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My trip to Taal Volcano on December 29, 2008 was THE trip that gave birth to The Lakwatsero and my many adventures that were to follow.

For this weekend, my original plan was to go to Donsol which became a Skydiving adventure… which also didn’t push through. So on Friday I decided to go back to Taal Volcano. Why go back? A few nights earlier I saw a travel show on TV (I don’t recall the show or the channel so don’t ask). In the feature the female host talked about being able to cook an egg while in the crater of Taal.

The show made me recall that during the first trip, I remember seeing down to people who went to the water in the crater. I remember asking our guide who said that it was possible. What he didn’t quite explain was how and where to go. Anyway… it was decided… BACK TO TAAL I go!

What was to follow was a different experience from the first, and I was very happy with this Lakwatsa.

In times of instant travel plans, I usually tag along Patrick Mineses aka “Kaladkarin”. For Southern trips, I pass for him at the McDonald’s at Alabang Town Center. Meeting time… 7:00am.

After picking him up, we were on our way to Tagaytay. We got to Tagaytay at around 8:30am and I proceeded to road which goes down to Taal Lake. As we passed half way… just as before we picked up a tour guide from a tourist look out point. He parked the car, then boarded the boat… and we were off!

En route to the island/volcano I mentioned to our boat guy that I had already been to the peak and that this time I wanted to go inside. That’s when he told us that we needed to go to the back of the island… not the “front” (I refer to the front that area nearest to Tagaytay). He said that on the other side, were was another station to dock and there are also horses there. It is of course farther, and costs more (P3,500 instead of P1,500). Pat and I looked at each other for a moment and agreed.

We passed that little volcano which most people who look at Taal from Tagaytay assume is the actual Taal Volcano. Well… no. It is part of Taal… but is not the main volcano… it is, a mini-volcano. Not sure what the right term is, maybe it’s a huge vent?

 

We had to make a quick stop at the original drop off point to get gas. Yes… gas. I didn’t get it myself. So don’t ask. We then proceeded to the back.

What happened next was quite a pleasant surprise. Between the towns, we got to see another source of income… fishpens. I found it fascinating.

En route we saw these small habited islands.

Upon “landing” we were planning on make the trek by foot. But it was hot. Very hot. So we decided to take horses instead. Only costing P900 each, it was good that we did take the horses.

We rook a short stop at the top… took a few pictures

We then got back on our horses, then proceeded down.

We got down. A sight more reminiscent of Mt. Pinatubo. BREATHTAKING!

But I must say… it seemed to me… nicer and more majestic than Mt. Pinatubo.

What was fascinating about Taal was that it isn’t as “dead” as a I thought. Patrick went down to the water and… it was hot!
 

We walked around to a spot with lots of steam vents.

The area was full of these steam vents. And the vapors smelled of sulfur… of course. And it was hot… full of boiling water. Of course it was nice walking around exploring all of these. If this was in the US… you wouldn’t get to do this. There would probably all of these safety precautions preventing tourists from walking up to these places. Good thing this isn’t the US with their over safety-conscious officials.
 

I decided to take out my Flip Cam and do a video channeling my inner Sir Richard Attenborough. Hehe… NatGeo I am not.

 

You can’t see it in this picture but up near the center is the lookout point had you come up from the “front”. I must say it was good that I went up there the first time. This trip was so much better putting the first trip to shame.

By around 11:30… we decided to head back to Tagaytay. It was getting real hot and of course we were hungry. We rode on the horses and we were off. At lunch in Tagaytay and I was back home in Quezon City by 2pm.

All in all… a great trip! A good lakwatsa! I highly recommend this. 

Me ‘n my horsey

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