Return to lake Balinsasayao

CEBU, Philippines - Two years ago, I found her on a solo flight aboard a motorcycle-for-hire I rented for P250 (the whole day) in Sibulan town, excluding gas purchases. During the weekend, I did return expecting a cozy ride aboard a van with no more of the dirt road in sight.

However, I find the P3,000 van rental for 12 hours too expensive for only four people. So, I gave in to the suggestion of Negros Oriental tourist assistance officer/tour guardian Jason Albert “Kuya JAC” Cornelia Señagan to take a motorcycle for rent at Ting-Ting’s in downtown Dumaguete City which charged us P20 an hour.

The itch to return to Sibulan is connected to the lust I have never learned to tame for her Lake Balinsasayao.

Serene. Reserved. Cool. Placid. These are all overused terms to describe her. These, which all the more underrate her, because such also mean measuring her in terms that are perceptible.

Truth be told: Lake Balinsasayao will forever be a mystery.

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A furious Mt. Guintabon blew its top, believed thousands of years ago, creating a caldera which served as catch basin for rainwater. The caldera was said to be discovered by a certain Don Miguel Patero in 1885. Now, with a surface area of 76 hectares and a depth of 90 meters, it serves as natural playground for those wanting to go boating and kayaking or do hiking/trekking on trails at the bank of the lake.

Twin Lakes Natural Park is said to be the home of 180 species of dipterocarp and non-dipterocarp trees, 113 species of birds including serpent eagles and the swifts (balinsasayaw) that one of the lakes was named after, 27 mammals, and 49 amphibians and reptiles. Age-old trees, giant ferns and other exotic plants and orchids are among her natural inhabitants. Wild rare vines also freely cling to the barks of the trees too. The Almaciga tree, the tallest tree in the Philippines, which grows up to 60 meters tall, can still be found there.

Sad to note (but I do understand) swimming which entails the risk of accidents and polluting has already been prohibited. So I failed to make my “return flip” from out of the boat to the waters somewhere near the center of the lake.

However, my motorcycle crashes did a repeat. On my way up there last time onboard a Honda Wave motorcycle, my driver and I crashed two times because of the potholes and the rocks scattered all over the road. Last Friday, on our way home, my companion (on his “first time” out there) maneuvered a bend and got pretty jittery at the sight of an oncoming, speeding “habal-habal” that his reflexes sent him manipulating both hand and foot brakes. We sealed the adventure with scratch marks and aching bones.

I definitely wouldn’t recommend this destination onboard a motorcycle, sans the expertise for the terrain, for those who are faint-hearted; or those who design their ITs like their study skeds or household chores. However, because the road to the Twin Lakes is for those who have deep admiration on how nature changes the landscape with all of her glory, I think that this would motivate you to go for the kill (lol!). 

The view from up there – and a dash of soul searching – more than compensates for the bumpy, risky ride.

Further, it was learned from Kuya JAC that the Twin Lakes Natural Park is part of the 133,000-hectare geothermal reserve managed by the Philippine National Oil Company. The 8,016.50 hectares belonging to the natural park straddles the three municipalities of Sibulan, Valencia and San Jose in NegOr.

By the way, the lakes are contained in adjacent calderas 1,000 meters - and not feet - above sea level and are separated by a ridge more than 20 meters in width. The lakes are completely surrounded by thick forests and lush vegetation of about 3,462 hectares spread over the Guintabon, Kabalin-an and Guinsayawan mountain ranges which serve as protection dikes to the lakes. Mount Guintabon is 1,262 meters above sea level and Mount Guinsayawan is 1,788 meters above sea level. While Lake Balinsasayao has a surface area of 76 hectares, Lake Danao has 30.

If you think you are fit for the journey, connect and bond with Kuya JAC through the Provincial Tourism Office at the Sidlakang Negros Village, Piapi, Dumaguete City office telefax (6335) 225-1825/422-0675 or mobile: 09068493390.

Don’t forget to drop by Jo’s Chicken Inato By the Sea in Sibulan for their yummilicious “tinolang manok sa buko” with pepper leaves. It’s been a while since I tasted soup with “dahon sa siling labuyo” so I find the place worth marking, most especially as they have these cute outrigger-designed meal tables under the canopy of century-old acacia trees. Do also check Gina’s Kabayo-an in Dumaguete City for a variety of dishes aside from the lechon kawali, crispy pata and horse meat. We stayed at La Moriah Pension Inn which offers barkada package worth P800 good for four persons.

   The pack spent nearly P4,000 for the two-day trip to Sibulan and Valencia towns and Dumaguete City, including overnight accommodation. The eerie, spooky tour to the Cata-al World War II Museum in Valencia with Felix Constantino “Tantin” Cata-al, the collector himself, would however take a separate story. It pains to be seeing again memorabilia of a hurtful past – and holding an Arisaka rifle with its still sharp “bayoneta” – but this is the way things are for some. Maybe, teaching us a lesson that though we can win in some wars, bottom line is we are all sure losers as we cannot take back lives and let them watch how we have learned from their struggles today. ?