MAY TRAVEL ADVENTURES 3: ENCHANTING CORON PART 1

Typhoon Chedeng didn't stop us from our four-day Coron Vacation last May 28-31. In addition to our luggage, bags of chips, clothes, and life vests, we also brought the most important thing during our whole trip- lots of prayers!

Our flight was scheduled at around 11 am. Before going to the airport, we heard the 9am mass at the Our Lady of Peace and Good Voyage, more popularly known as the Antipolo Cathedral. After that we rushed to the airport to avoid the hassles of checking-in.

Mommy was able to avail a cheap flight from AirPhil Express. I know that I cursed the airline way back in our Puerto Princesa trip but, not anymore hahaha The trip pushed through despite the little hassles due to bad weather. We may have left Manila a little late than the scheduled time but we managed to arrive in Coron 10 minutes ahead of time.Whoopeeee. 

We arrived in Coron past 12 and was greeted by a gloomy weather. I started taking pictures and noticed that the pictures were all blurred...only to find out that the lens of the camera was covered with moist. Whew, I thought it broke down already. 

                          

Despite Coron being a famous tourist spot to both local and foreign nationals, their airport badly needs further improvement. It's too small and there's no conveyor at all!Hahahaha. In all fairness to the local government, they're already improving the airport so that tourists will be more comfortable. Even the roads outside the airport improved (according to the locals) since there are less rocky and bumpy roads.

The trip from Coron Airport to the city proper took us more or less an hour. We were dropped to our "home" that will shelter us during the entire trip- Coron Village.

The place is nice and comfy. It's our first time to check-in to a lodge, so we know that we should lower our expectations.

That's me and baby brother getting cozy in our room and at the veranda. See, my veranda pa kami, sosyal haha. The little wooden statue above, meanwhile, served as our key room haha!Gigantic! Ironically, we keep on forgetting to bring it with  us haha.

Anyway, we were greeted with the polite staff of the lodge and soon, we were treated to a very very very nice lunch composed of Tinolang manok, plain rice, fish, and banana for dessert. After our lunch, we headed to our room to catch up some zzzzzs before we start our tour that day.

The tour started at around 4pm. Our first stop was the Lualhati Park which is popular among the locals there. It also served as the jump-off point to tourists who opt for an island tour since many motorized bancas docked there. 

They have the "Hollywood" version here in CORON. Panis!lol

Family pic at Lualhati Park

We then headed to the biggest pasalubong shopping center afterwards where we bought pasalubong items including ref magnets and different kasuy delicacies in different forms such as cashew tarts, turrones de Kasuy, and cashew brittle.

Getting goofy in the store

The famous maskaras of Coron

The BIG little boss 

The highlight of our day 1 tour is the Mt. Tapyas trek. A little background on this mountain.

Mt. Tapyas, which stands 210 meter above sea level, is considered as the second highest point in Coron. In order to get to the summit, you need to to go through the 723 STEPS GOING UP AND ANOTHER 723 STEPS GOING DOWN. Yes, it's one heck of a trek! Haha Anyway, a huge cross made of steel awaits every climber-tourist at the summit. 

Jump-off point: Tapyas Road

And the trekking starts here...

The first 100 steps is tiresome already!

But views such as this made the trek more enjoyable and less stressful

The busy port (view from above)

View from the top: Coron Town

The trail

4 at 400: We're on the 400th step already whew!

Almost there: 600th step!

123 steps more...Fight!

We're almost there...I can see the cross already

I took this while at the view deck. Yes, there's a view deck on Mt. Tapyas' summit

Touch down!

Jump jump jump! We conquered the 723 steps!

Kuya Buchoy told us that the mountain got its name, tapyas because of this side of the mountain. Notice that this part is somehow chipped or trimmed or in Filipino, natapyas. During the WWII, the Japanese soldiers dug a part of the mountain that will serve as their hide-out against the American soldiers. 

The trek was worth it! We were treated to a very peaceful and scenic view of the whole Coron and its neighboring islands.  We spent enough time for our photo ops.

By the way, Kuya Buchoy even joked us that Mt. Tapyas not only offers a view of the whole Coron town but    it also offers a view of Chocolate Hills and Tagaytay. Weh??  

Turns out that he's referring to this side of mountain. Somehow, he's right. The picture on the right side kinda resembles the hills in Bohol while the one on left is somehow similar on the view that you used to see in Tagaytay Picnic Grove, minus the Taal Volcano of course.

And since the weather is no longer tolerant of our stinginess  as we refused to leave the place despite its warnings earlier, we were punished. As we're trekking down, heavy rains started to pour really really hard. It's insane! We're wet and cold plus, the sound of the roof threatening to detach itself anytime soon is not helping us to calm down and convince us that the rain will soon subside. Funny though, in the midst of the heavy rain, an American bravely continued jogging up until he reached the summit.  

Time to go down.

 We returned to the lodge at past 7pm, just in time for our dinner. We had chicken cordon bleu and I forgot the other foods served but I'm certain that they're all good. After our dinner, we went back to our room and called it a day as we try to recover from the 1446 steps that we conquered because of Mt. Tapyas. I know right, it's a WILD CLIMB but definitely, very worth every step of it.

By the way, as we're about to enter our room, we noticed that Mt. Tapyas' cross is seen from our veranda. Cool. Sorta reminds us of our achievement that day.