Lights twinkled several hundreds of feet above Metro Manila. A crescent moon shone brightly, hovering above, competing with the glow of the city.

The air felt nippy as we arrived at Café Lupe Antipolo’s open-aired restaurant and entered its glass elevator. The view, which I’ve only seen on photos before, opened up as we ascended to the restaurant’s penthouse.

A couple of weeks before the holidays, The Road Trippers, a group of like-minded individuals congregated at Antipolo’s Café Lupe for our annual Christmas party. Composed of bloggers from different niches—events, entertainment, lifestyle, and travel—we converged on something we all have in common, the love of being on the road.
 
Café Lupe’s owner, Mr. Alvin Caranza, generously offered his place to the group. The Road Trippers has worked with him before, visiting Melba’s Farm Bacolod for a couple of days of relaxation.

Loot prizes, personally donated by members of the group were raffled off as we waited for our dinner to be served; gift certificates, trinkets, make-up kits for the gals, and the very much sought after power bank.

The night’s fun started as names were drawn through shrieks and laughter.

After platefuls of spaghetti and chicken quesadillas, we moved to the main bar area of Café Lupe. A band was blasting tunes from U2 as we gathered some tables to sit in. We almost filled a corner of the restaurant’s dining area, we’re quite a big group.

Gift certificates provided by Café Lupe were handed out and platefuls of calamares, nachos, burritos, tacos, and paella were ordered. Buckets of beers soon followed.

Alas, I can only look as my companions drank bottles after bottles of alcohol. I’m taking meds and beer’s a no-no until I finished its run. I ordered glasses of iced tea instead. Boooo!

Stories wove in and out over bottles of beer and overflowing food as the night wore on; travel tales, mishaps and misadventures, trip plans for the next year, and of course, the latest blogging rumors.

The weather turned Baguio-esque as midnight arrived and the evening ended—it was time to go. The hours flew too quickly, but still, it was a great night for The Road Trippers. A fitting party to end the year at Antipolo’s Café Lupe.

Café Lupe Antipolo
Address: 267-269 Comoda Ville Penthouse, Sitio Ruhat, Sumulong Highway, Mambuagan, Antipolo City, Rizal
Contact Number: (02) 8470-3201
Email: csr@cocotel.com.ph | Facebook
Opening Hours: 6AM to 2AM, Closed Mon/Tue
GPS Coordinates Map: 14.618318, 121.140438