Back to Kalubihon

"Be careful when you get there. The place is enchanted", was all that my mom could say when we told her we were planning to go to Pampam falls which is situated near their family's farm in Kalubihon, Iligan City. well, we took her word for it. after all, she knows the place more than any of us who have not been there for decades now.

upon picking us at the airport, esmond has promised to take us to another falls and this time he mentioned Pampam falls. so it was quite timely that when aunty Tina went to our house last fiesta, she learned that we wanted to go and immediately volunteered to take us there. it's so near the Yanez farms' and she said we'll start the trek from their land up there. so off we went the very next day, after packing up some few foods leftover from day before's festivities. aunty took another cousin with her. she even promised that we'll be having fresh buko from their trees. happy, yippe, yehey, indeed!

we left by 10am. mom said it's late. we should have had an early start because we'll still go hiking. but we follow esmuky's time. there's just nothing we can do. :-) mom and dad stayed behind because they had guests coming for lunch (fellow choirmates at the church).

we parked the car at aunty's place and started walking.. first downhill, then uphill, then up again, and down... and it went like that for like 15 minutes. and me, who's not been exercising, was starting to pant and thus taking short breaths while happily taking shots of the others ahead as i was the last one on the trail.

and this is Pampam falls. but, upon getting there we were told by the kids living there that the place was amess. trees were cut (see, on the pics... horrendous monster, whoever it was who had the trees cut!!!)

just look at the waters down there. it was filled with bamboo cuttings as well.

so the kids advised us to go to the langub. langub is a visayan word meaning cave. they said the water's better there to swim in. though it is more difficult to get to and further uphill. since there was nothing that we could do, we followed them uphill. but before that, just had to take a pose.  op kors!

here we are, again on the trail to the next falls.

finally, we arrived!! after about 15 more minutes uphill.

this is the entrance to the cave.

what clear waters... it's continuing to form limestone.

and here's my 'gutter'.  hehe.. forever gutter girl that i am, who can't swim, my kuya pointed me to where to tread so i can go up to the falls inside.

and here's the falls. when my kuya looked it up in our list of falls to go to, we realized this is the Kalubihon falls. we have heard so much about it before. my mom's dad's family basically grew up in Kalubihon. the name of the place is rooted from the visayan word lubi meaning coconut. Kalubihon, is a place in iligan city situated uphill and predominantly coconut farms. it was even said that during World War II, my lolo francis (mom's father) utilized the falls to make electricity in their area. lolo was a very good electrician. as i have mentioned somewhere before in this blog, he was the first one to open a radio shop in Iligan. back in the days, the Yanez family were well off and the neighboring farmers go to them to ask for manok (chicken), eggs and rice. later that afternoon, upon going back to the farm and having our fill of buko and buko juice, the old man farmer living there in the farm said he does not know us anymore. he only knew my lolo and his siblings and my mom's generation of the Yanez clan. but for us third gen, it was his first time to see us. so he was really happy that we took time to visit the farms up there. and we were, too. we felt happy and full, with the experience. happy to be back in Kalubihon.

Kalubihon falls. it enchanted us alright. we just loved the place. esmond enjoyed it so much he even went back with his friends. i just saw his friends upload their pics today on facebook. aha... i also intend to go back!