Saturday,
26 May 2012 – Rio Villa Nuevo Resort, Indang, Cavite
It
was the adventure of a lifetime – well, not exactly. Saturday’s Indang trip may
not be the stuff epic history books are made of but it’s epic enough for a book
about my history. The trip, I hope, will be the first of many more adventures
I’ll have in my life; it was filled with fun, a bit of anxiety, and a whole
heap of inspiration.
This
trip was special because it was the first out-of-town destination I had without
the security of having my parents around. I travelled with two of my best
friends, Mai and Nikki. The plan was to originally do the trip with the whole barkada but the others couldn’t make the
trip. I actually had to lie to my parents – SORRY MOM AND DAD! – and said that
I was going with a big group when in reality we were only three people. But
still it was a blast and I made lots of new, wonderful memories to cherish.
Though
the day started a bit later than intended (*cough*Nikkiwaslate*cough*),
there was an upbeat air between us friends as we embarked on our trip to
Indang. We only had second-hand directions to go on since none of us had ever
been there so there was that feeling of anxiousness and questioning whether not
we were going to make it.
The
first mode of transportation we took was a jeep en route to Aguinaldo Highway
where we would be waiting for a bus travelling towards Indang or somewhere
close to it. The weather took a rainy turn around this time of the morning but
I was confident that it was just summer weather being moody. True enough once
we got on the bus, everything was sunny again and the heat of the sun became
sweltering.
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| (L-R) Me, Nikki, and Mai. On the bus towards Manggahan |
The
bus ride took an hour. Like most buses in the Philippines, our bus was packed.
It was one of those windowless, doors-always-open, non-air conditioned buses
with cheaper fair that relied on the wind for cooler temperatures while moving.
Lucky for us it was windy that day and we were sitting right up front the bus
where the doors were opened even though the window beside us was jammed shut.
From
the bus, we got dropped off at town called Manggahan.
We set out to buy food for lunch and ask directions to Indang. KFC was the
chosen fare and after asking the local traffic aids for which jeep to take
towards our destination, we were once more on the road.
Two
jeepney rides and more rain later, we finally arrived at Rio Villa Nuevo
Mineral Water Resort. First impressions say that the resort has gone the
one-with-nature route. There were trees all around and the air was fresh and
clean. From the distance we could hear the sound of water splashing and peals
of laughter as well as the out of tune singing of a man clearly too enthusiastic
with karaoke.
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| The first thing you see when you get to the place. |
Just
when we thought we’d reached the pools of water, we realized that it would we
still be a long way down. The man-made pools were situated down what once was a
deep ravine towards the rushing brook but now renovated to have stairs for
easier access and various structures for housing the many visitors that come to
the resort.
The
journey down the main resort area was a bit perilous for us three with all of
us worrying about slipping and falling a long, long way down. It was especially
difficult for me because my right knee was hurting. But I give myself kudos for
carrying on; I was just too excited to get to swimming already.
After
settling payments for entry fees and lodging, we got ourselves settled into our
room, which was located all the way up away from the pools area. It was another
struggle back up but the room was needed; with only us three we definitely
needed a secure place to stash our stuff while we immersed ourselves with the
fun Rio Villa Nuevo had in store.
Once in the room, all three
of us just pretty much flopped on the bed for a much needed respite from nearly
three hours of travelling. The first order of business was lunch. After all our
commuting, I was definitely famished and the KFC take-away looked mighty appetizing.
We dug in our food and talked about how our day was going to go. While eating,
we could hear the singing of the many birds at the sanctuary just below our
room. I thought that it was quite a peaceful thing to just have a meal with
close friends while we were as near as we could get to almost untouched nature.
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| Enjoying KFC in our room. I was talking on the phone with my mom when the photo was taken. |
Now for
the reason why we travelled a long, long ways from home: swimming in the famed
mineral pools of Rio Villa Nuevo. After we garbed ourselves with our swimming
clothes, we made the way down the steps towards the pools. Now, the journey
down was a bit tedious for me since I had no glasses on because I couldn’t very
well revel in the pools with them on and, like I said, my knee was hurting. I
was vision and knee impaired and I fervently begged Nikki and Mai to remain within
my seeing-capable distance and walk in a slower pace.
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(R) The dreaded steps. I tried to count how many steps there were but I ended up being too out of breath to continue.
Nikki posing by the steps (upper left). Mai making her way down (lower left) .
|
There are two kinds of people when it comes to
swimming pools – the toe-dipping, test-the-waters type and the
jump-like-a-cannonball type. My friends and I fall on the first category. Let
me tell you, it was a good thing too. The water was cold! It was a quite a
shock to the body when we first got in but soon we adapted and were having fun
swimming around and goofing off. The water was clean and lacked the smell and
taste of chlorine. Everything was so refreshing and the water was flowing
towards the creek and the teeming nature added to the refreshing feel.
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Just by the landing of the steps. Water flows towards the creek where people can sit and relax. A kiddie pool
where the younger visitors can swim safely. |
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The first pool area. This was earlier in the day so there were still only quiet a few people around.
The girls and I stayed here for the most part. |
We decided to explore the other pools in the area. The first one we were in was the closest to the steps so we naturally gravitated towards it but, again, there were other pools so we ventured to them, thinking that maybe there’s a better pool to swim in. The pool we tried next was adjacent to our first people, shaded with trees and had open cottage areas near it. First impression was that it wasn’t so clean, especially since it was nearer to the area with the most people. There were people grilling and smoke was all over the place, but still we braved it out and got in. I visibly cringed when I felt the pool floor; it had a slimy texture to it and I all but hollered for us to get out and move on to the next pool. The next pool was no good either. It was right next to the “slimy pool” and there were a lot of people as well; too many for our liking. The last pool, the one with the slide, was too deep for Nikki and I. At just over five feet and swimming skills limited to just treading water, we were certain that we would drown. Mai would probably just laugh at us. Also, like the last two pools, it was packed with people and it was too far from the stairs leading up to our rooms. In conclusion, the first pool was the best and cleanest, so in the first pool we stayed.
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The fourth pool. The one with the slide and the deepest at the depth of six feet. I would be no
match; I'm only just over 5 feet tall. |
By early
afternoon, with my insistence, we got out of the pool and took the time to
capture some photos of our trip. Being that there are only three of us and all
of us wanting to go swimming, there wasn’t anyone else to take pictures of us
frolicking and generally being wacky. We took turns taking pictures of each
other all over the resort – from seemingly unstable bamboo bridges, to flowing
creeks, mini waterfalls, dark cave-like entrances and everything else in
between. We did all these with a big container of Pik-Nik in tow, eating
shoe-string potatoe fries in between shots.
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| The girls and I striking our separate poses on this bamboo bridges. It was a bit nerve-wracking to be on it to honest. |
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| Mai and I trying to get down to the creek without breaking our necks! |
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| Me and Mai in the creek with the water rushing around us. |
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| The trip wouldn't be complete without us posing some kind of crazy. :] |
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| Posing at the mini waterfall. I don't know if it was just me but the water seemed extra cold here. |
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| Nikki and I with Mai. Plus our constant companion Pik-Nik. |
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| Obligatory photo of Pik-Nik companion. |
If you ask my friends and I what highlight from
the trip we would remember most, we would all answer “The Slipper Incident.”
Here’s how that goes: We were taking pictures in the creek, rocks and rushing
water everywhere. As we were moving to another area high up from the creek, we
decided to take a shortcut and climb over a low bridge, maybe raised about two
feet from the water, instead of going back up and around. It was easy enough to
get over the bridge and we helped each other up. What happened was as I was
being assisted up by Mai and Nikki, my slipper, well, slipped from my foot and
it was too late for me to grab it before it went under the bridge and floated
into the part of the creek where the currents flowed faster. I just pretty much
waved at my slipper goodbye and was sure that I would never get it back. Who
knows where the creek led to? But my friends were confident that the slipper would
be recovered. I went to ask for help from the resort caretakers and one of the
guys went with me to help out. I explained to him what happened and he said “Kaya pa yang makuha (We can still get it
back).” He went down the creek in an
area where the land was steep going into the water, using the many surrounding
plants for support and he disappeared among the thick shrubbery, into the
creek.
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| My slipper flowed through here... |
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| ...and disappeared here. |
Minutes
upon minutes passed and my imagination just ran away. Maybe something happened
to the helpful guy? Was he in trouble? Did he break a leg or something? Did he
fall into his unplanned doom? Did I make
him fall into his unplanned doom? I was holding my breath and slightly
panicking. I remember saying that if my other slipper couldn’t be recovered, I
would let my other slipper go as well. I mean, what used would I have of a
single slipper. Maybe someone will find both slippers out there and use it for
their own or some whimsy thinking on my part. While all this was going on, Mai
realized that she’d misplaced the Pik-Nik. She went back to wherever we were
last and surprising enough she came back with it. I figured that if the Pik-Nik
could be recovered then there was hope for my slipper.
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| The last slipper. |
All of
the sudden, someone was calling us from behind. It was
the resort caretaker and he had my slipper with him! I let out a sigh of
relief. I now had a pair of slippers
again and I didn’t send some poor guy to his doom. Phew! I could not thank him
enough. I actually asked if I could take his photo so I’d have something to
show when I got to tell this story but he shied away from it. I didn’t even get
his name. So whoever he is, I say again, “thank you” for getting my slipper
back. He’s a hero.
The rest
of the day was just filled with more swimming and getting to spend time with
each other. I’m pretty sure we exhausted ideas for conversations. We also had
fun teasing Nikki about one of the cute guys she noticed by the pool. It was
just us three playing around, relaxing without a care of the world back home.
It was the first trip we ever took together and it was monumental; we three
have been friends for near a decade.
The last
thing I recall from Rio Villa Nuevo was me lying near the edge were the water
flowed towards the creek. I was looking up through the canopy above, seeing a
blue sky, and feeling peaceful. For all the trouble I was putting up with that
week, lying there just made me think that my life’s not all bad. I got to have
an adventure with two of my closest friends. I got to experience nature at its
most amazing. I am lucky and I will forever remember my trip to Indang.
