Exploring Cabongaoan for our Upcoming TBA

       Pardon the laziness, but I’m writing this blog in the form of just a Narrative which I will use to report to my office my findings regarding Cabongaoan.  This blog hopes to guide my officemates to an enlightened and well-informed decision: whether or not to choose Cabongaoan as a TBA venue.

TRAVEL TO AND FROM CABONGAOAN

      The “Explo Team” (allow me to refer to us that way) took two modes of transpo: bus and private vehicle.  My group came from Cubao, Quezon City thru a Solid North bus while Belle’s Group came from Lupao, Nueva Ecija and Umingan, Pangasinan thru a private pick-up.

TRAVEL TIME:

      Travel thru Solid North bus took us a grueling 7-hour trip from Manila to Alaminos.  The bus driver obviously had a penchant for long stop overs!  Add the trip from Alaminos to Cabongaoan which took another 1 and a half hours, so total travel time from Manila is 8 & a half hours. 

      I project that if we use our own vehicle it will only take us 5-6 hours depending on the duration and frequency of stopovers. 

THE ROAD FROM BURGOS TO CABONGAOAN

      If travel blogs warn you of muddy rough roads, please help Google update itself, because the concreting of the road to Cabongaoan is almost complete.  There’s just a 3-5 km
stretch of rough but not muddy road.  It’s manageable.  We saw sedans going there.  Even on a rainy day, cars would definitely breeze thru the road, but of course if driven with care.

THE ROAD SCENERY

      The road trip thru the Cabongaoan Road reminded me of Coron, Palawan.  Thru the countryside landscape we enjoyed the sight of herds of cattle: cows, carabaos and goats quietly grazing at the evergreen meadows of rolling hills reminiscent of the Sound of Music. 

      The tangerine sunset over the western horizon added drama to the roadtrip that led us on into dusk.

ACCOMODATION

      Because our explo trip was a hurriedly planned outing, our accommodation was poorly prearranged.  Thanks to Lean who thoughtfully and efficiently did last-minute booking and coordination with our local co-workers in the area. 

      We slept over at Amayaj Bora Resort, the only resort that had vacant rooms when Lean called.  Unfortunately, the said resort could not cater to our food requirements.  Understandably, it’s one of the newest resorts in the area so its catering section is still a work in progress. Its rates are also higher compared to the other resorts in the area.  We had no choice.  Rather than sleep under the thunderous skies, we embraced our misfortune.  (sa Tagalog, kumapit kami sa patalim.)

      But even thru misfortune, at least we needed to fill our complaining stomachs.  Thankfully, the neighboring beach resort, “Luzviminda’s” was very accommodating and hospitable even at very short notice.  Ma’am Minda, the resort owner and manager graciously responded to all our meal requirements patiently paying attention even to the smallest details.  She made our stay in Cabongaoan pleasant.  It instantly felt like we had a mother there!

(pictures to follow)

THE BEACH

      The beach……… it is the redeeming glory!! I don’t know about your definition of an ideal beach but for me, it is how the beach makes you feel!! During our explo, there was a low pressure area affecting Luzon so the weather was stormy.  The waves were fierce, the wind was strong, vegetation sparkling and lively because of the raindrops that crystalized on the plant leaves, the tide was at its highest, therefore totally concealing the death pool, the weather was cold, perfect for drinking a bottle of beer or two.  To my surprise, the beach was still peppered with many tourists and about 35% of them are children!

THE SEASHORE…..

      The shoreline is a beautiful mosaic of rock formations, white sand swimming spots, and a wildflower-speckled winding rocky trail that leads to the “death” pool.  If you’re the adventurous soul who frowns upon boring, monotonous, plain and fine white sand long stretch shores, Cabongaoan is for you because no two spots along the shoreline are alike!

THE SEA

    When you’re flying thru a plane and you view the Philippine archipelago thru your window, what you see is a beautiful archipelago with islands surrounded by turquoise blue waters and white sand shores. 

       It is that kind of sea waters that I saw in Cabongaoan: turquoise, vibrant and clean.  I might not have had the opportunity to enjoy a quiet, crystal clear sea water because the weather was stormy making it tempestuous, but in its turbulence, it was still charming and captivating!  And as if its charm wasn't enough, it even surprised us with a bonus: a magical rainbow!!! as if it wanted to assure us that the rains are just but temporary....

        We made the “splashes” our photo background, making our moods also hyper and splashy!!

AND THE THINGS TO LOOK FORWARD TO

      I missed a lot of things I aspired for: the sunset, the sunrise, the videoke, the much-needed dip, and of course the death pool.

 sun, beach, clear waters and beer! (location: Cagbalete Island)

(location: Bonsai Island) 

 location: Cagbalete Island

 Indeed, because it was just an exploration and info-gathering trip, my mood and mindset were not totally given to relaxation and surrender.  I should go back.  We should go there!  Again, I have to say that people have different concepts of what a beautiful beach is.  But one thing I could assure you, Cabongaoan beach offers many varying opportunities to wonder at and be thankful for God’s unique and amazingly beautiful creations, if only you’d open up your eyes and your souls.

 It’s simply amazing!

Back-breaking Balungao

My Balungao friends have been inviting me to spend some bonding time with them many many months ago.  They just wanted some quiet time when we could talk and chat about things other than work, spend our time in one another's company and just rekindle our friendship.

So we set our bonding date on October 1, my only remaining free day for October.

Little did I know that Joan, Diane, Jo and Belle also arranged a hike to Mt. Balungao.  I only knew about it one day before my trip.  Thankfully, I included in my backpack some trekking clothes and my trekking pole.

Saturday night

The gurlz fetched me from Carmen and we immediately proceeded to Mt. Balungao Hot and Cold Springs Resort where a sumptuous dinner and a videoke set were waiting. Charlie, Joan's husband and his friend Jukes joined us. Over dinner, we immediately broke the ice and segue-wayed into a more intimate, relaxed, wacky and jolly conversation.  At times we would mention sad life stories which made me teary-eyed..  In between talks, Jukes and I would sing.  Regrettably, the rest of the group was too shy to sing...

Already tipsy, we winded up at past 12.  I was told that the Mt. Balungao Guide would fetch us at 5am.  Since this is a "hayahay" gig, my mindset wasn't that serious about time so I told myself, "ngek, will we be able to wake up at 5am??"

October 2, Sunday

Having underestimated the professionalism of "the Guide", we panicked when at exactly 5am, we were dumbfounded by loud knocks on our door.  It was the hotel caretaker and he said our Guide was already downstairs, waiting.  With eyes closed, I zombied towards the door and requested the hotel caretaker to tell the Guide to wait for us.

As if they did not sleep at past midnight, the gurlz immediately got up like frogs leaping to high heavens after being showered by the first summer rain.  While I, who virtually wasnt able to sleep at all because of my cough, was still trying to come to terms with reality.  The cruel reality that I should rise and get ready to climb Mt. Balungao.  Out of shame, I forced my groggy body to rise, freshen up and dress up.

The Ascent

One hour late from the original schedule, we set off at 6am.  Unexpectedly and deviating from my blog readings, our jump-off area was actually the backyard of the hotel.  We walked thru a trail that immediately led us to a heavily vegetated and dark forest.  The trail, even at low elevation was rocky and mossy.  I became nervous.  

Mossy big rocks are my waterloo.  I'm afraid of mossy rocks.  Just two days before I went to Balungao, I went to see my orthopedic doctor wanting to update myself on my two-year old Spondylolisthesis (slipped disc; 4th lumbar slipping anteriorly over the 5th lumbar by 25%). 

picture borrowed from knowyourback.com

Thankfully, it did not progress and my Doc still allowed me to climb mountains.  But, I always obliged myself to take extra caution because another fall could aggravate my slipped disc.

Adding up to my anxiety as we were ascending, I saw that the trail immediately revealed a 65° to 75° slope.  Goodness gracious, this is too-soon-an-assault !! I told myself, I better shape up because this climb isn't going to be easy, its low elevation of 300masl (according to blogs) nothwithstanding.

Without even going thru any warm-up (there was not a bit of any easy flat trail at all!), we found ourselves already crawling thru the uphill mossy rocks even during the first 30 minutes of the ascent.  What was shockingly funny was, Belle, my college bff who thru the decades of aging, amazingly maintained her supermodel slim figure, led the pack, gracefully doing a top model catwalk as if the trail was just a fashion runway, not to mention that while climbing, she was delivering a high-pitched monologue (like an AM radio morning DJ) with intermittent shrills and laughters.  Mind you, it was Belle's first climb.  

While I, I've been climbing for years;  I've climbed many mountains, i couldn't count them.  With so much amazement and admiration for this wonderwoman, I confirmed that indeed, the size and core strength of one's belly is directly proportionate to one's strength in many physical activities.

The other two gurlz, Diane and Joan whose getup were actually more apt for the malls, and whose moves were more like Binibining Pangasinan beauty pageant contestants, were also as strong as Belle, 

...while Jocylynne, (Jo), like I, also struggled thru the ascent.  Both of Jo's and my belly are admittedly living testimonies of how we are very hopelessly fond of wallowing in the luxurious habit of eating unli rice. Haaaaaaaaaaay. 

Yes! The Summit!

After surviving the sadistic assault that culminated in a roped segment, we saw light at the end of a semi bush-tunnel that ushered us into a grassy flat surface, the summit! My altimeter indicated a 370masl elevation.

It was 7:28am.

We were welcomed with an overwhelming almost 360° view of Pangasinan over the west southwest, Cuyapo, Nueva Ecija over the south, Nueva Vizcaya and Benguet over the East Northeast and Northern horizons.  I could see Mt. Ugo saying hi from the far northeast.

Belle's and the gurlz' reaction was priceless.  They never expected that they'd be in such a top-of-the-world moment, yet, they were.  We celebrated our success by drinking softdrinks.  Cheers!!  We also did many groupies of course!! Joan and her loving husband Charlie also posed for their couple pose!!

Belle however, wanted to celebrate in a very weird way.  She looked for perfume.  Luckily, I didn't unpack my mini-perfume from my backpack so I happily passed it on to her.  She's really one of a kind!! 

We so wanted to complete our climb by reaching the real summit but unfortunately, there was no trail connecting the area where we were and the top of that summit to our northwestern side.  Charlie, Joan's husband said that the access to that summit is thru the other trail over the southwestern side.  It gave us a reason to go back... 

Our Descent

After 30 minutes of celebrating our "success", we started our descent.  It was 8am.

The girls, especially Jo, realized that indeed, descending is more difficult.  The trail was slippery and there were areas where the only vegetation we could cling to were cogon blade grass.  I was the only one with a trekking pole;  I felt guilty.  

Amazingly again, Belle catwalked as if she was floating on air.  During the first 15 minutes of our descent, she was already about 15 meters ahead of us.  

While we,... we were struggling with our sense of balance, squeezing our best effort not to slip.  

After our knees have adjusted to the downhill walk, it became easier and more relaxed.  

Our descent was longer by 5 minutes than our ascent.  Maybe because we took extra care.  We reached our jump off by 9:35am.

We looked forward to our reward: a dip into the hot spring pool!! After changing our muddied clothes, we immediately plunged into the hot spring pool that relieved our painful knees, tired nerves and exhausted bodies...  This reminded me of Lake Agco after our first Mt. Apo climb thru the Mandarangan Trail in Kidapawan.

After packing our things, we travelled to Carmen to have our well-deserved lunch.  Thank you Belle for this treat!!

They sent me off at the terminal and I boarded a Genesis bus back to Manila at past 1pm.

Wait for my return Mt. Balungao....

Wait for my return, Balungao Powerpuff Gurlz..... 
Thank you so much for the great and heartwarming weekend and the rekindled friendship .... I surely treasure it in my heart..

To God be the Glory!!!