Retreat Experience at Taal Volcano in Tagaytay

My Excitement and Preparation

On November 24,I got an e-mail from Denise (English) our International Students retreat organizer. It was the very night that I was finalizing my final paper for Theology 2 for 2010-11 first semester. Being exhausted with the load of paper, it was such a cool e-mail to receive that read we are going to have outing at Tagaytay City where the Taal Volcano is. I just prayed that tomorrow will be a fine day. Our call time was 5 O' clock in the morning. Oh! It was kind early after being tired of papers and all the energy that I got had been spent to focus on paper. But my excitement to visit Taal Volcano recover all my tiredness.

So I set my alarm clock on my cell phone so that I would not be late. This is my personal legacy which I would like to maintain that I don't wanna be the person who is being waited for when it comes to gathering as well as any appointment. Indeed, I was the first to arrive at the gathering venue. We were able to leave at 5:30 am. We hired a van. We, eight persons, can easily fit in the van. Then we set off for Tagaytay where our destiny is.

We are There!

When we arrived at Tagaytay City, it was about 9 am. So it took us about 3 hours drive from Manila to Tagaytay. Since it was breakfast time. We took our breakfast and coffee at Jolibee which is a counter part of McDonald in Philippines. After that we prepared to go down through the road along the mountain to reach at the Taal Resort. When we got there, we hired boats to cross the other side of the sea. We must cross the sea since the Volcano is situated in the middle of the sea. We hired two boats. One boat can carry six persons at maximum. One boat costs 1500 pesos (USD 30). On a15 minutes of riding the boat, we can feel the fresh air over the sea. Coming from the Metro Manila where Air-pollution is so bad, it was such a refreshing moment to breathe such air.

Horseback ride and Mountain Climbing

As soon as we alighted from the boats, the horse-back personnels came to us and led us to the place of horse-back ride. There are many horses but they are quite too small compared the horses that we have in Burma. But I trust they are well-trained and strong enough to carry human. The horse-back ride costs 400 pesos (USD10). It is not bad. But we decided to walk on foot for experience except some kids and women that we brought along with us. So we climbed on the mountain which is 2 km in distance. It was truly a challenging. Sometimes I thought that I would lost my breathe. But it is worth trying. Finally we got on top of the mountain. There are souvenir shops as well. From the top of the mountain, we can have a beautiful view of the Taal Volcano. See photo.1.

The air was so refreshing. We drank coconut juice. It was a soul quenching to drink than I ever tasted it before. We took group photos. We wiped our sweat. We felt the nature. After a while, we left and went down to the place where we left our boats. We got back into our boats and headed back to the other side of the sea where we left our van. We left the Taal resort and went up to the Tagaytay city proper. At MAX restaurant which is located along the high way we had our lunch. And we headed back home in Metro-Manila. It was very mesmerizing experience in my life.

Things to prepare before you go: Prepare a pair of Rubber shoe, Pajamas, Water, bring your won snacks, the prices of items there are expensive compared with usual cost in local branches. Chose a fine weather day so that you can enjoy the genuine beauty of Taal volcano and the surroundings. Be advised to go as a group or at least have a local partner. There are bus lines bound to Tagaytay City from Metro Manila such as Near Mega Mall, Rotonda in Pasay City. If you take bus, it is much more cheaper. When you arrived at Tagaytay, there are local Jeeps services going to the boat hiring port. If you are interested there is also yacht club.