It was 2006 or 2007 when I first stepped at
Majayjay. I could hardly remember the travel to the place but I can still
remember what beauty there is waiting for us. How campers go there to enjoy the
icy cold waters of its fall called Taytay falls freely flowing at the foot of
Mt. Banahaw? The barangay was small and they have horses and produce before
getting near the entrance where you will find a staircase down to the long walk
before reaching the falls. The numbers of steps were all a blur but the
experience of the walk was still clear and its view is as vivid as a dream.
I was just informed by my colleagues that our
Magalawa trip was changed to Majayjay trip and I was excited to know how the place
has changed. I’m still hoping that it was not.
Gearing up for the trip I packed 3 Paella in
can, energy bar, 1 litre of bottle water, windbreaker, rash guard, blanket, comfy
clothes, leg sleeves, socks, and bennie. I cannot find my flashlight so I let
others bring those to our trip (gladly they did).
Here’s our itinerary for the overnight at Taytay
Falls, Majayjay, Laguna:
Day 1
0630A Meet up in Buendia-LRT
0700A Board bus to Sta. Cruz, Laguna
1000A ETA Sta. Cruz, Laguna; Board jeepney to
Majayjay Town Proper
1100A ETA Brgy. Hall
1200A Lunch (at Brgy. Hall)
0130P Pitch our tents
0200P Rest (me time)
0300P Snacks
0400P Swimming Time
0700P Dinner
Day 2
0800A Breakfast
0900A ME TIME (Swim/picture picture/etc.)
0100P Tidy Up
0230P Take a Jeepney back to Majayjay town
proper.
0430P Ride Jeepney to Sta. Cruz, Laguna
0600P Ride4 bus back to Manila
0900P ETA Buendia-LRT, Manila
How to get to Taytay Falls, Majayjay, Laguna and
what to expect?
-
Take a bus in Buendia-LRT going to
Sta. Cruz, Laguna (this travel might take about 2-3 hours, going to Laguna may
have multiple battle neck where traffic is expected to be heavy, around Calamba
area and other areas) and our fare is Php153.00**
-
At the terminal you can take a
tricycle or look for the jeepney terminal to Majayjay Town Proper. (We took the
tricycle which we paid Php70.00 each, I would suggest you take the jeepney
which cost around Php17.00 unfortunately you need to watch out for the schedule
of trips because they really don’t have scheduled trips they leave as the jeepneys
got filled up.)
-
You will know that you are at
Majayjay Town Proper if you see an old church called St. Gregory Parish Church.
The tricycle or jeepney will take you to the terminal which is in front of St.
Gregory Parish Cemetery.
-
At the terminal take another jeepney
going to Taytay Falls. Take note of the schedule. I would suggest you arrive at
the terminal at least before 2 PM because they often say that 2PM is their last
trip. Jeepney fee is Php17.00
-
Disembark at Gagalot Brgy. Hall for
registration costing Php30.00.
Before and After
I added before and after in this article Lori
and I were totally shocked with the changes in the area.
Following are the
changes:
- Tents for rent are lined up.
- There are more houses that there was
before.
- Houses are built of stones now.
- Resorts are already available that
offers comfortable place to stay.
- There are lots of stores before the
entrance that sells food, barbecue(you have selections of chicken and pork),
soft drinks, water, pansit habhab, alcoholic drinks, etc.
- Souvenir shops
- A guard that asks for a receipt of
your payment and registration.
- Paved way to the falls.
- Hanging bridge
- A resort after the hanging bridge that
has a man-made pool which is like a catch basin of flowing Taytay Falls icy
cold water.
- The vine swing
- DENR posting that it is a protected
area.
- You can no longer bring glass
bottles to the falls. Plastic bottles are only allowed.
- Multitude of campers and day hikers
- The falls is shorter now.
- You can no longer climb to the 2nd
falls or jump on the first falls.
What to expect?
Beside from the list above we supposedly maxed out our time as you've seen in the itinerary but frankly, we did not follow our itinerary at
all. We found a very far place to pitch our tent to the falls so we decided to
just rent a resort which have pool in it so we can still night swim. In the
afternoon we went to the falls and we swim for about 30 minutes as it is indeed
cold. Ronnie who loved staying in cold place finds the water really ICY COLD.
Even it is call we still enjoyed the water and had fun staying and drinking “the
bum” at the pool area and worry not about our uncomfy beds and pitch dark.
The next day as planned we had another stroll to
the falls and went to the hanging bridge, had some photos, checked out the
building that was built after it; and lastly enjoyed a nature made swing.
We went back and had our lunch enjoying the delicious
grilled pork chop which cost about Php100.00 to Php120.00 and some itlog na
pula or salted egg (I’ve heard just yesterday at Eat Bulaga’s episode where
they have their segment at Victoria, Laguna that salted eggs and balut are the
area’s best!). They we tidied up and waited for the jeepney. We had the worst
experience waiting for the jeepney as we thought it will arrive at the filling
area but to our surprise it got filled before it reached the terminal. So we
decided to wait for about an hour for another at the Brgy. Hall and we got
lucky.
Traveling back to Manila from Sta. Cruz was the
worst as we have encountered bumper to bumper traffic. It was a Sunday and most
people go back to Manila for work and school.
Hope you find this article helpful.
