The Travel Plan

August 29, 2009

6 o’clock am was our wake-up call the next day for our first tour to Laguna. We stayed in Sta. Rosa, Laguna for the night in our friend’s house so that we would be nearer to our destinations instead of coming from Manila. Having a lot of time for touring Laguna would be one of the most important things to have with us since there are a whole lot of beautiful places to see and not just hot springs and buko pies which most people thought.

August 30, 2009

And so tomorrow came. At about 9:30am we were all set for our destinations. We were all looking forward to one trip that would give us all: a taste of good food, history, art, nature, and adventure.

When taking a trip to Laguna it was suggested to us to start from the farthest towns then make our way back visiting those nearer towns so we headed first to the two farther neighboring towns Nagcarlan and Liliw. Though it was referred as “far”, driving going there did not take so long. There was no traffic and it just took us I think about an hour and a half from Sta. Rosa to the first town, Nagcarlan.

So our list of things to do in those two towns would include the following: first, we will visit the Nagcarlan Underground Cemetery. That would be the nearest from entering the arc of Nagcarlan. They said that is really one place to see in that town because it is one of a kind and has a very rich history. Just the name itself is already intriguing so we cannot wait to see it.

Next, we would head to Nagcarlan Church to have a celebration of the Sunday Mass there. Our first mass in Laguna! After having mass, we would continue our trip going to the town of Liliw: the shoe capital of Laguna.

We would head to the next town right away, just a couple of minutes from Nagcarlan, because we would have to make a reservation in the little restaurant called Arabela. It sounded very interesting to us because they say that we would have to lower down our heads to be able to enter. Then while we would be waiting for lunchtime we would take a look at Liliw Church then start checking out the cheap and stylish shoes in Footwear Lane and some of the pasalubong there. After lunch we would have an "escape" from the city and head to the beautiful Liliw Resort.

                      Team 1: JC, Shane, Joyce        Team 2: Kat, Karina, Mikee, Bry

After our tour in Nagcarlan and Liliw we would head to San Pablo, Laguna. We would take an adventure in the huge Lake Pandin; then head to see Sampaloc Lake and visit the nearby Café Lago. After this fulfilling and tiring day we would go to Casa San Pablo and stay there for the night in their unique and relaxing rooms. The next day we would go to Tiaong, Quezon to see the creative pots in Ugu Potter’s Garden. We hope we get to create pots! As we would be heading back to Manila we would have a last stop in San Pablo Laguna again to see other places that we could not visit at night. We would tour the huge landscaped orchard Sitio de Amor, meet an artist and have “art lessons” at Carlito’s, have our last meal in Sulyap Gallery Café and then we would bid goodbye to Laguna and head back to Manila.

With all of these place ahead of us, everyone just can't hold their excitements for so long because surely these places would be wonderful and would give us the all-in-one trip we are looking for!

*For a map to some of Laguna’s and Quezon’s famous places visit:

http://www.justgo.ph/wp-content/tools/tagala-heritage/index.php