantly cozying up with this particular girl while he was in the US taking up his MBA at Boston. It would be a little later on that I’d finally get to meet Cami in person, when the two of them came visiting here in the and Leo got me to teach and certify Cami in scuba diving.

Leo told me the story of how he once had a choice between accepting an invite to some wild party where he’d meet up with a couple of hot chicks, or another invite from this Colombian lass to go rock climbing. He said it was the best decision he ever made, and I’m likewise happy that he did. The one thing that I was bummed about though was that I failed to attend their wedding in Colombia where Cami was supposed to set me up with this belly dancer friend of hers.

So, to the girl with the unassuming sense of humor and who fell in love with sisig, dinuguan, and Dowee donuts during her stay here in the Philippines, HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!! May Leo spoil you rotten on this special day of yours! 😄🎂🎉🍾

Follow me on Instagram at https://urlgeni.us/instagram/zeanvillongco for more of my stories.

24/06/2021

There’s this poem which has stuck with me all these years and which I turn to during dark days. It’s a poem which goes by the just the two-letter title “If”.

A line in the poem goes:

“If you can make one heap of all your winnings
And risk it on one turn of pitch-and-toss,
And lose, and start again at your beginnings
And never breathe a word about your loss;”

I think no words are more apt to describe my circumstances, as I’ve lost access to my old Instagram account and am thus again . But this is just a petty inconvenience, and it’s not the main point of my discussion.

Back in 2013, I was head of the creative department of an IT company. It was a good job that paid the bills and gave me a cozy lifestyle. I had been with the company for 4 years, but somewhere along the way, as cliché as it sounds, I thought to myself that there must be more to life than rotting your soul away in a comfort bubble. So I left my job to pursue a freelance career and the idea of setting up my own business. To celebrate my exit from the , I took my and went to where I took this shot. I remember writing in my IG caption about how I anticipated the thrill and the struggle ahead and how things are gonna be one hell of an adventure.

From that day hence, I did meet both thrill and struggle. I found love and loss. I met triumph and disaster. I went broke and hit rock bottom, and I eventually clawed my way out. The years that passed left me scarred but wiser.

They say life is a cruel but effective teacher; she gives you the test first before teaching you the lesson. And I am ever thankful that I chose . Don’t get me wrong though; I still struggle up to now. But now I see the value of and facing life head on. I think to myself the same thought I had years ago when I took this photo: It’s gonna be one hell of an .

And oh yeah! Please follow me on my NEW Instagram account https://www.instagram.com/zeanvillongco/

25/10/2019

It's festival week here in . Too bad we're about to leave just when the party's about to get started. Next stop: Iloilo. for Magazine.

23/10/2019

25/07/2018

"There is a light at the end of the tunnel, but the way out is through." - David Allen

Exploring the complex in with

15/05/2018

I've visited many times already, but little did I realize that there are still so many less-known yet amazing destinations to be explored in this southern province. holds plenty of promise for the rugged as the place is yet lacking in conveniences but abundant in natural wonders.

Shot previously for

08/09/2017

Grounded. I bumped into a friend when I was covering a event. Apparently, he has just recently taken up the sport and was still learning the ropes, so to speak.

27/08/2017

Food, I guess, is an integral part in any travel destination. One cannot get to truly know a place until one experiences the local cuisine. And for me, the more authentic the experience, the better. Trying out some in during my solo trip in .

24/08/2017

A stay up in the mountains can be a bit of a chore sometimes, especially when all you have to do is try to get your body to acclimatize to the thin air at high elevations. Looking back to my adventures in when some friends and I climbed , the highest peak of the Americas.

03/08/2017

It was years ago when I visited island. I never would've ghought of even visiting this laid back place if it wasn't fir yhe invitatikn of a friend who hailed from the place.

16/07/2017

“May your trails be crooked, winding, lonesome, dangerous, leading to the most amazing view. May your mountains rise into and above the clouds. May your rivers flow without end, meandering through pastoral valleys tinkling with bells, past temples and castles and poets towers into a dark primeval forest where tigers belch and monkeys howl, through miasmal and mysterious swamps and down into a desert of red rock, blue mesas, domes and pinnacles and grottos of endless stone, and down again into a deep vast ancient unknown chasm where bars of sunlight blaze on profiled cliffs, where deer walk across the white sand beaches, where storms come and go as lightning clangs upon the high crags, where something strange and more beautiful and more full of wonder than your deepest dreams waits for you -- beyond that next turning of the canyon walls.” - Edward Abbey