Weekend in Baler with HS Friends
My friends from high school decided to go on a trip to Baler. We have been friends from some time but rarely do we make trips out-of-town together so this one is one of the firsts.
After work, we headed to Baler by midnight via a black Grandia, a van we hired for only 12,000 Php. This includes trips to and from Manila, tour around Baler, gas, toll fee and our driver’s food and accommodation. For eight people, this was sulit enough.
The land trip was pretty fast. Half way to Baler, we reached Cabanatuan by three in the morning. By dawn, we were in Nueva Vizcaya. We stopped for some coffee and hot fresh pandesal at a local bakery. And by seven, we arrived at the famous six-century-old (or so) Balete tree.
I barely got any sleep while the rest of the gang was able to get a nap on the way. Aside from my cough and sleepless night, another spoiler had to ruin the trip for me: the rain.I did get a glimpse of the magnificent tree, also managed to get in it with my friends but I was falling ill and I could not wait to lay my body to bed.Next stop was not the hotel, no, not just yet. But to the Rolling Store. I am assuming that because it was too early in the morning, there were not much of a choice for food to choose from. Plus, the place was not conducive enough to eat since tables and chairs were wet from the rain. So we opted to grab breakfast at the nearby tapsilog-an.
After a barely satisfying meal, we went to the nearby Museo de Baler. Entrance is for free with an option to donate a few peso for the maintenance and improvement of the place. There is not much to see but I did pick up some bits of history from the pieces displayed and that, for me, was enough to make it a bit interesting. It was just disappointing to see people just going there to take some snaps and not care about what were displayed at all. All they cared about was to have their photo taken and I seriously doubt they have any idea what the object entails and that frustrates me a lot.
It was still raining when we finished going around the museum but we chose to take a walk to the underwhelming church nearby, stopping by the municipal hall to get our photo taken by this sign.
I did not bother getting in the church. Instead, I headed to Doña Aurora’s house which is just across the street. Entrance was also for free although you have to get your name registered before going in. It is a cozy house. A simple traditional Filipino home. I am impressed by how it was maintained and restored because until now, I barely see any falling pieces. It was good as new.
Downstairs, the old ride of the then Philippine president, Manuel Quezon, is displayed. Classic car. It was huge, I never thought a car of this model was this massive.
It actually reminded me of my grandfather’s car back in their time. I saw a photo of this with my father and aunt in it and I wondered how ten people could fit in. Now I know how. It’s enormous.Just before noon, we checked in our hotel in Casitas Bed and Breakfast. It was so cute! In a nipa hut-styled room, you have a tambayan and when you get in the room, you have a bed for two, one side table and a shared bathroom that goes through the other area for two. It was a tiny space but it was enough for us.My friends went to trek Mother Falls after settling down while I took the most wanted nap and rest. Disrupted by my intense coughing from time to time, I was able to rest for a good two hours and take a shower too, just in time for my friends to head back to the hotel to come pick me up for a late lunch.This time, since the rain stopped and the sun decided to show itself for a couple of hours, we headed back to the Rolling Store. We shared blue marlin, pork chop, salted egg and tomato with rice. There was a nearby teashop and my best friend’s boyfriend and I, being milk tea enthusiasts, could not help ourselves but buy a cup of tea!The skies were turning gray once again so we rushed back to the van and back to the hotel to drop our things and head to the beach before night fall. My friends went surfing while my best friend, her boyfriend and I built a sand castle - something I never did as a child. We were not able to build a very good one despite my friends being engineers and knowledgeable on the structure and what not.We ended the exhausting day with a group dinner at Bayler where we finally met up with another friend, her husband and their baby who were able to join us later that day.
We got a shot at surfing the following day when the sun was finally up. For 350Php an hour, an instructor (a very patient one!) from Mahdox Surfing School taught us the basics of surfing and we got to try it out ourselves. I didn’t last an hour though because I couldn’t breath (was still sick!). It was frustrating n my end because the waves were excellent, perfect for surfing! Oh well, maybe some other time if i gather enough courage to face the open sea again. By noon, we were off for one last meal at Baler then back to Manila.Spent around 5,000 Php for everything from accommodation, transportation, food, souvenir and misc. After two trips to Baler (first one last May 3014), I could conclude that it’s not really a place to sight-see or go on a food trip. Baler is simply meant for surfing.