Buntot Palos Falls, Laguna

Last July, I joined a group of strangers for a waterfalls trek. The night before, I couldn't sleep because thoughts of backing out was on my mind. I suddenly thought, what if the group are smokers? What if no female shows up?

But it was one heck of an experience!

I showed up at 4:30 am which was a bad move. I could have slept a little bit more. Then the organizer showed up and I was introduced to the other members. They were all younger than me! And most belong to JVP, the Jesuit Volunteer of the Philippines which is under ADMU. So that made me relax a little.

I slept in the van on the way to the falls. When we got there, we did a bit of stretching, which is something most groups I joined in the past forget to do. Then we started.

The climb up was not that tiring. In fact, the whole time, I was chatting with the organizer who was two years younger than me. He seemed really friendly. In fact, I was at ease with him. We got to talk a lot because we were leading the group. And also while waiting for the others to catch up, I was able to take lots of photos.

Like the mountains in Batangas, this one doesn't really have anything special. There's the usual mud, the usual rocky features, the big mosquitoes, big ants, and really nothing special. But it's a different story when you get to the falls. Okay, it's not as beautiful as the others I've seen but I love its very fresh waters! Refreshingly cool!

the mud (sometimes mixed with horse dung)

bark mushrooms turning golden under the sun

The challenge was the descent. Because I wore my rubber sandals, I was vulnerable to the invading mud in my footwear. It was such a bad idea. I was only thinking that since were going to a waterfalls, I wouldn't need socks and rubber shoes. While going down, I saw some people from other groups wearing water shoes and they said it's better than rubber shoes. Okay, noted on that. I should have brought those instead so the mud wouldn't make the surface of my sandals slippery. My toes were terribly hurt by the straps soon afterwards that I decided to go barefoot. Never mind the horse dung. It's better than slipping on the rocks and ending up with scrapes and bruises.

The organizer lent me his large slippers which was a great help and relief. When we got to the water source in the middle of the trail, I was able to wash off most of the mud and heading down didn't hurt my toes as much.

We had lunch at Manang's which is pretty much like Bulacan's Namwah. We ordered a lot of food but ended up shelling less than P200 each. I love the fried chicken!!!

Anyway, after that, we headed to Panguil Ecopark but only hang out there until late afternoon before washing up and heading back to Manila. We got there too late and the management was strict in following the time they accept visitors. Still it was a great experience!

I look forward to joining more open trips and gaining new friends in the process. :)