batangas
boat ride
bulalo
crater
food
foodtrip
horse
leslies
photography
photos
picnic grove
taal lake yatch club
taal volcano
tagaytay
travel
zip lines
Taal Volcano Crater Trip with Side trip to Tagaytay
I survived. I couldn’t believe that I can trek all the way to the Taal Volcano crater and back down without the help of a mighty horse. Whew!
It was a fine day and the trip started at 7:30 AM from Market! Market! Taguig City. We traveled using Itoy's van to Talisay Batangas where the TLYC (Taal Lake Yacht Club) is located. (If you’re interested in checking out what TLYC can offer, click this link for more information including its location: http://www.sailing.org.ph/tlyc/map.html). We've reached the place at around 9:30 AM and our first agenda: board a boat going to the volcano. The boat ride costs Php2800 which is good for 5 persons. There were eight of us so we rented 2, 4 persons in each off to the island where we have to start our trekking. We paid 50 each for the tourism fee and we've decided not to rent a horse that costs a whopping 750 pesos- either one way or two. Then we've started to trek. Two from our group decided to rent a horse (Grace and Itoy). The rest ignored the heat and were enjoying the trekking and picture-taking. We were all in high spirits when we've reached half of the road. We rested for 15 minutes before continuing our trekking. Grace and Itoy lead the group was guided by the horsemen while we followed our tour guide.
After our break from ascending to the peak of the volcano, it was then our time to descend to the crater. Going down was difficult than going up as it was so steep. As a consequence, some did slide unexpectedly. Myself, Edz and Arlen was fast (we’re not boasting here, haha) and so we had time to rest awhile under a Mango tree, and at the same time wait for the other three girls and our tour guide. Melai, Jewel, and Maru decided to grab a horse as well because they were too tired; so the tour guide shouted at the top of his lungs for a horse-- kidding. He called his allies from the community at the foot of the volcano. After a while, three horses came in striking so fast to their rescue. While they waited, we continued conquering the crater- we were happy we made it! Once you’re there, and even when you’re still at the volcano’s peak, you’ll see smokes from the side. This is due to scattered holes with a boiling gray mud-like thing in it. Grace and Itoy allowed us to borrow their horses so we could take a good look at these holes. It was boiling hot! One of the horsemen joked that there was once a cow that accidentally fell off the hole and poof! Lechon!
Before leaving the crater, we've done lots of things: we took a lot of pictures, ourselves and that of the crater; we ate, share stories, cracked jokes and blinded ourselves with a marvellous place. Some tourists swam the crater, some just came, took pictures and go. Children, teens, adults, young adults and our lovely senior citizens—age clearly hasn't stopped them from killing time in Taal Volcano Crater.
It was then our time to go back. This time, 5 of us were on horses while Edz, I, Arlen and our tour guide held on to our mighty foot wears. If you think it would be easier going back, think again. We’ve had much plenty of rests because it's harder to climb as it’s so steep and hot as the sun is soaring up in the sky. It was tough, but we thought we really have to finish it without the horse. Blame me, when we were halfway there, I realized I badly needed a drink and worst, I don’t have water anymore. Believe it or not: I unearthed a 12ml Gatorade from nowhere. I thought I was blessed I did something like that until someone woke me up from that blessed dream and was declaring: “Php50 po” Yes. It’s expensive. So eager to finish that mess, we continued trekking until we were there joining our peers. We've made it and we are very happy to say that “we survived”. :)
It's time to go back to TLYC and fix our tired but contented selves and head towards Tagaytay to grab a lunch. It was already 2 PM when we've placed ourselves in the arms of Leslie's, one of the popular restaurants in Tagaytay with the overview of the Taal Volcano. After lunch we bought coffee from Starbucks then we went to Picnic Grove for sight-seeing. There were Zip lines and Cable cars (weekdays 100 one way and 200 two-way, for weekends 200 one way and 300 two ways). After fully exhausting ourselves, we've decided it’s time to head back home. In the van, we all look so tired and almost not wanting to say anything but we knew, come Monday, the room would be a notch noisier because of the stories we have. That's the end of our enjoyable trip. See you next time guys!
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Thanks for visiting my blog site! This is where I'm keeping all my stuff from now on, so come back whenever you want to see what's new. Feel free to post a reply if you see something you like or just want to get in touch.
didn't enjoy, as much as you have, our taal volcano trip :(
ReplyDeleteonline journal
my soltero baby
you should go back and enjoy next time
Deleteyou should go back again, :)
ReplyDelete