If someone will tell you that boatmen from Pagsanjan are hardworking, it will be an understatement. Seriously, I couldn’t find a word to best describe our experience when we had the chance to visit Pagsanjan for the first time. Surreal may be overused, but it’s the closest that I can think of.
We started our trip with a bus ride from Manila to Santa Cruz, Laguna. It took us a couple of hours to get there, shorter than expected though. No traffic jams, no hassles, no nothing! Sweet! Just Sweet! The original plan was to stay in Mount Makiling, home of the Philippine High School for the Arts (Christian’s Alma Mater). But we realized that a twenty four hour stay in Pagsanjan would not suffice in order to enjoy the place. Thus, we scrapped the Makiling idea.
It was a piece of cake finding a hostel in Pagsanjan. They are scattered everywhere like Starbucks in Ayala Avenue. Upon arrival, we had a quick arrangement for the boat trip and the overnight stay. To cut it short, we were able to get a 3300 package (shoestring backpacking at its finest). After taking a power nap, we were asked by the hostel manager to take the Pagsanjan Falls trip to avoid the heavy influx of Korean tourists in the afternoon. Turned out, manong manager was dead serious. On our way to the falls, we were greeted by a lot of Korean tourists. When I say a lot, I mean a lot! We were accompanied by two boatmen during the trip, and I must say that the boat ride was the most memorable part of it. The river trail is approximately seven kilometers and it would take at least an hour to reach the main fall (Magdapio Fall). Everyone’s goal is to see the main fall, but we didn’t expect that the river trail would be as fun as reaching the main fall. The trail didn’t go smooth as expected. There were shallow parts that forced our boatmen to literally pull our boat. Their effort was unbelievable, but their precision was admirable. When we finally reached the main fall, we didn’t waste time and quickly jumped on the raft that brought us underneath the raging fall. The water was furious and cold. I was shivering the whole time. Christian on the other hand was unaffected. But it didn’t take long and we were headed back to dry land. I thought of going for a swim, but the coldness of the water was too much to bear. Hence, we settled in taking pictures and admiring Magdapio from afar.
Ticket and Luggage 