EAT, PRAY, LOVE Series: Lake Sebu in Pursuit of Devotion

A month after my Davao food adventure, I am off again for a two days departure from the hassle and bustle of work life. This time I wanted to regain one important aspect of my life that I once disconnected from, my relationship with my Creator & Savior.

Don’t worry, I will not be talking much about spirituality and the like, but it is my journey back to Him, through the places and instances that made this trip memorable. I am with Maya in this journey, Maya my dear cousin, is ten years my junior but ten years my senior when it comes to her relationship with the Lord. The life she lives is a life that when I was her age a total opposite, while she was busy juggling Dentistry & Church activities, I was then at my time busy scheduling when to do my nails, hair and when we will have our “study sessions”- books, cigarettes & gin. That was a decade ago and yes I reconnected but I have distractions that hinder my total connection with Him.

The place of choice, Lake Sebu, a lake-municipality above the mountains of South Cotabato, also known as the summer capital of Southern Mindanao. It has a cold weather that can rival the city of Tagatay and a very rustic life. From Tupi, it took us; a Van ride to Koronadal City, Bus ride to Surallah – the jump off point to Lake Sebu if you are taking public transport, here you can have a choice of vehicles to take; van, jeepney & “habal-habal”, a motorcycle extended to accommodate six people. Our choice, the van, because it was scheduled to leave at the time we arrived in Surallah Transport Terminal.

It was 30-54 minutes ride, but you will never know because of the sights along the way. First stop, the Municipal Tourism Office at the entrance to the Municipal Mini-Forest & Arena. I asked for some suggestions, but well I got everything he suggested in my itinerary.

Lake Sebu Open Field

We walked then towards the Catholic Church a top the hill overlooking the biggest of the three lakes in town, Lake Sebu. Keep a few moments of silence, thanking Him for a safe ride. We rested a while, just sitting by the church door, looking at the beautiful lake.

View from the Church

Ride a “habal-habal,” from the church to Punta Isla Lake Resort for P10.00/person. We are a bit early for check-in and they are still cleaning the rooms, we stayed at the resto and sip some coffee. When traveling, lull time is never welcome, hehehe, for me, either I have to wander around or do something interesting.

Along the way to the resort, we passed by, T’boli Museum, so we decided to just leave our bags at the front desk and walked back to the Museum. Majority of Lake Sebu’s population is the indigenous people, the T’boli.

Inside T'boli Museum

The museum is a typical T’boli House, a big room, without any partition, the whole structure is raised from the ground by big tree trunks. Inside there is the kitchen at one side, the dining/living room at the center at the same time it serves as bedroom at night. One thing I realized is that, in that very simple structure lives a very happy family, there is no division between them, and they all commune in one place, the center of the house. If I can be like that with my Creator, I will be happy, destroying all the “But” & “what ifs” I have that causes all these pains.

At the Museum, there is no entrance fee, but they accept donations. That one thing that do every time I travel, if a particular place do not have an entrance fee, I tend to give more, hehe, do the same thing ha, give more. They do not commercialize on this things that give us so much learning.

Few meters from the museum, we saw the signage of the next resort, just 300 meters from where we are. We walked our way to the resort, only to realize that we walked more than 300 meters and all we see are bamboos and rice fields, huhu, was it secluded from the main highway, it says nothing in the signage. Decided to find it, we continue, until after a few curves, VIOLA! A Welcome sign to Mountain Log Resort.

In life we plan everything, we pray and we want it right away, we do not like to wait, but as what God said; “he is never in a hurry, he always in time.” We need to go through a few curves in life to get to where he planned us to be.

The Mountain Log Resort is place for those who want silence. Within the resort, there are tree house and cabins located among the mini forest. It is also famous for its four storey high viewing deck on hill, rising over the pine trees. In going to the viewing deck, you have to pay an entrance fee at the front desk of the resort.

View from the Watch Tower

Hummmmmmmmm

Tired from walking, we ride "habal-habal" going back to the resort. Before going to our room, I asked the front desk if they can contact a ride for us the next day going to the Seven Falls, at the same time I ordered our dinner to be delivered to our room.

Here I keep moments of silence, just listening to the sweet sounds of Mother Nature calling the day is over. Nature showed us how to slow down with life, often we make plans and busy ourselves doing everything, that we ended up forgetting one important aspect of life, to be still, take a rest.

It's getting dark.......

Dinner is my favorite "Binuntis na Manok" of Punta Isla, a whole chicken fried and stuffed with boiled eggs and rice. Yummy.....

It was during this trip that I discovered from my cousin that one essential she always have when travelling, her BIBLE. Imagine all the learning I got  from someone 10 years my junior.

Breakfast

Wake-up early, had a light breakfast of toasted bread w/ butter & jam and coffee. Around 7:30, Manong "habal-habal" arrived. We went straight to the Seven Falls for the zipline. We were the first zipliners that day, so we get to take a lot of photos. Here I shout my heart out, as I zip above the wonderful waterfalls.

View while we zip......

Done with the zipline but we decided to do the trekking to the seven waterfalls. Like our life, we went through its ups and downs and we never give up, just like our trek, we need to jump over fallen trees or crawl down just to get to the falls.

After almost an hour of trek, we need to go back because of falling trees that block the way towards Falls 1 & 2. In life, sometimes relationship needs to end, and we have to accept it like in this trek, we just go back & never pushed our way through it, for our own safety.

Our last stop is a visit to Laan Dulay, our Living National Treasure, T'nalak's dream weaver. She symbolizes a woman who triumphs over difficulties in life.

Laan Dulay

This trip gave me an opportunity to look back and realize that what I am going through is a blessing, and nothing else. Thankful.