Villa Escudero

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The day after Pagsanjan falls I'm told were going to have lunch under another waterfall and that I'll get wet like yesterday so i should take a change of clothes again. We all pile into the car and head off; destination Villa Escudero.

Villa Escudero was one of the original Spanish plantations in the area and was founded back in the 1800's. Back then the main crop was sugarcane, but this was replaced with coconut plantations in the early 1900's. The estate has remained in the hands of the family and was opened up to the public in the 1980's. Hope I've got the dates approx correct, but I'm sure someone will be more than happy to correct me if they read this and disagree - leave your comments if you do.

There's probably 4 main aspects to this place.
1. The private residence
2. The Church (now museum)
3. The general grounds
4. The waterfall dining

I believe the place doubles as a resort as well. . . .

1. Looks like something Rose Hancock would have built ("Oh.... i can STILL smell him. . . . . .")
2. Shabby old place loaded mainly with bric-a-brac and possibly a few items of interest - NO CAMERAS ALLOWED
3. The grounds are dotted with a squillion concrete figurines and whilst not quite Garden Gnomes this place has all the panache of Carribean Gardens in Scoresby.
4. Waterfall dining - well it's not so much a waterfall as a man made weir akin to the one across the road from Pentridge in Melbourne. They've stuck some river pebbles in the fall to create white water and tables and chairs below the falls and you can eat their. My lunch consisted of a couple of SML's

The highlights for me were twofold
1. Seeing a Caribou up close for the first time - unusual animal to say the least
2. Playing with the burst feature on my camera I caught a sequence of my grand niece playing in the 'waterfall' and the pure delight on her face was pretty cool I thought.

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Photos

The Church/Museum
No Cameras allowed inside

General grounds
I think i forgot to mention the WW2 relics - I was surprised at how small the tank was

Caribou
I was taken aback by the legs in proportion (or out of) with the bulk of the body

P1030910
Now that's a serious camel-toe . . . .

All Aboard
The trip back to the entrance/exit is via these. Caribou doesn't so much walk or amble along as 'pondle' along

because it was there
This is what they refer to as a 'Stolen Picture' in the Philippines

with Arthur's permission
This is the sequence i was talking about - look at the delight on her face

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another arrangement

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and another

Comments

[Kaibigan ni John]

Yeah, that's right!
None of these western thinking of putting the blame on someone else and suing em! The warning is there, if you take make the choice of taking the risk that is your responisibility.

[Kaibigan ni John]

Kalabaw
That would be Carabao or Water Buffallo, buddy.

[kaibigan ni Juan]

Good comment !
:D

[Kaibigan ni Juan]

Tora tora