A TOAST TO GOOD HEALTH
With much to celebrate, Tessa joins her jetsetting friends on a WEEKEND GETAWAY TO RELAX, RESET, AND REJUVENATE
Timing is everything! During our latest trip to beautiful Balesin Island, the timing was perfect as we ended our Yoga + Wellness weekend on the day the new version of the MECQ was to be enforced.
It should be so clear by now that we are living in unprecedented times. When else did we need to do a risk assessment about getting home before traveling? The wonderful thing about flying to Balesin Island is there is no quarantine time needed. Balesin Island Club requires all visitors to get a COVID-19 antibody test before flying, and the short flight time enables all passengers to wear a mask throughout the flight. As a result, the island has remained COVID-free throughout the pandemic.
Although any test is acceptable, my fave is to get it at the Aegle Wellness Center at Alphaland Makati Place, where I know MedTech Topher Moreno will make the procedure totally painless. While waiting for the results, our ladies group will usually have a poolside coffee at The City Club, just adjacent to the wellness center.
Aegle also just launched their COVID-19 antigen swab test that produces results in an hour. It is the fastest swab test for the virus available in the country today. Aegle has a range of products, many of which are targeted at boosting our immune system, rejuvenating our bodies, and detoxing our mind and soul. For more info, email
It is that focus on mind and body that attracted me to Aegle’s Serenity Series: Yoga + Wellness weekend in Balesin Island. The program combines a series of yoga sessions with Kundalini instructor Rosan Cruz, who also did Gong Bath healing sessions for the group, including one at the picturesque outdoor deck of the Aegle Wellness Center at sunset, which Rosan described as “a perfect combination of the ocean’s waves mixing with the gong’s vibrations to heal, de-stress, and recharge.”
The mind healing is combined with Aegle’s medical analyses and treatments, including one-onone consultations with their medical director Dr. Ben Valdecañas. I love the Center’s Thalassotherapy, a treatment that makes use of seawater and its natural elements for detoxification, anti-aging, and regeneration. Aegle Balesin is the only facility in the Philippines, and one of very few in Asia, that offers Thalassotherapy.
On top of all that, guests receive a month’s supply of Aegle’s Immune Booster Packs, a set of formulated supplements that contain the highest appropriate levels of vitamins B12, C, and E, and folate, zinc, and selenium to ensure that their health will be at its optimum level.
You know the safety protocols are on, once you arrive at Alphaland’s Balesin Island Club hangar at NAIA, where all the luggage is sprayed and temperature checks are done, in addition to the usual security screening. All guests are given a QR code to ease contact tracing in the unlikely event of a positive COVID-19 guest.
After a 30-minute flight to the island, a huge sign welcomes you, noting that Balesin Island is COVIDfree and requesting all to keep it that way. After another temp check, all get their room keys and disappear into the depths of the island’s 500 hectares, perhaps not to be encountered again until their flight back to Manila. The island is so big and the seven villages have their own restaurants. With over seven kilometers of beaches, it is rare to see too many people around.
One new way to tour the island is via electric scooter. The e-scooter is so easy to use that our youngest daughter Athena Valdes loved the new toy as she and her dad, hubby Dennis, toured the island.
The basic hygiene behaviors that can reduce the spread of COVID-19 are the same worldwide. So you will notice that all common areas, entrances to all restaurants, toilets, and villas have alcohol dispensers. Balesin now also mandates the wearing of a mask or face covering in certain public places such as the clubhouse, restaurants, aviary, and Aegle Wellness Center.
The souvenir shop also sells masks and antibacterial hand gel. Next to the shop is the boutique selling all local products and clothes. The well-curated selection is personally done by Michelle Ongpin-Callaghan. I was especially happy to buy stylish earrings by young entrepreneur Celine Vicente of IG @theeshopmnl.
Shopping opportunities continue at the Balesin Bounty, which sells the island’s locally grown produce, including eggplant, string beans, watermelon, avocado, sea salt, and honey. Shrimps grown on the island’s farms are also for sale, as well as other seafood items sold by the local fishermen.
During quarantine, Balesin Island’s Big Boss Roberto V. Ongpin instructed his Island CEO Mike Asperin to plant everything from trees to vegetables to keep the island sustainable as well. Balesin’s Ifugao Village continues to make wooden furniture and handicrafts available for guests to bring home.
Kundalini yoga teacher Rosan Cruz brought two of her gongs to conduct Gong Bath sessions. Every morning, she shared her morning ritual and intention-setting meditation for prosperity and good health. Somehow, the weekend was a great balance of spiritual yoga, medical wellness, and a joint birthday celebration for good friend Javi Martinez and Ruffa Gutierrez’s daughter Lorin Gabriella Gutierre z.
For their actual birthday on Aug. 3, Javi’s partner Tim Yap and I hosted a Greek feast in Mykonos Village. Balesin’s Luisa Banta arranged all the festive birthday décor and prizes.
Lady boss chemist Pinky Tobiano hosted the first dinner party at the Alhambra Room in Costa Del Sol Village that was so lively with karaoke entertainment by the singers in the group. Generous Pinky was unable to join us at the yummy Spanish dinner, but she made sure the room was thoroughly disinfected with her newest product, Sanivir Smoke.