Baler Trip 2016: Hanging Bridge and Ermita Hill

OMG! May na!! We’re almost halfway through 2016! I can’t believe it..

Anyway, I realized that I only had 3 blog post for the month of April. Ouch! That sucks! Really sorry for being a bad blogger. I actually have a lot of things to blog about pero I can’t find a time to do so. I am off track with how I wished to blog pero wala eh, busy with work, sideline and personal life.

Well, it’s always not late to start blogging again, I guess. This time, I would like to continue my Baler Trip because it’s still summer! Hello?? =)

Our final day to Baler was to visit any last places we can manage to before heading our way home. Well, we sure want to visit Ermita Hill since it was said to be a safe place during Tsunami. My officemate who was raised in Baler said that there were only 8 families who survived the Tsunami/Tidal Wave of some sort years and years ago because they all went to Ermita Hill. Exciting isn’t it? I won’t miss that for the world. =)

Our plan was to swim in the beach early in the morning. We have to hit the road before noon so we could still have the chance to buy pasalubong. Besides, our driver doesn’t want to go up and down the mountain in the late afternoon. Unfortunately, I woke up late – 8am and that made me feel like it was 11am already. I don’t know why but I felt a little panic that my officemates were having a good time swimming while I just woke up! Kamusta naman yun! Ahahaha. So what I did, I I asked Jami to swim immediately but he was so scared of the beach! Really scared he kept on crying. Ayaw na ayaw nya ng beach talaga because it’s salty, it hurts his eyes, waves are crazy (most of the beaches we went to) and probably he’s overwhelmed with how big the sea could be. Sounds familiar, nagmana sakin si Jami. =)

We had our homemade breakfast cooked by Ibyang, our officemate. Took a bath then check out from our lodge. We hit the road around 10am already. We went to Hanging Bridge which I didn’t think was included in our itinerary. We went off the van and checked out a stall that sells souvenir items. Shirts costs Php150 both for kids and adults. I was thinking if this was the best deal since we haven’t been to any souvenir shops in the market. I opted not to buy anything since I bet we could find a lot cheaper souvenir items along the way.

nakahubad because it was really hot!!

Some of our officemates no longer wish to cross the bridge as it looked like just a normal bridge you see plus, it was really hot that day. But for the sake of Jami’s first time on a hanging bridge, naglakas loob talaga ako. I was just really lucky that Daryl was carrying Jami all along because I can’t contain myself! I didn’t know that the bridge was really long and that the wind blew really strong it sure can sway the bridge!! Grabe! Natakot ako while crossing the middle part of bridge. Some locals who saw me from down there were laughing at me. Hmp! Anyway, what was below the bridge looked like a continuation of the sea so I felt really scared that the water could be more than 5 feet deep! Nyay!!

it was the other part of the bridge na after we crossed.

Going back to the other side this time. Family picture! :)

We took some photos then off we go to our next stop!

Ermita Hill!!

I was really excited to see what it offers! Well, literally, it was a real hike. Mountain top kasi kaya Ermita Hill. We took pictures of the statues that symbolizes the 8 families who went up there during Tidal Wave that wiped out the whole province. It was a really steep way going up although stairs are provided for tourists’ convenience. But since we were so tired of the hike we did yesterday at Ditumabo Mother Falls, nanginginig na ang mga tuhod ko kada akyat!

There isn’t so much to see in Ermita Hill aside from the breathtaking view of the Pacific Ocean! I can’t believe it, dati I can only read them in books, but now, I am looking at it.. LIVE! We went up to this little stage at the very peak where we saw people or probably students, having some practice with their dance recital.

We saw this stairs going up the mountain. I was intrigued on what was above it although I saw a huge cross from above. The ice cream vendor said that there isn’t so much to see on that part of the mountain anymore but still we headed to the top. It was a really long stairs going up that reminded me of Mt. Tapyas in Coron, Palawan. I admired Daryl for carrying Jami most of the time which made me less tired. Lol. We were the only people to climb that part! I felt scared baka may serial killer sa taas! Lol.

you see the mountain top? Yun yung inakyat namin na hindi well maintained, super sayang (from Kaye's phone)

Anyhow, the ice cream vendor was right as the mountain top wasn’t maintained well. There’s nothing much that you could see except the trees and plants that are too tall to see the 360 view of Pacific Ocean or Aurora itself. I felt sad since it could attract more tourists to go up here if it was maintained and if they made a view deck there. Although I was told that during holy week, people would go up to the cross.

The driver took us back to the market to buy some souvenirs. Near I ♥ Baler sign (you should see this because there’s always a lot of people lining up to take pictures), there was a tiangge that sells souvenir shirts. After some haggling, I got my shirt for Php150, Daryl’s dri-fit muscle shirt was for Php150 too and Jami’s shirt was for Php100. That was a lot better compared to Php150/each shirt from a souvenir shop near Hanging Bridge.

We headed home after our souvenir shopping and opted to have our lunch in Cabanatuan since we would like to cross Sierra Madre before late afternoon. We had our late lunch and early dinner in Robinson’s Mall in Cabanatuan and headed straight home after. Oh! I forgot to tell you na walang phone signal sa Baler, so lahat kami, hindi makapag social media! Lol.

That's it for our overnight Baler Trip! It was a lot of fun!! Can't wait for more out of town trips with my friends here in the office. =)