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December 1, 2004 - I have just returned from Lake Danao National Park, the most beautiful place I have visited in the Philippines. What made the two night camping trip extra special were my friends Jay and Eleanor, who invited me to join them. I am not sure they meant to, but their "Filipino-ness" while camping provided a great deal of entertainment for me.
Lake Danao is located in the mountains of Leyte, about a 1 hour ride from Ormoc (a city that is 1 hour by bus from Carigara). Getting there is half the fun (or battle) and thankfully for me my friends are quite resourceful travelers. |
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Lake Danao National Park is 2,193 hectares (that means 5482 acres!) of forests, mangroves and lakes. We were the only campers in this huge national park over the long weekend, at night we had the place to ourselves! We enjoyed activities such as boating, hiking and swimming. We rented a boat for the afternoon with the little girl pictured up above as our guide.
I had done a few things with Jay before, so I knew to just go with the flow and do whatever he told me. We went to buy food in Ormoc before we left, so I followed along wondering what we would eat. |
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Eating is a treat when camping with Filipinos. No dehydrated chili or macaroni and cheese for us. No no. Filipinos are smarter than that. Sliced Bread is important. For the 3 of us, we purchased not 1, not 2, but 3 loaves of sliced bread! That is a lot of bread. Eating sliced bread with mayo while paddling a boat around Lake Danao is a true Filipino experince. (picture above)
We had very tasty meals prepared mostly by Eleanor, a professional and intelligent woman who likes to cook because as she explained to me, it is part of being a lady. (oh wow!) Below, you can see Jay and Eleanor enjoying Pinakbet (mixed vegetables) and rice. Hot pinakbet and rice on a cold night eaten in a watchtower over Lake Danao is an excellent experience. |
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Up above, you can see that we went swimming. The water is cold! One danger are little leech type animals, I got a few on my feet. Yick.
We fetched our water from a spring near our campsite. It was the best tasting water I have ever had. It was such a beautiful place with so few people. On Monday (a holiday) a few Filipino families came to picnic, but besides the locals, we were the only ones around. Amazing. In my opinion, it is one of the most naturally beautiful places I have seen and I am sure many people would enjoy visiting. |
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Jay and Eleanor are close to me in age, education and because of global media like movies and books, we share many values. It is strange for me to see how similar I am to them in many ways, such as wanting a family but delaying marriage for better job opportunities and education.They are both working professionals and the first 2 Filipinos I know who have read Rich Dad, Poor Dad by Robert Kiyosaki. I too am a fan of Mr. Kiyosaki and his books that teach people to look at life from a different perspective, the perspective of the rich. |
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| Hanging out with them teaches me that people with good educations in different parts of the world will be exposed to the same kinds of ideas through books and film. I think that is interesting. |
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