Libotero – Philippine Travel Photo Blog

Part 18 of the Libotero Baler Roadtrip series

DAY 3.

After shooting the sunrise, I went back to the hotel to sleep some more. It was our last day in Baler and we’ve already completed our set itinerary so there was nothing else to do but sleep…

We woke up at around 9am to pack up and ready our things for our roadtrip back to Manila. After everything was ready, we ate breakfast, still at Bahia de Baler’s restaurant. After filling our stomachs to the brimmed, we relaxed for a while and finally hit the roads again to finally start leaving Baler..

On our way to Baler, we passed through the Pantabangan-Baler Highway. This time, we decided to take the other route, the Baler-Bongabon Route as one book about Baler described it as the “more popular route”.

So we expected that we were going to go through more concrete this time… And yes!

Concrete!

The zigzag road crossing the Sierra Madre Mountain Range now has some portions that are cemented, but only until the initial portion of Barangay Diteki.

Concrete, still..

The lush Sierra Madre Mountain Range

But just after less than 10 minutes, signs of rough roads are starting to show up… Oh no!

This area must be very landslide prone. Yikes!

Imagine if those huge rocks are going to fall on you!

Sierra Madre greens. Let us help protect and preserve the Sierra Madre mountains. It is one of the only three biodiversity corridors in the country! It is one of the very few surviving forests! Let us help save the Sierra Madres from destruction!!! PLEASE!

A seemingly non-ending stretch of unpaved road..

Still more than 40 kilometers to go on this rough mountain zig-zag road!

Oh my, such huge boulders!

Another landslide prone area…

The Baler-Bongabon route definitely had lesser signs of human habitation, which was good as there would be less chances of adding damage to the Sierra Madre Mountains but on the other hand, it added to the vague premonition of danger like “Who would help us in case of emergency when our cellphones had no coverage, there are no residents around the area, and vehicles rarely pass by the route?”.

More greens…

On gravel road still…

Wow, unexpectedly, concrete greeted us again!

until…

OH MY WHAT IS THAT?!!!?!!

The steel bridge was destroyed by previous typhoons…

So how were we going to cross the river?

Locals washing their clothes and taking a bath on the river…

…and leaving their clothes on gravel to dry.

We had to go through that wooden plank bridge to cross the river. OH MY!!!

The bridge looked very narrow!! Fearful of our safety, mom got out of the car and guided dad as he maneuvered the car to cross the bridge, haha!

So what could have happened if our car fell of the bridge? God forbid!

At that point, we were at the heart of the Sierra Madre Mountain Range! Such a breathtaking sight to behold!

See mom in action!!

It was a very inconvenient rough road but the amazing scenery and memorable experiences are all worth it! Goodbye Aurora! ‘Til we meet again!

Having crossed the Aurora provincial boundary, we were already in Bongabon, Nueva Ecija.

The last few stretches of rough road, finally!

One can see the obvious change in landscape. If the surroundings were so green in Aurora, everything seemed to be dry in Nueva Ecija!

Crossing a bridge…

…to cross another bridge. A rusty one-way steel bridge which badly needs to be repaired as soon as possible! It didn’t look like it was strong enough to carry a few vehicles…

All dried up!

But there was still some fresh water falling off from the mountains…

Overall, Nueva Ecija was so dry, a huge contrast to Aurora’s “lushness”

We’re back to the plains, finally!

And that wraps up the Libotero Baler Roadtrip Series! You see, no amount of rough, “not-for-faint-hearted” roads discouraged us from visiting Baler so you should visit the province too, as soon as possible, before everyone else does! I’d like to go back in the near future as there are much much more natural and cultural attractions in Aurora waiting to be discovered and invaded. Our 3-day visit was totally not enough to get to experience the “real” Aurora so I promise to be back SOON!

Part 14 of the Libotero Baler Roadtrip series

DAY 2.

From the Aurora Provincial Capitol in Baler, we then drove northwards to the adjacent town of San Luis where some of the province’s natural wonders are located.

En route to San Luis, we were looking for convenience stores to buy some cold drinks to quench our thirst in the scorching noontime sun but then there were none! Actually, there were some but they were so “primitive”, they didn’t even have Coke, not even bottled water, at the least. We finally found the first decent convenience store across the San Luis Municipal Hall and bought some “C2″ and “Real Leaf Green Tea”, haha!

San Luis Municipal Hall

Upon driving further, we encountered a detour as one bridge was badly damaged and impassable.

This bridge must have been damaged by the typhoons that visit the province regularly. Good news is that there are a lot of infrastructure projects currently ongoing in the province so everything must be okay now.

After some few minutes, we still haven’t found what we were looking for, the Cunayan Falls. When we encountered locals walking around the streets, we asked directions, and we were directed to go further, just follow the road, and watch out for a road sign that would lead us to the waterfalls.

But after almost an hour, we felt that we’ve gone too far. We even started to go uphill already.

Feeling that we’ve gone way beyond the waterfalls, we just continued driving and looked for someone who seemed reliable in giving out directions. A few minutes later, we encountered a middle-aged man who looked well-informed and alas, he confirmed our doubts: we already passed by the waterfalls. For that, we asked for directions and took note of them very well.

We did a U-Turn and headed back to civilization!

The very picturesque national highway of Aurora, except for those campaign posters!

This time, all eyes were open. There were six of us and we thoroughly inspected all the road signs that we encountered, until we finally reached the intersection to the waterfalls. Our original plan was to visit Ditumabo Falls, dubbed as the “Mother Falls”, still in San Luis, but we weren’t ready for the few kilometers of trekking, so we settled for the Cunayan Falls which was located just a few meters away from an interior road. From the national highway, the interior road to the waterfalls is a bit rough.

It wasn’t paved, and was only made of sand and gravel. As we got nearer to the falls, we were surprised when we were charged a P20 toll, not once but twice! We just learned at the entrance of the Cunayan Falls that we passed by private property and therefore, they had all the right to collect an amount from us. Okay, settled. At the waterfalls, each person was charged P10.

Parking Area

Welcome to Cunayan Falls. We were informed that it is more popularly known as “L Pimentel Falls”. That explains why we mostly got scratching heads as reaction when we asked for directions to the Cunayan Falls

Trash.. Errr! Why can’t we all dispose of trash properly?!!!?

Streams around the waterfalls…

There are a few cottages around the waterfalls as well… So if you wish to spend the whole afternoon here, you definitely can!

The lush forests surrounding the waterfalls…

Steps to the parking area…

The Waterfalls. The Cunayan Falls isn’t actually that high. Actually, our initial reaction was, “This is it?” But then, the water was so clear plus, it wasn’t deep as you could just stand directly below the falls effortlessly,.. so it was very inviting for a dip!

The Cunayan Falls

So yeah, we just took a dip, literally, for our feet, haha… The water was very refreshing, it was cool.. Uhm, cold actually, perfect for summer getaways! We would have wanted to swim but then we forgot to bring extra clothes from the hotel, boo! For that, we just spent a few more minutes enjoying the cold water passing through our feet LOL.

Splash!

The Cunayan Falls is located approximately 30 minutes from Baler, Aurora.

(…to be continued)

Part 9 of the Libotero Baler Roadtrip series

DAY 2.

After exploring the Ermita Hill, we droved further southeastward to the Baler Fishport..

The Baler Fishport is where fish like blue marlin and tuna, as well as other seafoods like shrimps, crabs and lobsters are being sold at wholesale, “provincial” prices. It was almost noontime during our visit so we didn’t get to see that in action.

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Part 4 of the Libotero Baguio-Banaue Roadtrip series

DAY 1.

Inaugurated only last year, this 30-ft. Rotary Wheel by the Rotary Club of Hundred Islands (RCHI) can’t be missed when passing through the Marcos Highway in Pugo, La Union.

From La Union Province, one can take any of the 3 major roads up to Baguio City. These are the Marcos Highway (now the Aspiras-Palispis Highway), Naguilian Road and Kennon Road.

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Part 2 of the Libotero Baguio-Banaue Roadtrip series

DAY 1.

By 7:01am, we were already at the Mabalacat Interchange of the Subic-Clark-Tarlac Expressway, its only connection to the North Luzon Expressway.

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Part 1 of the Libotero Baguio-Banaue Roadtrip series

After six long years, we were finally going to visit Baguio City again! A night before our trip, I had a hard time going to sleep as I was too excited. Also, I really made sure that I won’t leave behind anything that would be essential to our trip.

And the day has come, we will be seeing Baguio City once more. We were supposed to wake up at 5 in the morning but I went ahead and got up at 4. We ate a light breakfast of bread and a chocolate drink.

At EXACTLY 5:30 in the morning, we left our home in Laguna and immediately hit the roads.

By 5:33am, we were already at the area of the Susana Heights Interchange of the South Luzon Expressway.
LIBOTERO TIP: When planning a roadtrip, consider leaving early to avoid rush hour traffic.
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