Mambucal was an adventure. We got back Sunday afternoon after a day and a half of hikes, boating, horse riding, eating and tarzan swinging.
Famous for its sulphur springs Mambucal has become a great getaway for day trippers or for overnight stays. We chose to stay overnight but from all the gear we brought with us, food, cooking utensils, drinks and clothes it seemed that we were going for a whole week!
We got to the resort at half past 10 and settled into the cottages. We had each been given a schedule for meal preparation: Sheila, John and Harvey were in charge of dinner, Renante and Prezel, breakfast and Pia and myself, Sunday lunch. But for Saturday lunch we ate at Entings. What else but barbequed chicken with garlic rice.
After lunch we set out to explore Mambucal. Pia and I met up with Terai who was there for the day with her family and together with Sheila we went boating. Pia and Sheila chose the paddle boat while Terai and I got the row boat. It took us forever to get the hang of how to manuovere the boat. At least 3 times we bumped against the edge of the lagoon bank in order to push ourselves in the direction we wanted to go. By the time we figure out how to row properly, our 30 minutes was up!
Then we decided to trek up to the First Falls. Mambucal has a series of waterfalls (seven in all) that people can trek up to. The First Falls was about 15 – 20 minutes from the base of the resort. Our guide, Beboy, was pointing out the homes of tarantulas. Did you know that tarantulas caught here are sold for 300 pesos and more?
At the First Falls we took some pictures (Horatio-style) and rested for a bit. We would have gone on to the other falls but Terai was due to leave at 3.30. However when we got back down, we convinced (though it didn’t take much arm pulling) to get Terai to stay over with us. By the time we got back to the cottage the others were back from their adventures, apparently they had trekked all the way up to the Seventh Falls!
Since dinner was ages away we decided to go to the Wall Climbing and Slide for Life attractions. However these were already closed. As we made our way down, Renante’s son, Neil wanted to go horse-back riding. The poor horses were kinda anemic looking but Neil had a good time.
Swimming before the main event of the night, dinner. And what a feast! We had lechon, dinuguan, pancit canton, macaroni salad and for dessert, John’s Leche Flan which was exquisite.
More swimming after dinner and then a few rounds of Pusoy Dos. John and Renante kept losing. The seats they were in were unlucky apparently. No one wanted me to play because the last time I did (I’m a cards novice) I won most of the hands. Not bad for beginner’s luck 😀
Woke up at 6. Renante and Prezel started preparing breakfast early. A good thing too because the electric stove we had brought with us was very slow to heat up and scrambling eggs took a good half hour. After breakfast we all headed out once more, this time back to the Slide for Life. Pia, John and Sheila went first. I took some videos using Pia’s camera but I wasn’t able to get any of her because there was no more space! Soon after the others joined us and when Renante and Raymund went to try the Slide, we made Pia go just so we could get digital proof that she did it. Go P!!!
Then it was back to the cottages to prepare lunch, barbecued pork, salted egg salad and rice. We had a hard time getting the grill going but once we did we had quite a number of fire flash overs because of the juices from the pork. There was a lot of smoke and we were joking that maybe the fire brigade might come after us.
12pm was our check out time so we put all our things into the jeepney and made our way back to Bacolod.
It was great to getaway from work, to enjoy nature and each other’s company without the stress of daily work. But my muscles were aching and I was so sleepy I practically slept the afternoon away