Surfing Baler
So, last Friday, I was on leave from the office without any plans. So, I googled how to go to Baler and asked my friend to compute 450 times 2 plus 700 plus 800. I think he said 2,300. I wasn't really listening, I was already decided on sleeping after hanging around needlessly near my workplace and waking up at midnight to pack my bag and leave.
Left home at 2:30 in the morning and rode an ordinary bus to Cubao for a 3AM bus ride to Baler. I was actually hoping for the regular bus that, from what I read, costs P450. But the JoyBus was the only bus there and the ticketing agent said the regular bus may come in at around 7AM.
So, I took the P700 JoyBus ticket, boarded the bus and by daybreak was already in Baler.
It was my first time in Baler and I have not done any research - except for googling what bus to take and around how much budget accommodation will cost. So yeah, I'm kind of an idiot.
I took a tryke from the bus station to Sabang and the tricycle driver dropped me off at what I found out later to be the Sabang Beach Break.
The waves were intimidating. I was scared I might not get to surf.
I ate a tapsilog breakfast by the beach break before heading out to look for a place to stay. At this time, I wasn't decided on staying overnight. I was thinking of surfing by the afternoon and leaving for Manila before midnight.
But the search for a place to stay dragged on unexpectedly. I barely noticed the time passing because the cool breeze by the sea made the walk quite comfortable. By the time I reached the edge of the line of either expensive or fully-booked hotels along the Sabang Beach Break, an hour has passed.
With my thighs tingling from the gravity and my heavy mass, I felt my heart beat a little faster - nervous that this might not work out well. The smile crept away from my face and I think my eyes opened a little more than usual because everything seemed to look bigger.
A tricycle driver at a terminal near the last two hotels in sight approached me. He walked beside me keeping the space open taking care not to intimidate the intimidating little girl with fierce black eyes. He accompanied me to the hotel lobbies and stayed with me while one said they are fully-booked and the other said they have a room for P1300.
I had a budget of P700 but was willing to spend double that but not for the type of accommodation that last hotel can provide. I looked at the tricycle driver and asked if he knew of a much cheaper accommodation and he said he did. He brought me to a type of accommodation I would be willing to spend double the budget for.
This is at Pleasant Valley Guesthouse. The place looked quite enormous with so much space and so many tall coconut trees. It's not the ideal beachfront accommodation but this much space will be worth thousands beachfront. Besides, it is only 300 meters from the beach - not close to the beach break, but beach just the same. It had a few tables and chairs near the pool that was located right smack center and a few hammocks close to the other side where the pond is.
The place was booked except for one small air-conditioned cottage.
In my head, I screamed: Meant for me!
The guesthouse personnel offered it for P600. My spirit squealed inside my cheapskate heart.
The trip was uphill from there. I went for a half tour of Baler since I was too early for check-in and worked out a P400 fee for checking out Ermita Hill, Diguisit Falls and the Fish Port.
The fee for a Baler Tour is P800, including the Municipal Hall, Quezon Park, Museo de Baler, Aurora Quezon Ancestral house, Baler Church, Diguisit Beach, Aniao Islets, the Ditumabo Falls and the old Balete tree.
You'd probably think half the price for three out of 10 thousand places sound much but the distance of those three sites from Sabang is quite far. Besides, Kuya Erwin deserves more than P400 for bailing me out of my misery.
I was touring on my own and, honestly, I was getting bored. I didn't even go up the trail of Diguisit Falls.
Diguisit Falls is a small body of water by the road that you either take a shot of from the bottom or trek up to see more.
Since there was a crowd gathering up the falls, I decided not to trek up to see more but took a shot from the bottom.
Mine's a cropped shot but there were a lot of plastic wrappers at the bottom, it was a shame. I hope more tourists become responsible with waste. I didn't actually see who dumped those there but I doubt the locals would go out of their way to go to the falls and dump little food plastic wrappers there.
I headed back to the hotel for check-in and surfed before sunset.
The waves were calmer than it was in the morning but I wasn't in my best shape. So... Ouch to paddling...
It was fun just the same. Will definitely come back in better shape to enjoy the waves more. (And do more paddling!)
Freshened up from surfing and ended the day with the customary surfing frozen margarita.
I toured a few of the Baler sites the next day on my own.
The tryke ride to the museum costed P12. It was quite a small museum but I took about an hour going around it, reading though the photos in display.
I think if you want a tour of Baler, the museum is the best first stop so that you'll have an educated perspective of the importance of the other sites.
Drop by the tourism office to score a map that will allow you to navigate the place without the need to ask for directions.
From the museum, before you get to the tourism office, you will see the famous Baler monument which is probably the most crowded spot of all Baler.
Within walking distance is the Baler Church and the Dona Aurora house.
I was able to listen in to the end statements of the parish priest at Baler Church.
The church was selling P90 organic rice and the parish priest was saying that the government has brainwashed people into buying white rice because of the government's gain out of its sales.
It's a message I don't often hear at church and it was quite remarkable.
After church, I went across the street to the Dona Aurora house.
The women manning the Dona Aurora house waved me away as I was about to pay the P30 peso fee when they found out that I came alone.
They told me to just go right in.
It's quite admirable that the aim does not seem to be to collect fees from everyone who comes.
Among the exemptions I liked most is that the locals are exempt from paying the fee. In most places, locals are not familiar with what's in their town because even if they can take time out of their usual routines to appreciate their towns, the fees discourage them from doing so. Exempting locals from paying the fee will encourage them to visit. Now, all they need to do is make time for it.
I hope that this will be implemented across the country to ensure that every Filipino knows the beauty of our country and richness of our culture.
From the Dona Aurora house, I took a tryke to the hanging bridge for P15.
I loved the breeze by the hanging bridge even amid the sun. I stayed there over 20 minutes before I heading back to the hotel to freshen up, pack, go to the Genesis bus station and say "See you soon, Baler."
It was 12PM when the JoyBus left the Genesis station in Baler and it got to the Genesis Cubao Station by 6:00PM.
It was a sweet swift trip and Baler is definitely a place I'll be coming back to.
Left home at 2:30 in the morning and rode an ordinary bus to Cubao for a 3AM bus ride to Baler. I was actually hoping for the regular bus that, from what I read, costs P450. But the JoyBus was the only bus there and the ticketing agent said the regular bus may come in at around 7AM.
So, I took the P700 JoyBus ticket, boarded the bus and by daybreak was already in Baler.
It was my first time in Baler and I have not done any research - except for googling what bus to take and around how much budget accommodation will cost. So yeah, I'm kind of an idiot.
I took a tryke from the bus station to Sabang and the tricycle driver dropped me off at what I found out later to be the Sabang Beach Break.
The waves were intimidating. I was scared I might not get to surf.
I ate a tapsilog breakfast by the beach break before heading out to look for a place to stay. At this time, I wasn't decided on staying overnight. I was thinking of surfing by the afternoon and leaving for Manila before midnight.
But the search for a place to stay dragged on unexpectedly. I barely noticed the time passing because the cool breeze by the sea made the walk quite comfortable. By the time I reached the edge of the line of either expensive or fully-booked hotels along the Sabang Beach Break, an hour has passed.
With my thighs tingling from the gravity and my heavy mass, I felt my heart beat a little faster - nervous that this might not work out well. The smile crept away from my face and I think my eyes opened a little more than usual because everything seemed to look bigger.
A tricycle driver at a terminal near the last two hotels in sight approached me. He walked beside me keeping the space open taking care not to intimidate the intimidating little girl with fierce black eyes. He accompanied me to the hotel lobbies and stayed with me while one said they are fully-booked and the other said they have a room for P1300.
I had a budget of P700 but was willing to spend double that but not for the type of accommodation that last hotel can provide. I looked at the tricycle driver and asked if he knew of a much cheaper accommodation and he said he did. He brought me to a type of accommodation I would be willing to spend double the budget for.
This is at Pleasant Valley Guesthouse. The place looked quite enormous with so much space and so many tall coconut trees. It's not the ideal beachfront accommodation but this much space will be worth thousands beachfront. Besides, it is only 300 meters from the beach - not close to the beach break, but beach just the same. It had a few tables and chairs near the pool that was located right smack center and a few hammocks close to the other side where the pond is.
The place was booked except for one small air-conditioned cottage.
In my head, I screamed: Meant for me!
The guesthouse personnel offered it for P600. My spirit squealed inside my cheapskate heart.
The trip was uphill from there. I went for a half tour of Baler since I was too early for check-in and worked out a P400 fee for checking out Ermita Hill, Diguisit Falls and the Fish Port.
 |
| Ermita Hill |
The fee for a Baler Tour is P800, including the Municipal Hall, Quezon Park, Museo de Baler, Aurora Quezon Ancestral house, Baler Church, Diguisit Beach, Aniao Islets, the Ditumabo Falls and the old Balete tree.
 |
| View of the Fish Port from Ermita Hill |
You'd probably think half the price for three out of 10 thousand places sound much but the distance of those three sites from Sabang is quite far. Besides, Kuya Erwin deserves more than P400 for bailing me out of my misery.
I was touring on my own and, honestly, I was getting bored. I didn't even go up the trail of Diguisit Falls.
 | |
| Diguisit Falls |
Diguisit Falls is a small body of water by the road that you either take a shot of from the bottom or trek up to see more.
Since there was a crowd gathering up the falls, I decided not to trek up to see more but took a shot from the bottom.
Mine's a cropped shot but there were a lot of plastic wrappers at the bottom, it was a shame. I hope more tourists become responsible with waste. I didn't actually see who dumped those there but I doubt the locals would go out of their way to go to the falls and dump little food plastic wrappers there.
I headed back to the hotel for check-in and surfed before sunset.
It was fun just the same. Will definitely come back in better shape to enjoy the waves more. (And do more paddling!)
Freshened up from surfing and ended the day with the customary surfing frozen margarita.
 | ||
| P180. Bayler's Inn |
I toured a few of the Baler sites the next day on my own.
 |
| Baler Museum |
The tryke ride to the museum costed P12. It was quite a small museum but I took about an hour going around it, reading though the photos in display.
I think if you want a tour of Baler, the museum is the best first stop so that you'll have an educated perspective of the importance of the other sites.
Drop by the tourism office to score a map that will allow you to navigate the place without the need to ask for directions.
From the museum, before you get to the tourism office, you will see the famous Baler monument which is probably the most crowded spot of all Baler.
Within walking distance is the Baler Church and the Dona Aurora house.
 | |
| Baler Church after Sunday Mass |
I was able to listen in to the end statements of the parish priest at Baler Church.
The church was selling P90 organic rice and the parish priest was saying that the government has brainwashed people into buying white rice because of the government's gain out of its sales.
It's a message I don't often hear at church and it was quite remarkable.
After church, I went across the street to the Dona Aurora house.
The women manning the Dona Aurora house waved me away as I was about to pay the P30 peso fee when they found out that I came alone.
They told me to just go right in.
It's quite admirable that the aim does not seem to be to collect fees from everyone who comes.
Among the exemptions I liked most is that the locals are exempt from paying the fee. In most places, locals are not familiar with what's in their town because even if they can take time out of their usual routines to appreciate their towns, the fees discourage them from doing so. Exempting locals from paying the fee will encourage them to visit. Now, all they need to do is make time for it.
I hope that this will be implemented across the country to ensure that every Filipino knows the beauty of our country and richness of our culture.
From the Dona Aurora house, I took a tryke to the hanging bridge for P15.
I loved the breeze by the hanging bridge even amid the sun. I stayed there over 20 minutes before I heading back to the hotel to freshen up, pack, go to the Genesis bus station and say "See you soon, Baler."
It was 12PM when the JoyBus left the Genesis station in Baler and it got to the Genesis Cubao Station by 6:00PM.
It was a sweet swift trip and Baler is definitely a place I'll be coming back to.
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