CATCHING WAVES IN BALER FOR 4 DAYS AND 3 NIGHTS

Hola, it's Paula! In this blog post, I will share with you my trip to Baler with my fam!

My parents told me that we'll go to Baler 2 days before our trip. So imagine how frustrated I was because I know for sure how hard it'll be to look for accommodation and create an itinerary for 4 days. After countless of searches and calls, I've booked us 2 hotels for our stay of 4 days and created a list of places we'll go to.

So let's start! We left our house around 6 AM last April 17 and already expected the travel time will take about 7-8 hours. We arrived at Baler around 1:30 PM and had lunch at YOLLY'S IHAW-IHAW & SEAFOOD because according to google, it's one of the most budget friendly buffet in Baler.

This is what you'll see at the front of Yolly's. Yummy seafood! They also have a buffet which consists of less than 12 dishes for only 200 pesos.

Of course, since it's holy week, we cannot eat meat, well my family can't. That's why we ordered 1 pc of lobster, 1 order of buttered garlic shrimp, 2 tilapia and squid. Would you believe that each dish we ordered was priced from 200-300 pesos? So expensive! It's like we ate in a legit restaurant. Our drinks were 3 mango shakes and 1 watermelon shake, each was priced 80 pesos and they all tasted like water! Anyways, I'm not hating on them but to be honest, I expected a lot. So, I suggest this 'karinderia' for those hungry peeps out there who just went for a surf and doesn't mind the food they'll eat, but if not, there are a lot of other places to eat at in Baler! So, go!

After lunch, we checked in at Blue Coco Baler Beach House which I booked via agoda.

It's like this greek inspired house that is blue and white themed. Looks pretty nice in fact. But do not expect a lobby because their receiving area is beside the stairs with just a table and some chairs. Anyway, we got their family room that has 2 double beds with pull-outs and a small terrace! Even though it's a bit small for a big family of 6, it's a good deal for only 4,500 pesos. For our stay here, the electricity went out a couple of times and their generator could only power the lights and the fan. Here's their website if you'd like to check them out, http://bluecocobalerbeachhouse.simplesite.com/

After relaxing and chilling for a while, we went out for dinner. We walked from our accommodation to YELLOW FIN BAR AND GRILL for about 6 minutes. It's this 2 floor hut with the ground floor as the bar and grilling area and the 2nd floor the dining area. And girl, if you are looking forward to eat seafood and meat, EAT IN THIS PLACE! DECENT PRICES. DELICIOUS FOOD. The only downside is that the service is slow and the place is a bit cramped. But if you do not mind that, go here. I suggest you order the Grilled Blue Marlin and Spicy Buttered Shrimp!

For our second day, we planned on going on a tour. We booked a tricycle driver (and of course her trike) to tour us around Baler for 800 pesos. If you have a car, the tricycle can convoy you so you wouldn't need to ride the trike.. We first went to the Baler Plaza, 5 minutes away from Coco Baler Beach House. When you reach the Baler Plaza, you'll see there the famous BALER SIGN and the Baler monument, facing it is the Baler museum and the statue of Manuel Quezon, while at the back/beside of the baler monument, you'll see the Baler Church and in front of it is the house of Doña Aurora Quezon.

After the "city" tour, we went to MOTHER FALLS located at San Luis. It's a bit far, kind of like 30-40 mins away from the city. Okay, I'm telling you now that I DID NOT EXPECT

WHAT HAPPENED WHEN WE ARRIVED. Okay so, we thought that the mother falls was near the parking place. BUT NO. From the parking, we walked 1km to reach the entrance of the trekking/hiking area. And from there, we trekked with a bit of hiking for about 1 hour and 30 minutes. WHOEVER IS READING THIS, I AM TELLING YOU! WEAR YOUR HIKING OUTFIT. YOU WILL PASS A RIVER, BEND THROUGH THE PIPES AND CLIMB STONES. BRING A SWIMMING OUTFIT TOO. Because when you reach the semi-top aka the MOTHER FALLS, have a dip and relax a little because you're gonna need it. Take lots of amazing photos too! The path going down is a bit easier. So don't forget to cool off yourself with the fruit shakes and meriendas available at the bottom!

We were informed by our tour guide that there is also the FATHER FALLS. But the path going there is for advanced hikers or those that can go up, up, and away!

After the Mother Falls, we went to the Balete Eco Park to see the big Balete Tree. Aside from the tree as the main attraction, there are tiangges on the side where you can buy food, souvenir and some other stuff. Also I think we paid an entrance fee so we could enter this park and also see the inside of the Balete tree.

Okay so, the tree is so huge that you can fit at least 7 people inside it! Like really. Here's a picture of us inside it. One fact: the reason why the Balete tree grew this big was because there's another tree growing inside of it but eventually died.

On the bottom left picture, that picture was taken from the inside of the tree with us outside of it. And then beside it, is a half-heart shaped 'vein' of the tree.

After this, we went to the hanging bridge of Baler and meh, there's nothing special to it. Really. It's just a really long bridge that sways a lot when there's a wind that makes it harder to reach the other side.

So after the Hanging Bridge, we went back to our hotel to check out because WE ARE SO TIRED ALREADY BECAUSE OF THE TREKKING WE DID EARLIER AND WE HAVEN'T EATEN ANYTHING YET AT THIS POINT.

After checking out, we transferred to our hotel, THE CUBE BY COSTA where we will be staying at until the 20th. And it is freakin expensive here but the place looks so damn nice!

photo grabbed from google

We had our lunch and dinner (buffet) here and there weren't so many options, wished we went out instead. But nevertheless, the food was great BUT expensive. 1 night here costed us almost 9,000 pesos inclusive of breakfast buffet for all of us. But I must say our family suite was too big and nice for us! So check them out if you want,

https://www.cubebaler.com/

photo grabbed from El Dawn's facebook page

For our 3rd day, after breakfast, we went to the beach which is 5 minutes away from Cube. And then, we saw this hut right in front of the beach and there's this kuya who asked us if we wanna surf. For 1 hour, we'll have a surf instructor that of course will teach us how to surf and a surf board for only 300 pesos.

And omg, surfing is definitely not for everyone. That's all I can say but it is really fun! It's worth the try and experience. "Kuya" will really teach you the basics until you can stand on the surf board. SO IF YOU'RE IN BALER, SURFING IS A MUST TRY TO DO HERE. AND GET IT AT EL DAWN'S SURF SCHOOL. HERE'S THEIR FB PAGE https://www.facebook.com/El-Dawn-Surfing-School-377600845759627/

So after surfing, we ate lunch at BAYLER VIEW HOTEL. They have a lot to choose from but we settled with seafood (and pork sisig for the kid). The food was great and facing the restaurant is the beach so you'll have a great view while eating.

After that we went back to the hotel to have a nap because we got tired from all the surfing we did. It's like we did a full body exercise!

For dinner, we ate at Baler Surfer Grill, also in front of the beach. If I remember correctly they only have 5 options in the menu and price range is from 150 to 300 pesos. And since it was holy week, all of us got their Grilled Fish, nothing was special tbh but the main attraction here is this car that they turned into a grill.

After dinner we just went back to the hotel because after 6pm you cannot stay at the beach anymore because water gets so high that it's dangerous and there are no lights too aside from the lights coming from the restaurants and lodging houses.

This is our view from our 'cube'. I guess it's worth staying here if you do not mind spending a bit more money because guys, it's actually very nice and they just opened this March 2019.

For our 4th day, we just fixed our things so we could get ready to leave and took lots of pictures also. And to be honest, there are still a lot of places we didn't go to. And that's fine with me because I can go back here again to explore those places.

I actually suggest going to Baler with friends. Because it's a type of place where you can really chill and just hangout, like talk with some beer at night and go be adventurous in the day time. But it's also nice going here with family if you wanna be away from the city life and just really relax and get some peace.