Epic trip to Lobo, Batangas

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Rochie: Ate Madie, let's go to the beach!
Madie: When?
Rochie: On Thursday!
Madie: Go!

And so on a warm Thursday morning, drove off with Trisha and Marco to Lobo (the same group who visited Burot Beach last year). Our destination was Lobo, Batangas. But since it was a Maundy Thursday, we were expecting a long drive because of the traffic jams from Sta Cruz, Laguna to the STAR Tollway. Just getting out of Sta Cruz was a challenge because vehicles going to Pagsanjan were choking both northbound and southbound lanes of the Pan-Philippine Highway (AH26). Once we've escaped that jam, were slowed down again on AH26 by vehicles queuing (and counter-flowing) towards Tiaong, Quezon. Looks like the city people were moving to the provinces en masse!

We finally escaped the traffic jam when we entered the STAR Tollway, and that was just an extremely quick trip from Sto Tomas to Batangas City. From there, Waze guided us through the long, narrow, and winding road of Taysan, Batangas. And when I say long and winding, I had nothing but sharp and steep hairpin turns overlooking cliffs for an hour! There was absolutely no beach in sight! It's as if the beach were right behind the mountains! I compare this road to Kennon Road's zigzag turns... only narrower!

And indeed it was! Four hours of traffic jams and zigzag roads that challenged my driving skills and we were finally at the famed beach of Lobo!!!


Was it worth the road trip drive? Definitely! The sand was so fine and there was no trash in sight! The water was so calm that it's not intimidating for small kids and for non-swimmers. I just couldn't get enough of that view: Isla Verde and Oriental Mindoro so close that I feel I could actually swim to them! It's not everyday I see a sight like that!

Be warned: the resorts are underdeveloped and so the road going there had rough patches. That's not necessarily a bad thing because the beach doesn't have (yet) the commercial feel of the better known beaches frequented by urbanites. 

I thought that I had seen the best this stretch of Batangas coast had to offer ... until sunset came. Suddenly, there was a hush in the beach crowd as camera- and mobile phone-toting individuals paused to capture the sunset in their gadgets. Though the sun set behind the mountains, the colours were just awesome! If I had questions before, now I'm sure: summer had definitely arrived. Just look at that sunset!

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