Weekend Getaway: Chasing Waterfalls

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Another Trekker (referring to us): These people don’t have trekking standards.
Rodger:Yeah, because the only standard we know is Programming standards ^_^

We had the trek "planned" a couple of months back, but I personally didn’t research about the area - all I know was that we were going to trek 4 waterfalls at Mt. Romelo at Siniloan, Laguna. We pretty much did not expect more than an hour trek and we thought a day trip would suffice; so on the day of the trek, Rodger, Janet, Yami, and I simply went with our flip flops and our usual everyday shorts/shirt, expecting a fairly easy hike. Since we missed the 06:00AM bus that morning, we arrived at the jump-off point in barangay Macatad a little late than scheduled and from there, an old lady helped us find a guide and off we went. We started the trek with our slippers on, ending barefooted.

In my head it was supposed to be a piece of cake, instead, we got a huge piece of mud cake! It took us two hours to get to the camping area through a very muddy trail. Arriving at around 02:00 in the afternoon, we then had to figure out how we were going to spend the night and what we will be eating since we didn’t plan for an overnight stay. The good thing was, there were huts selling canned good and pouched noodles where we can also buy rice and have it cooked. After securing food and shelter, we headed to our first waterfalls, Buruwisan – quite a lovely sight, definitely worth the effort. Then the Old Buruwisan came next and the Lanzones waterfalls after that. The water was ice cold as expected but we were happy at how unexpectedly beautiful the falls were.

We enjoyed our dinner of canned sardines, warm rice, and left over adobo from our lunch and we had a small hut with coconut timber as walls/flooring to spend the night at. We were already on our way to the dream world by 07:00 in the evening. The night was cold and the air was quite humid; we were provided with a used streamer for a mat and I could feel the chilly air escaping through the slits on the floor whilst the air above was like a cold blanket laying over me. I’d somehow get to doze off for a few minutes just to be waken by the cold – I’d clench my teeth and shiver. I was just tossing and turning the whole night and I couldn’t stop thinking about my warm bed at home, it was torture.

The next morning, Janet managed to get us warm pouched noodle soup, stale rice (from the previous night), and a can of sardines for breakfast. Then off we went to our last waterfalls, the beautiful three-layered Batya-Batya Falls. To get there we had to do root climbing and cross a neck-deep river while holding our precious bags over our heads – got to protect the cameras!

After Batya-Batya we started our descent at around 10:00 in the morning. Along the way, we bought limes and picked them ourselves at an orchard owned by an apparently fellow Bisaya Manong Armando. We have passed by it the previous day and we wanted some, but Manong Armando wasn’t there during the time. We lingered for about half an hour and chatted with Manong Armando before continuing our hike down ... while eating our fresh limes.

I’m feeling a little feverish but it was so much fun - we simply enjoyed stomping and sliding on the mud, jumping off the waterfalls, picking limes, and climbing over roots and rocks! Although a little misinformed, we had a good laugh about it.

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Trip Information

• 2 hours trip from Manila to Famy Laguna via the Infanta, Quezon bus Raymond Transportation at PHP85/one-way
• About 15 minutes Tricycle ride from the town of Famy to barangay Macatad (jump-off point) at PHP15/one way
• Guide Fee at PHP300
• Coconut Hut for 4 people at PHP200

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