Taal has an island within a lake, that is on an island within a lake, that is on an island within the sea: Vulcan Point Island is within Main Crater Lake which is on Volcano Island, which is within Taal Lake, which is on the main Philippine Island Luzon, which is within the western Pacific Ocean.
The Taal trip was organized by our Tripzilla Philippines head honcho. Ex-Tripzilla editors are welcomed to join. If you read my previous entries, I’ve been contributing articles to Tripzilla dot com and Tripzilla Philippines since October 2014.
There are 13 of us in a group (including our driver) who will be heading to Tagaytay for the weekend. The early risers had breakfast at the pick-up point before the driver picked us up.
GEARING UP
Once we’re done rounding up our group, we get ready as soon as we got to the jump-off point in Talisay. We left our overnight bags along in the van since we will visit our Airbnb after the trek. Each of us took out small backpacks to fit all the important essentials like money, mobile phones, and tumblers. If you go on a trek, do not forget to wear sunblock. I learned my lesson the hard way in Batad. The tricky thing about the Taal trek is that it was so dusty and hot (hello, summer!) so we need to wear face masks or Headwear bandanas.
We chartered a random boatman to ferry the group to the volcano island. We split the group into 3 as the seating capacity limits only to 4 persons.
THE CLIMB
I am not a seasoned trekker, but I’ve Osmena Peak in Cebu and Batad in Banaue. Taal’s level of difficulty is 1/10 or 2/10 to some. But I was not prepared to walk under the heat of El Nino season.
My 1L of water was not enough. I have to buy 2 Gatorades and 2 more 500ml bottled water along the way. Don’t worry, there are small stalls selling water and Gatorades for the trekkers. We met a lot of horses along the way which made me wish to just ride a horse to the summit. Doing so will lose the fun and adventure of the trek. We live for the experience–good or bad.
Important takeaways for this trek: pack 2-3 bottles of water and wear sunscreen. I’m making a mental note in case I would get a chance to trek Mt. Pinatubo.
TRIPZILLA ON TOP
We reached the viewing deck, panting, sweating and swearing in between. It was too early for penance as Holy Week is still a few weeks more.
We rested for a while to hydrate ourselves. The rest of us are shooting footage for content. You can view the video post on the TripzillaPH Fan Page or here.
Our rubber shoes were living proof that we trekked Taal Volcano and got it all covered with volcanic ash, dust particles and whatever. It was a tiring but super fun weekend and our shoes can speak for themselves. A perfect bonding activity for a group of online writers and editors.
