Surfing at Baler

Day 2
Jan 26, 2014
Baler

Surfing has been in my to-do list for the longest time - it was also the main reason why I wanted to go to Baler.

The 'surfers' by Lui

Unfortunately, after two hours had passed and 600 pesos was spent on the surf board and time of instructor (that was well-spent considering what the instructor had to go through helping me surf), I still cannot cross out surfing from my list - I don't think standing on the surf board for a good two seconds (or three) can count as surfing. It is a good thing the picture below says otherwise.

Me surfing by Migs

After countless falls off the surfboard came our next adventure where falling was not an option - climbing the six centuries-old Balete tree.  It was one of those experiences that I would definitely file under 'I can't believe I just did that' list. With no harness nor safety net in place, we went up the 60-meter tree starting from the center of its root network and then went down very carefully and slowly from the outside. I think I held my breath until each one of us were safely back on the ground.

 

At 3 PM in the afternoon, we rented a few tricycles (3 persons per tricycle) at 400 PHP each to bring us to the starting point of the trek to Ditumabo falls, a 4-kilometer one-hour trek which involved navigating a rocky trail and crossing shallow rivers.