Two years passed, my older cousin and her own family went home again for vacation but this time they are with her husband who just went out from the army,  they have been living far away from the clan since her husband was assigned to his province and days before their vacation ended they organized a family outing.  It was also two years ago when she came home with her kids, after the death of our old aunt that there was a family outing at Sato Beach Resort.

For a change, the family outing was made possible at Mountain Spring Resort when it should be at Mablaran Falls, my family went so I did, but instead of leaving together with them we just followed, we went to town market to buy some stuff because I don’t think it is nice to show up at the resort without bringing anything with us.

Mountain Spring Resort was located in Brgy. Rizal, Odiongan Romblon just a few minutes away from the downtown. A lot of things changed at the resort, way back in College when our institute held the Acquaintance party there was only one small pool then and the place wasn’t big and spacious like today.

Today, there are three pools. The old one, the kids pool and the larger pool for adults complete with slides. The cottage near the kids pool was rented by the clan and since the place wasn’t rented exclusively, aside from us there are also families, group of friends and kids who enjoyed the pool.

Me, not knowing how to swim stays in a corner but most of the time I am in the kids pool, playing with my second cousins (1x) removed, teaching them how to swim (according to me, hahaha). But when the water in the kids pool became so itchy, I decided to say in the bigger pool. I guess the kids started to pee in the pool without leaving out of the water.

Mountain Spring Resort is a hectare of land converted into a farm resort for tourists who are looking for a peaceful place to relax and unwind. It has also a large hall that can be used for seminars, birthday and even wedding celebration. They have a karaoke machine for people who’d like to sing between dipping in at the pool, they have shower rooms and plenty of cottages scattered around and their parking lot was spacious too. They also offered catering for any occasions and have a few rooms for guest who wanted to do overnight stay.

MOUNTAIN SPRING RESORT
Brgy. Rizal, Odiongan, Romblon
Facebook page – https://www.facebook.com/Mountain-Spring-Resort-607164986084372/
Mobile No. – 0917 808 5982

Disclosure: This is NOT a sponsored post. Above written post was my own personal experience and opinion and might be different from yours.

The Kanidugan festival this year wasn’t too exciting, maybe because of the MIMAROPA Festival that was been held a few months ago in Odiongan. I think that’s how it works, if you already watched the big thing, small things doesn’t excites you that much anymore.  The festival wasn’t celebrated on the 5th, to give way to the procession of  Catholic church. The town parade was held in the morning of the 6th day of April, unlike the previous festival the contender this year where from different municipalities of Tablas island.

The first tribe where the Saginyogan Festival (Coco-Banana Festival) from the Municipality of Alcantara, their costume was mainly made of banana leaves and coconut. The festival was first presented in 2010 to bring awareness of the contribution of coconut and banana on enhancing the lives of the locals, especially the farmers.

The Governor of Romblon together with the government employees were in the parade too, everything was good not until one of them (people at the end) left a trash in the middle of the street, an empty water bottle. So disappointing, they should be the one to set an example to the local people eh.

Anyway, the next contender in the town parade was Tribu Banbanon from the Municipality of Looc, they are wearing vibrant color of fairy costumes, one thing you’ll notice on them they are all smiles, they were students of Looc National High School.

Romblon Baktas Mountaineer joins the town parade too, I didn’t go with them because I watched the parade with my mother I can’t left her alone in the street.  What I did was stop them to have a photo and I was dragged by a few to come with them but I declined and reasoned out.

The next contender was Tribu Biga-biga, as what I have heard they are made -up tribe in Odiongan, by the popular group of dancers E2. They are wearing a colorful pink mask and they dance in a a bit seductive manner as their tribe name says.

Tribu Febabosa was the last tribe in the town parade, their costume was exquisite, it is well designed.  When the parade ended we waited for my sister who paraded with her office mates and instead of going to a restaurant for lunch we decided to go home first to check what is our father doing after going home first.

When I was still a kid, I have seen a lot of groups of students walking in our street with their teacher, as I have heard they were on excursion or hiking as part of their Physical Education subject, they are either going to Mainit Falls or the famous PLDT tower. The tower is can be seen from our barangay and it was my childhood dream to reach the peak like them.

[Photo courtesy of Stephen Photography]

Unlike any other climb, my third climb with the RBM last February 25, 2018 was a twin hike. We climb Mt. Manapon (523 msl) and Triple Peak Tower or famously called PLDT (613 msl). I almost wasn’t able to go because my feet was swollen the day before, it has been raining for the past days and I guess the dirty water went through the small cuts in my skin. I took an antibiotic capsule without getting a prescription because I really want to climb and it was a bad decision I made.

[Photo courtesy of Stephen Photography]

Since, the venue of the hike was just in our barangay my sister and I didn’t anymore went to town to be at the meeting place, we just waited for them to pass by and then we meet them at the jump-off. Yap, you read it right. I went hiking with my sister, it cost me a lot to bring her. I have to bribe our mother and we have to ask permission repetitively (lol).

When we met at the spillway, the jump-off place. I was surprised to see that most of them were wearing sweatshirts and jackets, when I have asked my hiking buddies they said it will be cold  up top.  We just waited a bit and then walked further to the foot of the mountain where the normal routine was done, short information drive, stretching and praying for safe climb and descend.

The trail was a bit wet because of the rain days before the scheduled hike. As I didn’t exercise a lot before the hike and I took antibiotic the night before, I was easily tired but the good thing I am with my sister and my hiking buddy Anna. They waited for me despite I am slowing them down, you know what is funny, I keep reminding my sister to be careful, but it turns out it is me who needs to be always be reminded to be careful (lol).

It was a good thing, the hard core members of RBM were just behind us so we didn’t lose our trail despite that our guide was in the first group. We had so much fun along the way, telling stories, laughing and taking selfies and photos, there are trails that were cleaned but there are some who are bushy and plenty of sharp and tall grass.

We saw a lot of things a long the way, beautiful sceneries, landslide, unfamiliar grasses and etc., There are a lot of guava trees but since we are the last one, the ripe fruits were already got taken by the first groups or the first group the previous day who did the pre-climb. and

[Taken at the peak of Mt. Manapon]

Within two hours we reached the peak of Mt. Manapon where the first group where already resting and waiting for us, our friends even teased that they have already lunch. We rested a bit, took a group pictures and started another hike to the Triple Peak Tower (PLDT).

The trail to the next mountain is slippery, foggy and narrow especially when you are nearing at the peak. You need to be careful if you doesn’t want to hurt yourself. We reached the next peak within one hour, it was foggy and there was no clearing which is bad because you can’t appreciate what’s around or below, we are not allowed to go up more at the vicinity because of radiation.

We didn’t stay longer, we took our photos and did the customary group pictures and we started to descend, the trail became more slippery because lots of people already passed by, we have been extra careful but still there are some who slid.

We returned to the peak of Mt. Manapon where we had our group lunch and after which we have small introduction, short meeting when will be the next hike and the signing of the group tarpaulin. It was a knee-breaking experience going down because we’ve climb a lot so we have to move down in frenzy.