We went there, in the Volcano Island in the middle of Taal Lake. The Crater Lake is in the middle of that long portion of the island.
We trekked about four kilometers of rough terrain to reach the crater rim of the volcano – the main volcano – on Volcano Island in Taal Lake. It was an arduous climb, even if at first it seemed like a leisurely hike on verdant rolling hills.
“Kaya mo yan (You can do it),” FPPF Project Director Lito Beltran goaded us as we began our walk from the shore of Barangay Tabla at the foot of the volcano. We got to Tabla by way of a motorized banca from the town of Talisay, our first stop from the elevated town of Tagaytay. Ka Lito just celebrated his 70th birthday three weeks ago. The FPPF team, composed of Ka Lito, George Cabig, Amir Alba and Chris Malinao, took this trek as part of a scouting trip to look for beautiful locations to include in a planned Travel Photography workshop.
Kaya mo yan, Amir, urges FPPF Project Director Lito Beltran, as Amir Alba follows behind him. The horse guides never left us, knowing all the while that we would need them later.
So we walked on our own feet in the direction of the crater with some town folks trailing behind us with their horses. They had been insistent on offering us their horses for the ride up, but we were equally confident of making it with our own feet. No, thank you, we can walk our way up. Or so we thought.
After about 300 meters of hiking, and as the ground began to rise and seemed to get rougher and narrower as we went, our feet started to hurt and our breathing got heavier.
“How far up are we going?” I asked, and one horse guide pointed us up to some makeshift structure about 400 meters up at the top of the mountain. “That far up, sir, and it’s four kilometers from here,” he said with a definite voice. Behind me I saw Ka Lito mount a horse and not long after that I was also on a horse. Then I saw George and Amir appear from a turn on the path riding their own horses. And so up we went – on horseback all.
Along the way, we noticed evidence that we were indeed trekking on top of a volcano – black and red volcanic soil could be seen where the path had been eroded by rain and time, and there’s the occasional vent spewing hot steam here and there.
While the uphill climb was no picnic, the surrounding vista rewarded us with beautiful sights of Taal Lake from a vantage point that we never saw before: it was beautiful! All around us was a magnificence that only God can show. As we went higher, the scenery became much prettier.
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