Chasing Waterfalls

Okay. So, the first weekend of the New Year has passed. It's Monday afternoon my time now and I've spent my first Saturday chasing waterfalls. But it's not like TLC's "Chasing Waterfalls." It's literally trying to see as many waterfalls as we can in a day.

See, a good friend came home for a vacation from the Middle East where she works and she wanted to see a lot more of nature. She said that she's tired of seeing desert sand all the time and wanted more greenery and loads of water. But as usual OFWs on vacation, her time is limited as she has loads of places to go to and people to meet, so we only have a day of adventure. Now, there's this place in Laguna with amazing curtain waterfalls that I've always wanted to see but haven't had the chance yet. It's only a 3-hour bus ride from Manila and there's this town there where you can see three to four falls in just a day.

So, Laguna it is. After a 4-hour bus ride (traffic here is awful, I'm telling you), we got off the bus terminal in the barangay of Pagsawitan in Sta. Cruz and then rode a jeepney with the signboard, Lucban.

inside the jeepney

From Pagsawitan, it was a 30-minute ride to the town of San Salvador where Hulugan Falls is. That's the name of the falls that we want to go to. Just a few steps from the jeepney stop, there's an information desk that will welcome you and assign you a tour guide. From there, you will go on a short tricycle ride to go to Kapitan's house (Kapitan because he's the barangay captain) to register and for a short briefing from Kuya Bugoy, our tour guide.

And outside Kapitan's house, there's this small kiosk selling these heavenly smelling bibingkas (rice cakes). Now, this bibingka is not your typical bibingka. Instead of the usual rice flour topped with salted egg and grated coconut, this bibingka is made of sticky rice with lots of macapuno (mutant coconut) strips topped with margarine and grated cheese. We've decided that these rice cakes would be lunch since we're stupid enough to not bring packed lunch.

bibingka a la Luisiana and the clay pots where these yummies are cooked

Now, another 5-minute tricycle ride from Kapitan's house, we got off where the road ends and where we start our trek to the falls. Kuya Bugoy told us we're going to see three falls and it usually takes 30 minutes to reach one of 'em and then another 30 to another and 30 again to the last one which is Hulugan but it depends on how fast we walk. Of course, right there and then, I knew that it will take us an hour for each destination. Who are we kidding? There'll be lots of picture-taking and it's been raining almost every day the past few days so it's going to be a muddy trail.

muddy trail, it is. It's like walking on melted chocolate.

It's a good thing that there are a lot of kind of hand rails made of bamboo along the trail that you can hold on to because if not for those, we sure would have slipped and fallen.

And then we reached our first destination which is Talay Falls. Now, every time I travel, I lower my expectations. With all the filtering and photoshopping going on, it's hard to say if a place really looks like what they look like online. I want to see it with my own eyes and be the judge of it.

Talay Falls, falls #1

Now, this first falls is kind of okay. I've seen some falls before, some small, some large, and I'd say that this is okay. I'd give it a 5 or a 6 out of a 10. It took us about 40 minutes to reach Talay Falls and that 40 minutes of walking deserve a taste of our still hot bibingka. Besides, it's already lunch time.

It's the first time that I've tasted this kind of bibingka and I immediately fell in love. The sweetness of sticky rice, the soft strips of macapuno, the melted margarine and cheese on top. OMG! Heaven!

heaven served on a banana leaf (repeat pic)

Powered with bibingka in our tummy, we're off to the second falls for the day. It's just beneath Talay, about a 10- to 15-minute walk, but that 10-minute walk includes a steep ascend. It's not that high, so it's not that scary, but we're not seasoned hikers, so a steep ascend is still enough to make our hands a bit clammy.

still posing for the camera. lol!

What welcomed us is just unbelievable. This is one of the most beautiful falls that I've seen. We only have our phones with us and those phone lenses don't do justice with how beautiful this falls is. It's called Hidden Falls and hidden places are always amazingly beautiful.

Hidden Falls, falls #2

We spent almost 20-30 minutes in this place alone. We stayed quiet for a while, absorbing the beautiful view in front of us. It's a good thing that there's not a lot of travelers, so we get to enjoy the place by ourselves. It's a sight to behold with the overcast sky above. What more if it's bright and sunny and the colors are just more vibrant?

me. (◕‿◕)

We hate to leave the place but we got to go to the third one which is the largest and the one that I was really looking forward to. One last picture, then off we go.

the waterfall chasers

Our third and last destination was kind of far as it's near to the jump-off point. So, it's going back where we came from but we'd be taking a different path.

Along the way, it gave us a glimpse of what we're about to see.

sneak peek

I can't even remember how long it took us to reach the bottom of Hulugan Falls, but a safe guess would be 30-40 minutes. This one is the grandest of them all. With an estimated height of 70 meters, it is the largest falls I've seen so far.

Now, this, I'd say, doesn't disappoint. How it looked on the pictures online, it's more stunning in real life. Just staring at the cascading water and listening to the crashing sound of it from above somehow brings calmness. It's kind of therapeutic.

Hulugan Falls, falls #3

It's hard to get a decent photo because our phones can't escape the mist coming from the powerful water drop, thus making almost all of our pictures of Hulugan a bit blurry. But nevertheless, still stunning.

squad

We were supposed to go to another barangay to catch our fourth waterfall, the Cavinti falls or more famously known as Pagsanjan falls, but it's a already a bit late and our legs were tired and we are famished. No more bibingka. ☹

All in all, I'd say that it was a day well spent. It's always worth all the tiredness to be one with nature and see its amazing beauty. I know some would not have liked the mossiness and murkiness of the water, but as I've said, it's been raining almost every day so the water's expected to be like that. Maybe visit the place during the summer time where the water more's clearer and drier but dry season means lesser water. The trail's clean, there's no trash that I've seen along the way to three falls, so kudos to the guides and the tourists as well for following rules.

Jello legs and all, I'd do it again.

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