Saturday 11/11
By Florence:
This morning we woke up at 6am to go and do a hike. Every one was supposed to go but Adeline, Nala, and Jules were sick. They had vomited all night and they weren’t feeling good. So Miguel, Olivier, and Victor stayed home to take care of the ones that were sick. We took our breakfast and left. We had a one hour drive ahead of us and then a 30 minutes boat tour. We were actually gonna hike to see an island on a lake in a volcano on a lake in the middle of a crater on a island. It was incredible. We arrived there and we took the boat. It was really pretty on the lake. When we arrived to the island, people were in the lake brushing their teeth and washing their horses. We had a choice to take a horse instead of waking but we didn’t do that. The thing that was kind of annoying was that we first had to go up, then down, then back up the opposite direction, and finally back down. At the first stop (on top of the first going up), we could see the tiny island in the crater. It was so cool because we could see smoke coming out of little holes. It meant that the volcano was still active! We went down and it was kind of scary because the path was really narrow and on our left, there was a kind of cliff. It was also slippery because it was sand and dirt. We finally got down there and we went to see the holes with the smoke. When we touched the water, it was super hot. To get to the smoke hole, we had to walk in the water. The water was really hot near the sand. After we went to the smoke hole, we went into the water for about 30 minutes. The water was hot near the sand but then it was warm deeper. It was really cool but tiring. We got out of the water and started trekking back up. Going up was really really tiring because it was kind of steep and slippery. When we were done, we were all almost out of breath. We took the boat back and then we ate our packed lunch (pasta salad) at a table. The lunch was delicious. While we were heading back, we stopped by a small fruit market along the road to get some pineapples, mangosteens, mangoes, and a bunch more. We didn’t find coconuts at the first market so we went a bit further and got a green one. It was really good. We went back home and directly got into the pool. The others that stayed home weren’t there. They were at the fun farm with animals and everything. After that we stayed at the house a bit and relaxed from the hard morning. At night, Miguel, dad, mom, Jules, Ludivine, and I went to go see fireflies. We saw two at the beginning. After mom and Jules left. We saw two again and we also saw a humongous frog. It was really big and gross. We went home and went to bed. Bye.
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By me:
Today we go to Taal Lake. Miguel organized this excursion for us. It seems great! Jules doesn’t feel well and prefers to stay home.
The road reminds us of Sri Lanka. What a contrast with Japan!
The light (luminosity) is very nice.
We take a small boat to Volcano Island, which lies in the middle of the lake. On the way, we see some tilapia farms on the lake.
Once we reach the island, we start the hike to the Crater Lake. It starts uphill to a viewpoint from where we have a beautiful view on the Crater Lake. In this lake, there’s another island (Vulcan Point)… So we basically have an island within a lake within a volcano within a lake within a volcano (all this on the main Luzon island).
We also go near the very hot sulfurous waters, whose temperatures are between 80 and 100 C.
We swim in the lake; if feels good (refreshing) despite the smell.
It is a tough trek (6km return trip) but well worth it. We don’t see any tourist.
We get a brief rain when on our way back, while on the boat.
We eat our very good picnic at the yacht club (a pesto pasta salad, prepared by one of the maids of Miguel and Adeline).
We take another road to come back, via Tagaytay. Nice views from Tagaytay ridge on Taal Lake and Volcano (but awful real estate development).
We stop on the way to buy fruit: pineapple, mangoes, coconuts, pomelo and mangosteens (tasting like raspberries).
We go to the swimming pool when we come back. Unfortunately, the big one is under cleaning.
Adeline and Nala are also sick.
Jules feels better. Miguel took good care of Jules: they cleaned the fish pond at the entrance of the house and they went to the Fun Farm.
It’s ‘movies & pizza’ night tonight. We watch ‘Given’, a documentary that follows a family who traveled the world surfing and learning many useful skills; it’s exquisitely filmed.
We walk around the village with Miguel to see fireflies. We saw 4 of them.
I write the blog until 11pm. There’s unfortunately no internet access to the blog.
