Baler 2016 Part 1: Balete Tree

Yehey! Finally blogging about Baler!!

Well, I know there were a lot of things that I should be blogging about pero I seriously don't know where to start so since Summer naman and sobrang overacting ang init ng panahon nowadays, I'll blog about Baler. =)

Teka side kwento lang.

I was telling my officemates that it was really hot outside especially around 12noon to 4pm. I was telling them that when I go down the building, it seemed that our floor (11th floor) is the ground floor and when you go down to the real ground floor, feels like Hell talaga. But seriously it is diba?! Gosh.. just got so lucky that Jami and Daryl stay in her Lola's condo in the afternoon so it wasn't that hot. I am staying in the office so hindi naman ako din naiinitan.

Going back, we planned Baler back in January pa. We have an officemate who grew up in Baler so we were thinking that she could at least tour us around and can suggest some local food or places we can go to. However, since the day of our trip was a week before Holy week, her family decided to go here in Manila then would go back to Baler during Holy Week. In the end, we have to go ourselves and figure things out on our own.

We booked a Van for Php12,000 which accommodated 13 adults and 3 kids. The van owner also referred us to Desiree's Lodge that costs Php3,500/night. The lodge was like a small compound/house that has a lot of rooms. They also have a dirty kitchen where guests are allowed to cook for Php200 (includes utensils, plates, pans, gas stove, water for washing the dishes and their refrigerator). The room has 3 double beds (1 double bed has a bigger bed below and a single bed above) then 1 double bed. The only downfall was, it only has 1 restroom for 13 people. Nevertheless, the place was really good for an overnight stay without spending so much. 

We left Manila at 4am and arrived in Aurora at 11am. 

Our Van driver brought us to Balete Tree since it's just along the way. We had some pictures taken outside and even inside the tall tree. 

path going inside the Balete Tree

Outside Balete Tree waiting for colleagues to go out

There were tour guides that offered to take pictures of us and amazingly captured the full length of the tree (hello Panorama!). To our delight, we gave them a small tip. =) 

Aside from the Balete tree, there's a wishing well and a lot of people having picnic under the Balete shade. 

After approximately 30-45 minutes, we headed to a local buffet restaurant along the beach which costs Php250 per head for adult and Php150 for kids 3years old and up. In my opinion, the place was disappointing. The food tasted blah and the restroom was really dirty. Although there were a lot of people coming thru, I just didn't know if they misinterpreted it to be the buffet restaurant that was featured in Kris TV just like we did (there was another restaurant with almost the same name in their town proper) or I just didn't enjoy the food since it's cold. Wasn't worth my money. 

glimpsed of Pacific Ocean, in front of the buffet restaurant

After our lunch, we headed to Desiree's Lodge so we could wash up for a little. Our itinerary for the day includes the Ditumabo Waterfalls since we've heard it's kind of tiring due to a long trek. We will be staying in Baler for only one night so we tried to include everything that we can for the day. 

Stay tuned for more.. :p