YES to a tandem weekend of hiking and hitting the beach!

On a fine, sunny Saturday, we went to Batangas with the intention of hiking the less popular Mt. Hugom, but the Barangay office informed us that it has apparently been closed to the public indefinitely because someone already owns the property (whut). So we ascended Mt. Daguldol (672 masl) instead. It’s all uphills and forests, and the terrain hardly has “lost in nature” feels because there are many locals (offering shade! and halo halo!) living along the trail. The summit is a rolling hill that has a bit of a view of the blue sea, which gives you enough motivation to get back to the jump off fast enough to enjoy sunset along the beach.

After the hike, we drove for about 10 minutes then pitched our tents at Laiya Coco Grove’s camping site, which we initially found a little expensive at P600/head. But it turned out to be worth it – the CRs were clean, had strong water pressure, and were actually cozy, the dining huts have lights and outlets, and after a day of pretending to be rugged mountaineers we craved our LTEs and chat apps, in-denial workaholics we all were (we all used to debate in college, and I don’t know if that’s a factor). Our dinner spread: Angus beef patties, cognac, roasted chicken, grilled zucchinis, wine. So good.

The next day, we had enough time for a sunrise swim and lunch at Cafeño before heading back home to our moms for Mother’s Day.

Enjoy the video recap below!

All photos by Ranie Catimbang