Apr 26, 2011

Romantic Zambales Getaway Day 1 : NAGSASA Cove

3 couples bound to a remote and secluded rendezvous with no cell signal and electricity is definitely something to look forward to. Little did I realize that this getaway would turn out to be one of the most meaningful, almost magical and the least expensive trip I had in a long while. I've never done camping in my years of existence, so this is my first legit experience and I survived it with so much fun!

We started the road trip to Zambales by taking the 11:30 pm last trip of Victory Liner at  Pasay last April 7. Our first night was spent on a cramped bus full of standing passengers. Lucky for us we had early reservations so we were comfortably seated near the front.We arrived San Antonio by 3:30 am, April 8 and hailed a tricycle to bring us to Pundaquit, where my contact boatman, Kuya Henry resides. He let us stay at his small cottage while we wait for the market to open by 6am and buy our food supplies for our 1 night stay at Nagsasa cove. While waiting, we pulled out our "baon" on the table and had our first real breakfast on this province.  Kuya Henry provided us a thermos of hot water while my friend Cooky came so well prepared sharing with us his tasty bread, ginisang corned beef, hotdog, and egg sandwich spread. Many thanks guys, very well appreciated :-)


I just love this shot clearly depicting the normal provincial setting .... papag, kulambo, liwanag ng bombilya, tabing, lumang thermos, kawayang mesa atbp ... so laidback!

We head straight to Nagsasa Cove and arrived there after a little more than an hour. The boat ride ran smooth without fail and reaching Nagsasa afterwards made me heave a sigh of relief . I think I will never get used to riding boats, the scare factor is always there, reminded me of the time, decades back when I almost drowned when the boat I was riding turned around, life vest is always a must  when I jumped on a boat. But seeing Nagsasa is so much worth the effort, I'm truly awe inspired!

 hills and pine trees, white sand and clean blue water, remote island .... just magical!

It's Friday morning when we got there and you can actually count the number of people around, which is a good thing. We found a nice cottage at the front beach, pitch our tents around and started preparing for our lunch in the island. A camping setup always requires extra effort but there lies the beauty of team effort to make it fun and enjoyable and we managed to do just that. Tin is in charge of cooking, I assist her in preparation (sometimes, hehe)  The other couple took turns in washing the dishes.

my guy and his best bud in charge of grilling


I read before that there's no CR here, no electricity at night, well times have changed. There are numerous cottages around. There's a CR at the back of our location. A hose of flowing freshwater from some upstream outside, you just get yourself a pail of water before entering the CR to do your thing. Also spotted another CR on some part and another on construction at the moment. There's also a generator that provides electricity at night, well I'm happy for these little comforts that matter. I think they charge us a 100 pesos for the electricity and also 100 pesos for the cottage. Also worthy of mention is our boatman Kuya Henry for lending and providing for us all our cooking needs. Thanks a lot Kuya, sa uulitin! =)

our first lunch at Nagsasa

Our lunch menu, sinigang na shrimp, inihaw na pusit at inihaw na tilapia .... that's seafoods galore, a product of our team effort.... yummy!!!

After having  that hearty lunch at 10:30am, the guys already started their tequila drinking session while enjoying the beautiful scenery around.


The sun was at its highest when everyone decided to visit the small falls which the Ate in charge (forgot her name) was offering us. The tour guide fee is ridiculous, 100 pesos per head but Tin was able to lower it down to 70, but still I think it was too much. Still we pushed through and they only reminded us to bring water and something to eat. Little did we know it will be a long 1 hour walk to an open field of burned bushes and heated sand, where walking is so difficult that almost felt like your feet is on fire plus that rocky terrain where I almost gave up.


Our only consolation is the picturesque view along the way that this place offers. Well its snapping while complaining, hehe!

me and alvin - photo taken by czar

We kept asking the guide "kung malapit na?" The scorching heat is really difficult to bear. I had to douse my feet with my drinking water just to be able to continue.

This is the first time that a guide irritated me so much.  He's just merely walking ahead of us and wont give you an accurate answer when you ask him something. We also reached a part where we had to cross some parts with ongoing fire, it scared me as we might get trapped if we pushed thru. You can see in his eyes, the uncertainty. We stopped for a bit, he rested on this tree seemed unsure if its better to retreat or move on. Finally he saw some light when some peeps where coming towards us who just came from the falls. The girl actually said its not worth it, but since were actually more than halfway, we proceeded. At the back of my mind this guide should be the one paying us for the troubles we had to go through. I learned later that this is just his 2nd or 3rd time to guide a group of people, he's not a local, and that explains it. So me thinks, there's probably a shorter and easier way to get to the falls if we hired a seasoned local.

My agony got harder when we reached the rocky terrain. I almost gave up when I saw a difficult portion to climb, my bf is ahead of me so he had to go back coz I have no plans of continuing any further, no energy to pull myself up. We rested for a few minutes, with some convincing and some energy regained, my bf led me all the way to the falls while the guide was just merely staring at us from afar.

And much to our dismay, when we reached the place, there was no flowing water to speak of, it dried up. I thought the guide was kidding when he said this is it.


Somehow, swimming in this cold water helped us relieved the heat and the stress of that long hike. We spent an hour or so here before getting back, just merely bracing ourselves for another hour of difficult walking. And by the way going back seemed  a little easier, but still it gave me some bruises and a little cut on my feet.

711 sa Nagsasa
We were all thirsty and hungry when we got back by 3:30pm. We scampered for leftovers from our lunch, bought a liter of Coke in the nearby store which is by the way prized twice the normal and then satisfied our hunger. Afterwards everybody went swimming, snapping pictures and eagerly waiting for the sunset.




Dinner time then drinking time followed. The howling winds made it a little chilly outside, but inside our cramped tent, the temperature is just enough to sleep comfortably.  It was a beautiful starry night, so lovely and romantic indeed!!!

To be continued ..........  :-)))

3 comments:

  1. grabe pala talaga yung naging forest fire sa Nagsasa... haizt!!!

    hope someday maka-recover na cya...

    i like your site! i've added u on my blog roll and followed u too... keep it up!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Wow, that photo of yous guys walking through burnt grass and trees evoked drama. Love the shot! I miss Nagsasa Cove :( We spent the last day of our honeymoon there. Hihi.

    ReplyDelete
  3. @pinoy adventurista, thanks, my pleasure .... your site is very informative especially for my future travels ... followed you as well :)

    @pinay travel junkie, thanks for the message, followed u too, ganda din ng site mo... nagsasa is indeed very romantic, sarap balikan ....

    ReplyDelete

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