MAY 21, 2016
DIFFICULTY LEVEL (according to TA site): 2/10
I became lazy again to update my site — it’s always an on-and-off relationship with blogging, or more of documenting travels as I always tell (or correct) my friends since I rarely write here.
So, after exactly 9 months, I have decided to finally write about my 2nd hike last 2016, which happened in Mount Gulugod-Baboy.
Just like the previous hike, I booked this trip via Trail Adventours and was accompanied by Tin. Our main guides this time were Jeric and JP, who were both funny and easy to talk to.
We were blessed that we had a good weather that day so we did not worry about muddy trails and getting wet in the middle of the hike. We had 2 main rest points, wherein we spent about 15 minutes in each point to catch up our breath and eat our trail food. It was also the place where we got to know fellow hikers in the group — plus shared our food (and be on the receiving end too – yay for free snacks!).
We reached the summit in about 2 hours and the view was absolutely stunning! We spent almost an hour there before starting our hike back to the parking lot for lunch time.
After lunch time, we changed into our swimming attire since TA package included a trip to Sombrero Island (called as such because the island is hat-shaped). We hopped on the rented boat and according to the guides, the island was once a free-for-all place. However, it has been declared as a “private property” hence there are fees to be paid, including renting a cottage. The island was just small but it looked quite difficult to go around the whole island since there were areas which were too rocky.
Swimming in the sea was more than welcome because we were there at past 1PM and the sun was shining bright (so much that it was awfully hot). We had to wear our slippers though while swimming since the bottom was full of small rocks instead of purely sand. Nevertheless, the sea was crystal clear and had different shades of blue.
We left Batangas mid-afternoon and while the traffic going back to Manila was quite heavy, the exhilarating hike and swim were more than enough to maintain a really happy mood. Another great hike from TA and we will surely be booking another hike with them soon!
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