Easter Sunday: Glorious Nature

A blessed Sunday it was indeed.

To avoid the overcrowded swimming pools that day, to celebrate Ian’s birthday the day before, and to bond with the whole family one last time for the holy week, I urged the oldies on a 1-hour trip near the boundary of Nueva Ecija and Aurora. Kids didn’t need convincing at all. haha.

As I learned from a friend, there’s a river an hour or so away from our city where people go to. I’ve never explored the whole of my province, and it’s a surprise to me that there’s such a place. Luckily, Tito had been there on one of his motorcycle trips, and Lola had been wanting to visit the place. As for me, I want to swim on natural waters.

one of two huge pools

Look! It has slides!
Yes, we also ran up and down these slides!

Now, now, now. That is not a swimming pool. Well, at least not completely. The water is coming from the Sierra Madre mountain range. It was cold and clear, unlike pools warm from the kids’ you know haha. From the volume of people who were also there, surprisingly, we didn’t have that itchy feeling.

Here’s the picture of the kiddie pool.
Behind it is the mountain where the water is coming from.

Ian and Billy when we arrived at the place

Of course, I also took pictures before we plunged into the water. You’d notice that it was a hot sunny day, but with the trees near the pool area and the mountain near it, the atmosphere wasn’t humid at all, and the heat was tolerable.

Since it was lunchtime when we arrived, we ate lunch first before dipping into the water. But immediately after, we jumped into the pool. Ooohh…it was cold! Eric wasn’t really supposed to swim in the water because of a mouth sore due to his recent chemotherapy. He was even wearing his pajamas! I insisted that he would just sit in the duck salbabida (lifesaver), and his body up to his face wouldn’t get wet. He was so happy when Tito let him swim with us.

see how clear the water is!

That’s our picture walking around. Billy was ahead of all of us, and I followed. I attached an improvised rope (a plastic straw) to that duck salbabida, so I could just pull Eric around while I swim or walk. Ian and Eduard were sharing the huge salbabida. Babyline was walking a bit away from us. She was addicted to the slides! Eventually, all of us fought for the huge salbabida, and we had a hard time overpowering Billy!

A few meters from the swimming pool was a river-like area where water is flowing freely. Eduard spent time catching fishes. Yes! There were live fishes in this area!

Eduard was so eager to catch a fish.
I wonder why he was still wearing his life jacket…

Ian decided to help his little brother. They didn’t catch any!

After hours of swimming, we were called to have our merienda (snack). We pigged out. Billy said he wanted to be on a diet, but after eating 3 cups or more of rice, weight loss pills and liposuction seemed more possible for him haha. We brought the spaghetti and arroz valenciana from the day before haha. We had several kilos of barbecue and chicken. We had rice and caldereta. We had green mangoes, ripe mangoes, and papaya. Lola even brought thermos of hot water for coffee. Girl scout!

Barbecues and the fried chickens are the best sellers among the kids.

After resting for a while, we went back to playing in the pool. We never noticed we were tired.

Eduard with his big smile

Babyline taking over the salbabida

Billy resting in the slide

Billy and Ian resting at the pool side

I took the last photo candidly. Billy and his Kuya Ian (2 months older) used to be best friends. About grade 4 or 5, it seemed they drifted apart. They had different sets of friends, different trips, different attitudes. Ian is the decent home buddy who prefers watching TV. Billy is the aggressive, outgoing type who always gets into trouble. I just love that picture. Good times.

I’m glad we discovered that place. And I am thankful we are still blessed by the gifts of nature, despite how badly beaten Mother Nature is. Needless to say, we should practice vigilance and be mindful of our ways lest we lose wonderful places such as this. And you know what’s the best about this place? With a relaxing view, with natural clean water, with beautiful landscape, and with helpful staff (look like volunteers), you only have to pay 20 pesos. Talk about great deals ha!