Rain, rain go away. Come again another day.”  So moaned this bored and grounded travel writer who was itching to get out of town again.  It was supposed to be the advent of the dreaded El Niño phenomenon again and, usually, mornings always promise to be a bright, sunny day.  However, expectations always turn to gloom as dark clouds always appear in the horizon by afternoon, bursting into rain hours later.  What the heck! I will go get out, rain or shine (shine I hope).

Lala, the author, Myrna, Ning and Menchie

I did find people with the same mind set from Jesu-Mariae School (JMS), my son Jandy’s school.  Joining me were Mr. Robert Castañeda, Ms. Elvira “Lala” Mañanita, Ms. Myrna Samson, Ms. Leonila “Ning” Boncayao and Ms. Menchie Fortunado.  We decided to do some overnight camping at Taytay Falls in Brgy. Taytay, Majayjay in Laguna.  We all left JMS, after lunch (1:30 PM) on 12 October, a Saturday.  The trip to Majayjay was to take all of 120 kms.. Aside from my passengers, my Mitsubishi Adventure was laden with tents, backpacks, sleeping bags and provisions.  The afternoon skies were again overcast. We traveled via the South Luzon Expressway (SLEX) all the way to Calamba City, then on to the resort town of Los Baños, Bay (the old Laguna capital), Calauan, Victoria, Pila and Sta. Cruz (the provincial capital), turning right at the junction on to a road leading to Nagcarlan, Liliw and finally Majayjay.  There were glimmers of hope as the sun shone most of the way.

Settling in our tents

The last leg was particularly winding but altogether  scenic; passing beautiful mountain scenery (1,470-m. high Mt. Cristobal and 2,177-m. high Mt. Banahaw), lanzones trees laden with ripe and read-to-harvest fruit, and clear, swift flowing rivers with bathing children and washing mothers.  It was truly a scene for a Fernando Amorsolo genre painting. We arrived at Majayjay’s poblacion by 5 PM with hopes dashed as it began to rain. We were truly in for a “wet” reception. We first paid a visit to the home of Mr. Florencio “Flory” Rosales, secretary of town councilor Rey Cube (referred to us by Mr. Manuel “Noli” Canlas, board member of JMS).  Mr. Rosales was more than kind enough to personally guide us towards the staging area for the trek to Taytay Falls, waiving the entrance fee of PhP20 per person.  He also assigned guides to assist us.  From hereon we were on our own.

It was already getting dark when we arrived at the staging area.  Normally the hike to the falls takes just 10mins..  However, this was a different story as we would be trekking in the pitch-black darkness of a rainy, eerie and moonless night.  Luckily, we had flashlights and our guides.  The narrow, two-foot wide concrete path was sandwiched between a mountain spring-fed canal running alongside the mountain on the left and deep, treacherous ravines on the right. G.I. pipe railings kept us on the safe side.  We arrived at the campsite after what seemed an eternity.

Taytay Falls

Our first face-to-face encounter with the falls would have to wait for tomorrow due to darkness but the sound of its onrushing waters would be a constant reminder of its presence.  For the time being, we had other concerns to think about. Beautiful places such as these are not well-kept secrets and the place was teeming with weekend campers from the town and Manila.  We were quite a sorry sight, drenched from head to foot by the rain, muddied, hungry and with no proper place to pitch a tent.  While our kusineras Myrna and Ning hastily prepared our dinner of fried liempo (it would have been barbecued if not for someone forgetting the grille – me), corned beef and steamed rice over my portable stove, Robert and I groped in dark for a less than suitable place (our selected site was rocky) to pitch 3 of our tents.  Once settled in, we attacked, with gusto, our prepared dinner and hit the sack early for a well-deserved but not so fitful sleep.

View of campsite from atop the falls

I woke up very early in the morning with somewhat revived spirits and a sore back (“Pwedeng pang sungka ang likod ko”).  The others soon followed, all in a similar state of mind and body.  As the early morning sun crept in, the beauty of the place slowly emerged.   No rain.  Our campsite was located beside a moderately flowing river whose icy-cold, crystal-clear waters came from the beautiful 30-ft. high waterfall located about 100 m.  away.  Everyone was excited to sample its inviting waters.  But first, my early morning coffee fix and breakfast!  As soon as it was prepared by our ever dependable kusineras, we all transferred all our stuff: tents, backpacks and prepared breakfast, to a more suitable site right beside the falls. Who cares about breakfast in bed when you can’t have it beside a beautiful waterfall!   That done, we soon settled down to a filling repast similar to what we had last night.

Our excitement to have our first dip at the falls soon turned to cowardice as we dipped our toes in the icy-cold waters of the natural pool.  Brrrr!  What the heck!  I bravely dove in and endured the shivering and the sound of my teeth clattering as my body slowly, but surely, adjusted to the temperature. After much goading, the others (Myrna, Ning, Menchit and Lala in that order of bravery) soon followed my lead.   Robert and I also did some exploring of our own by clambering up a well-defined but muddy trail to the top of the falls. It was even more beautiful here (and less crowded).  From here, we had a bird’s eye view of the campsite (our companions look like ants below), creek and the surrounding verdant rainforest.  I could stay here forever.   Back at the campsite and terra firma, we soon had our fill of the falls and its verdant surroundings, packed our tents, backpacks and other gear and soon made our way back to the staging area and our car.