It had been a bit since we'd gotten out of the city, and the temps are now in the 80's, so we decided it was finally cool enough to go out and see the Taal Volcano. :) (When we got here, the temps were about 100 F. most days, so this is "cool" in comparison.)
We drove a couple of hours out of Manila on a Saturday morning, leaving at 6:30 to beat the heat and traffic. The boys ate bags of dry cereal in the van and watched a DVD, so no issues with them. They're getting a lot more flexible about getting up and out as they get older.
We found out about a hotel on the lake from a friend from church that would let us park our car and then take us across Taal Lake to the volcano, wait for us, and then bring us back. The boat ride took about 40 minutes one way. We passed floating wooden structures with fishermen throwing out fish bait into the lake.
This village was our destination. We're talking bamboo huts and chickens running around and even a foal following its mother.
For some crazy reason, we initially thought we'd just hire one horse to go up and take turns riding it. It didn't take long to realize that that idea was just nuts. This is the back side of Taal, and its a little less touristy and more remote, and the trail is also steeper at points.
We ended up hiring 4 horses, and David later regretted his decision not to rent one for himself. Each horse came with a horse driver that would either ride behind one of us or walk behind or beside us holding a rope. We walked up to the mounting blocks, and they would motion for one of us to get on, then the driver would get on behind, and they were off.
I decided I must be at least a little brave as I watched my kids riding off ahead of me, sitting in front of Filipino guys who don't speak much English. This was after I'd signed a waiver completely in Tagalog. Wait for me, kuya!!! :)
We rode through waving cogon grass, and the morning was so lovely. I could hear bird calls unlike any you hear in the U.S. in addition to the driver clucking to the horse in my ear. We got to the top and took a rest for water and a few pictures with the crater lake in the background. It was a really bad air quality day, but the view was still great.
From this point, we rode downhill through the woods to the lake. The trail down was somewhat steep in places, and David can tell you that the horses were more sure footed than he was. :) You can see the white sand of the little beach where we ended up to the right in the picture above.
We'd come prepared for a swim in the crater lake. So, to get this straight for everyone, we live on an island, the largest island in the Philippines, called Luzon. We drove to a lake on this island, called Taal Lake. We then took a boat across that to a volcano, and then swam in the lake inside the volcano. So all my guys were swimming in a lake on an island that's in a lake on an island. :)
Taal hasn't erupted since 1977, but it is still a volcano. This lake had bubbling and boiling spots in it, so we were told where it was safe to swim. The water was warm and sulfurous, but nothing too hot. We wore old bathing suits because we'd been told the sulfur would stain them, and it did, though the stains did end up coming out. :)
Ben's driver spoke the best English. I sat with him and the other drivers in this little cogon grass hut, watching my guys swim. I've gotta say that it was a surreal moment when I told him that we were learning some Tagalog, including how to sing "Bahay Kubo," and he gave me a big smile and broke into song. We ended up singing together, me and this native driver in a cogon hut on the side of a volcano. How cool is that, right?
This trip took all morning, but we were back at our car by about lunchtime, hot and sweaty and with feet covered in black volcanic soil. Tita Emma, who owns this hotel on the side of Taal Lake, met us at the dock with cold calamansi juice. The boys ran around the green and shady grounds, and we gathered our belongings for the drive back.
In the van, David and I high fived each other. We came, we saw the volcano, and we conquered. It takes some guts to try this kind of thing for us, and you never know what you're gonna get when you head out of Manila because the landscape and the culture still feel so unfamiliar, but its been totally worth it.
If you'd like to replicate our trip, just contact Tita Emma and she'll help you out. Talisay Green Lake Resort was easy to find, just off the main road, and we just used Waze to get there. I don't remember the rates right now, but I remember that it was a little cheaper than the Yacht Club next door for a boat to take us there and back again. We didn't get a package with lunch because we wanted to get back earlier in the day. The resort is nicely landscaped and clean, and there was even a swing set that our boys enjoyed playing on while we sat in the gazebo and finished our calamansi juice.
You can text Emma at 0917 810 9192, and the resort landline is 63 43 773 0247.
This ended up being a relatively easy day trip, and I know we'll end up doing it again. :)
