I’ve long wanted to go to the far
off place of Bolinao. For whatever reasons, it always doesn’t push through. I
and my friends were supposed to travel in Bolinao but a friend who is Pacquiao
fanatic backed-out when his fight coincides with our travel. I end up going
alone to the town of Bani which is located before Bolinao. Finally, the trip to
Bolinao became reality when my sister and her friends invited me to join them
on their year-end travel.
My sister and I took the 4:30AM
bus ride going to Alaminos on a rainy Saturday. I was quite nervous because
there was a typhoon in Mindanao which might affect the weather in the North.
The nine (9) hour travel consists of interrupted nap, sights of rice fields and
scheduled stop-over. We had an early lunch in Alaminos before we rode a bus
going to Bolinao. The trip from Alaminos to Bolinao was only about an hour.
Since it was an ordinary bus, we can feel the cold winds in our face.
We reached our resort at 1PM and
the lady in the reception area accompanied us to our room. After putting our
bags down and refreshing up a bit we went out to the beach. It was low tide at
that time so we went back inside the resort and decided to walk around the
resort.
Our second day is exploring
Bolinao. We rented two tricycles at P1, 000.00 to take our group around
Bolinao. Our first two destinations are the Bolinao waterfalls. It was an hour
ride from our resort and the roads going to the falls are not paved so expect
for a bumpy ride. There were no tourists when we arrived at the first waterfall
but we didn’t take a swim because the water is deep. We took some pictures and
left the place afterwards. The second waterfall has shallow waters but there
were few people in the place so we decided to just stay a few minutes and also
left.
Our next destination is Sungayan
Floating Restaurant for our lunch. It was only 11AM when we reached the place
but our tricycle driver said that food preparation will take some time so it’s
better that we order our food earlier. The place also gets occupied easily
because it’s a popular destination when in Bolinao. We ordered a group meal
which consists of Sungayan fish, crabs, shrimps, grilled liempo and eggplant
with onions, tomatoes and mango. The group meal also includes a pitcher of iced
tea and water. To truly enjoy our meal we requested to have our lunch in one of
their floating cottage where a boat will pull your cottage on the river for
P1,000.00.
Next destination after lunch is
the Wonderful Cave which to our dismay costs us P100.00 each for an entrance
fee but has nothing much to offer. The keeper didn’t even bother to assist us
going to the cave. The cave was just small and can only accommodate a few
numbers of people inside. Although the water of the cave was clear and cold
which feels refreshing however since the place was small and a large group
already started to go inside the cave, we’ve decide to leave and went to our
next destination.
Our next stop was the rock
formation which is very magnificent. There were huge waves crashing the rocks
and shores which made it unsafe to take a plunge on the water. We climbed the
pointed rocks and took some pictures. After sometime we decided to leave and go
to Patar beach to freshen up.
We went to the public beach in
Patar where you can enjoy a white sand beach for free. The place wasn’t that
crowded although there were a lot of people. We’ve found a spot to place or
things and we immediately wade on the water. The beach has lots of dead
seaweeds making it distracting for to swim. There were also waves but not as
huge like the one in the rock formation. The beach is also where you can buy
souvenir items like keychain, magnets and shirts.
After taking a swim at the beach
we went to our last destination which is the famous Bolinao Lighthouse.
Unfortunately the lighthouse is no longer working. Aside from the lighthouse, the
site gives a magnificent view of Bolinao.
The sun was starting to set so we decided to end
our Bolinao travel and went back to our resort where we watched the sunset.
