underground river

jan and i decided to take a boat to the underground river then hike back the monkey trail going back to sabang main. so before we took our breakfast, we paid for our permit at the tourist office then had our breakfast at the same restaurant we ate in the night before. we had the restaurant pack us a couple of sandiwches for lunch.

jan forgot some stuff from the resort so he had to go back and get it. i, on the other hand, went back to the tourist office to ask some questions regarding the trail. the day tours were starting to arrive one by one. the tour guides were paying at the office when i heard one of them say that she had an uneven number of tourists. i approached her and asked if we can share a boat with her and her guests. she was game, so that meant we don't need to pay the full P700. yey.

when it was time to pay for the boat, she asked P350 from us. she originally quoted P300. i did not bother to argue anymore and just paid up. but if i was in a foul mood, i would have told her, jan and i should pay less because we were only taking the boat one way. anyhoo... i didn't. i was more excited to see the underground river more than anything.

it was time to go. we rode the boat with the tour guide and her sole guest. the others were in another boat. mother nature really blessed sabang with so much beauty. the aquamarine waters glistened in the sunlight. the limestone cliffs were freckled with growth. a colorful bird or two dipped in the beach for their midmorning catch. it was just so beautiful and spectacular.

in fifteen minutes we were at the entry point of the underground river. pretty hard to miss with the sign showing. everybody took the standard photo of the sign, while jan and i opted to pose with the cliffs and the beach. when everyone else was going in, we decided to try a self-photo with the sign. not much success with that. tee-hee.

we followed the trail to the underground river. there was a small camp where guests are asked to register and get their helmets and vests. why the helmet? it was supposed to protect you from bat and bird shit.

we were one of the last groups to enter the cave. our boatman was rene and jan was assigned lightman. we entered the cave and rene gave us tidbits about the underground river. first of all, it was more than eight kilometers long but only 1.4 KM was open to the public. the cave was millions of years old, which one could easily guess given the colossal column formations.

rene was quite a comic when he gave his information. i bet, it was part of their training, but no matter how funny a joke is, it is always the delivery that makes it funny. one of the guests asked, "may mga unggoy ba dito?" to which he answered, "unggoy? ayan po, sa likod niyo." referring to himself.

the stalactites and stalagmates and rock formations were quite interesting. i was imagining how long each one took to form... God must really patient to work on those rocks.

whoever started the tour and trained those boatmen must have been very creative. the underground river was divided into sections depending on what each rock formation looked like. there was the cathedral and there was the fruits and vegetables section. all the while, rene, was adding a lot of ad lib to make the trip more interesting and enjoyable. we were just laughing at his quips.

melting candle. corn. look for pegasus! yummy cacao. garlic. edsa and mrt. sharon stone. there are so many other rock formations you can find in the cave. but my favorite is this:

do you see the face of Jesus? it may be just the power of suggestion, with rene telling us that is what it is. but it does resemble Him somehow. it does not necessarily have to have a deep, spritual meaning but in a way it feels appropriate to see Him there. i find it utterly fascinating.

the forty five minutes of the tour felt like it was all too over quickly. we weren't rushed or anything like that. it may just be that rene did a good job keeping us entertained that we did not feel time pass. or maybe there is really just a different time-space continuum inside the underground river. hehe.

have fun you guys! we did. :)