Summer is here! And what better way to beat the heat than to enjoy the pristine shores of Nogas Island in Antique?
Here’s my favorite summer memory with my cousins last 2013.
Philippine Destination
#Travel: Lost In The Wonders of Mt. Pinatubo
The tourist bus bound for Zambales leaves at 1:30 AM and I caught myself in dilemma when my companions have not arrived yet. It was 12:45 AM. For a moment, I doodled in my journal while I waited for them to show up. No signs of them still, despite texting my friend. No reply (I only read the FB message the day after the tour. My apologies). The group’s supposed to meet at a fast food chain in Ortigas.
Feeling that something’s wrong, I checked my travel voucher to see if I was really at the right assembly area. Oh, geez. I was actually at the right fast food chain. But at a wrong branch! I thought I mastered the streets of Ortigas Avenue, but when I got a bit panicky, the whole place suddenly became new to me. Then, I headed right to Emerald Street after walking for several minutes and even riding a taxi which lasted for like 45 seconds. Talk about short and free ride. Still, I wasn’t able to reach the exact place (for one thing, I suck at following directions). I was at Doña Julia Vargas. Lapit lang naman…pala. To make the long story short, I spotted the fast food chain and found the other tourists and my friends waiting for me.
So there. Before the trip took its kick-off , I got lost already.
No. Even more, I got lost in the wonders of Mt. Pinatubo.
Literally “biting the dust” was all worth it!
“Another one bites the dust”
We arrived at Mt. Pinatubo Base Camp around 4:00 AM. The place was already alive with tourists, locals, and kids scampering around selling hiking canes. We waited for our tour coordinator’s cue if it’s OK to alight the bus and look for our guide and the driver who would take us to the drop-off point (that’s one and a half hour-ride from the base camp).
A little later, our guide Kuya Joy, approached us and led us to our vehicle. The 4×4 vehicles are the only off-road transportation going to Mt. Pinatubo since the terrain is incredibly bumpy. No wonder, our own 4×4 got this ala Mad Max design. Right there and then, we knew we’re in for a thrilling ride. The driver told us that his 4×4 is one of a kind among the other vehicles.
The road to Mt. Pinatubo is a field of dust and rocky streams. But looking around, it seems that this almost barren, moon-like terrain, enwraps you with awe and enchantment.
The Mad Max feels upon riding our 4×4. This truck is one of its kind among the off-road transpo here in Mt. Pinatubo said the driver.
It was indeed a thrilling one and a half hour-ride going to the drop-off point. It was still dark when we left the base camp so we couldn’t really see anything except the dust rolling up in the vehicle and the long shadowy grasses along the riverbed (which reminded me of the trail followed by Baldo in Manuel Arguelle’s How My Brother Leon Brought Home A Wife). As we approached the drop-off point, the terrain became more and more challenging. We had to pass by rocky streams which made the ride even bumpier. Precipitous trails compelled us to hold on to our dear lives. Imagine braving the terrain with no seat belts or anything to prevent ourselves from falling. Nevertheless, it was one hell of an adventure.
A long but never a tiring trek
After the ride, we finally reached the drop-off point at around 6:00 AM. As the day slowly started to seep in, the view became more and more ostensibly mesmerizing. We were surrounded by lahar walls, some even formed like temple pillars from ancient period- something that you see on dystopic fantasy flicks. One word: SURREAL.
The guide said that during rainy season, the terrain changes because the lahar deposits become soft which create erosion and massive land slides.
The gray and green combined create such a metaphorical breathtaking view. I’m not yet talking about the caldera.
Stopping by for a pose with these kids who were building fire to warm themselves.
The trek could last about two hours depending on the hiker’s pace. But really, who would mind? Despite crossing rocky streams and sandy soils, we felt like we were walking on the best gift nature has given us. Knowing the catastrophe that formed this majestic ground, we moved forward blissfully. We survived!
On our way back to the drop-off point after the trek to Mt. Pinatubo.
Caldera not crater
Apparently, the main highlight of the trip is the “crater” itself. However, Anne, our trip coordinator, emphasized that the word “crater” is not the right term for the giant hole which was made by the eruption. Scientifically, it is called caldera, a large, basinlike depression resulting from the explosion or collapse of the center of a volcano (dictionary.com). Crater, on the other hand, is the depression caused by an impact of a celestial body hitting the earth. So yeah, after an hour or so, we made our ascent to the caldera. Not crater.
After an hour and a half, we finally reached the starting point of the trek to the caldera. Before going there, there is a rest area and two washrooms if you like to pee or take some refreshment. Some locals sell energy drinks and ice candy.
The climb to the caldera is quite different from the previous trek. As we took our ascent to the much anticipated summit, we were greeted by mossy boulders, mini-falls and interesting plant species along our path.
As we got closer to the caldera, we were soothed by the sights and sounds of nature.
I don’t even know how to begin describing the lake. Sure, most of us have heard about Mt. Pinatubo or how beautiful it is as we have seen it on travel shows or magazines. But having a first-hand view of the caldera and being within the caldera of the volcano is magnificently beyond words. This breathtaking view just proves how something disastrous can turn into something majestic. Instagram-worthy in every angle. The verdant slopes and the serene lake seemed to have been painted by a great artist. As you gaze at the view around the caldera, you could almost feel that you are in a foreign land, perhaps in New Zealand… even in a fictional world of Harry Potter.
Finally reached the caldera! From this point, you need to descend through a man-made staircase going to the lake.
Behold the Mt. Pinatubo caldera. It will remind you of The Black Lake from Harry Potter.
Now I am lake. A woman bends over me,/Searching my reaches for what she really is./Then she turns to those liars, the candles or the moon./I see her back, and reflect it faithfully. -Sylvia Plath, “Mirrors”
Ms. Anne, the trip coordinator and owner of TRIPinas Travel and Tour Ventures, provides the guests with information about Mt. Pinatubo.
A perfect Valentine getaway
One might ask, what did you do when you reached the crater? There are a lot of things to do along the lake, actually. Although swimming and boating are prohibited, feeling the presence of an unknown energy can give you a sort of relaxation. You gaze at the sky, the slopes, and the lake. You can take pictures with your friends. The whole place is just so apt for pictorials. Just bring someone who can really take good photos.
With my equally adventurous travel buddy and soul-sister Dawn
Passing by these Aeta kids enjoying their bath made me miss my childhood.
We stayed along the lake for roughly two hours fighting the cold that enveloped the whole caldera. We partook lunch and celebrated Valentine’s Day over a bottle of wine and some chocolates. We watched different tourists doing different things. Everything around the caldera was beautiful that day. My heart was filled with gratitude.
I don’t mind being lost…at all.
” How I wish you were here/We’re just two lost souls/Swimming in a fish bowl/Year after year…” -Pink Floyd, “Wish You Were Here”
Do you want the trek to Mt. Pinatubo be your next adventure?
Visit TRIPinas Travel and Tour Ventures website for bookings. It’s http://tripinas.com.ph.
Photos by: September Noon Macahilo
A Heritage Pilgrim’s Sojourn in the Ilocos Region
PAST. It is defined as the elapse in time. An event or a circumstance that has existed or taken place in a period before the present. It may also be a memory one struggles to efface or a nostalgia one yearns to return to. On the other hand, it is through the past that we understand certain occurrences, phenomena, behaviors, and even cultures. The past spins stories and experiences that spawn enlightenment and perhaps appreciation of the now. Thus, as a heritage pilgrim who toured around Ilocos Region, I plunged myself into its spellbinding antiquities concretized by its century-old houses, Baroque churches and belfries. The sojourners and wanderlusts may find trails of both history and nature that would amuse them in the magnificent cities of Laoag and Vigan.
Are We There Yet?
Unless one travels by plane going to Ilocos, an eleven to twelve hour-bus ride will indeed wear her or him to a frazzle. But joining the group of BS Tourism Management students of the University of San Agustin together with their teacher Gemnoe Ramos in exploring Ilocos for the first time, the trip inundated us with enrichment and insights that brought us closer to discovering the rich culture and history of the region.
Straight from Baguio City, we checked out at Hotel Supreme by lunch time and headed to our next destination: Laoag City. Kuya Willie, our tour guide, informed the group about the four-hour trip, much to the chagrin of the students who already endured travelling for six hours from Manila to Baguio the other day. Being on a tour, I realized that you don’t really have much control of the time since the itinerary is being strictly followed including the stopovers here and there. Though my original plan was actually to travel alone, but I thought to myself, spending an exhausting trip with your butt glued to your seat for hours would never be an exhilarating experience. But inside the bus, facts reverberated as Kuya Willie opened the book of history as we pass by places that etched a significant part in the region’s annals. I didn’t know about the rest, but listening to him while the bus was moving pinched a certain hype that got me more excited to reach Laoag City. And while on board the bus and in the midst of the silent gap, I turned to the pages of Dinah Roma Sianturi’s Geographies of Light and Charles Wright’s Littlefoot. Reading is the solution to the journey’s exhaustion, and not the occasional question of “Are we there yet?”. Yes, and sleep, too.
Pamulinawen Personified
When one thinks of Ilocos, the folk song “Pamulinawen” comes into mind. Pamulinawen is a beautiful country maiden celebrated in the most famous Filipino native song of the same title. Just like her, Ilocos Norte effervesces like a wisp of air from the highest dune, so to speak. And as it clears up, the sight would surely captivate one’s eyes. And it never failed us.
It was almost eight o’clock at night when we arrived at the North View Hotel. After a well-deserved respite, we amped up ourselves for the tour around Laoag and other nearby towns the next day to scour the gems that the province prides herself on. First off: the Bangui Windmill. Greeted by the clear blue skies and the rushing waves, we caught ourselves mesmerized by the high-imposing wind turbines that line up and spread throughout the 6.5 kilometers stretch of the coast. The still, serene windmills and the mountain ranges on the backdrop provided a contrast to the rip-roaring waves. Each of the 15 windmills were gigantic, they might be as tall as a 15-storey building. It was like Don Quixote standing face to face with the giants. Almost surreal.
Bangui Windmills
The view of the vast West Philippine Sea from the lighthouse
The Southern trail paves the way to an adventure set in the Ilocanos’ colorful history and culture. And our tour would never be complete without visiting Paoay Church or the San Agustin Church, an edifice of the baroque era declared in 1993 as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The church was indeed stunning. The buttresses with a spiral design at the sides and the back account the ingenuity and the artistry of those who built it centuries ago. The facade and the bell tower itself would lure even the non-believers to be amazed, solely for its beauty.
Captivating Calle Crisologo
Have you ever wondered how it is to live during the 18th century? Where couples clad in their camisa and baro’t saya demurely tread along the cobblestoned street or riding the calesa in the middle of the bricked houses and its intricate stuccoworks? Vigan, with its famous Calle Crisologo, surely transports you back into the Spanish era. The group arrived at six’clock in the evening, and perhaps, the fun had just started as the lampposts were lighted and welcomed us to the “nightlife” in the captivating street of Calle Crisologo. Forgetting to kiss the ground as promised when we reached the heritage village and checked in at The Cordillera Inn, Gem and I immediately hit the street and of course, the shops of the Crisologo strip. The ambiance lingers with such antiquity as we were figuratively swallowed by the old houses that surrounded us. Souvenir shops all offered the best of Vigan: from its antique stuff, basi wine, and hand-woven fabrics; you can even haggle over the price. But of course, most of what’s on sale are actually cheaper.
Calle Crisologo at night
Historically, Calle Crisologo was once a mestizo district during the Spanish era. Kuya Willie told us that the street is called Kasanglayan, or the Chinese quarters. Serialtripper.com informs that the word comes from the word sangley or a pure Chinese person. If a person was of an ancestry mixed between Chinese and indigenous (called indio), he was classified as mestizo de sangley. It was on the Mestizo District where some of these rich Chinese-Filipinos built their houses, which are still intact today and can be observed on Calle Crisologo.
Vigan is a diorama of history that lets you understand more of heritage and makes you appreciate history and culture more. Everywhere you look, even the establishments and restaurants all designed to adapt with the old houses found in Calle Crisologo. The past surely plays an important influence in the lives of the people of Vigan. And being a heritage pilgrim that has sojourned in this city, and, cliché as this may seem, it makes me proud of the legacy that our ancestors had left us behind.
Baler in the Eyes of a First-time Tourist
The Philippines is teemed with beautiful and pristine beaches. And when one thinks of beaches, one thing crosses his or her mind: Baler. But being a first time tourist in this town, I was immediately smitten with the verdant landscape that filled our eyes on our way to Baler. Escaping from the hurly-burly of the city life, one would be mesmerized by the roller coaster terrains as Aurora Province is nestled within the Sierra Madre mountain ranges.
Baler prides herself not just in the giant waves that race through her shores, but with other bounties that surely make one’s visit a fulfilling and thrilling one.
Without further ado, here are the 15 images that would show how much I enjoyed the town of Baler. Suffice to say, Baler is a DSLR/Instagram town. Hell, yeah.
The Ronquillo Balete Eco-Park in Barangay Quirino, Maria Aurora, Aurora attracts tourist with its Millennium Tree, which is said to be the biggest Balete (banyan) tree in Asia.
Before ascending to Ermita Hills, you might want to take a pose at Tromba Marina, a shrine that commemorates the families who survived a giant and deadlu tsunami in 1735.
The breathtaking view of Diguisit Beach from Ermita Hills.
After our descent to Ermita Hills, we headed to Diguisit waterfalls. The cascading water offers a refreshing feel to the soul.
The Baler Church has a significant role in the history of the town. In fact, it was made into a movie which starred Anne Curtis and Jericho Rosales.
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Right beside the replica of Donya Maria Aurora Quezon’s ancestral house parks the restored 1937 Chrysler Airflow, a presidential car used by Pres. Manuel L. Quezon.
You will definitely enjoy Sabang Beach, the waves and all.
thewallflowerconfessions 