Mindoro. When you hear the name of this place, Puerto Galera is usually what comes to mind. After all, it’s one of the more popular, beautiful, and accessible beaches in Luzon. But in Lantuyan, Baco, some towns away from Puerto Galera, lies a lesser known, unassuming, but ultimately wonderful gem.
Welcome to Tagbungan Mountain Resort, where Lantuyan’s natural waterfall and river merges into a man-made pool. Situated at the foot of Mount Halcon and surrounded by forests, Tagbungan Mountain Resort is the place to be if you’re looking for a quiet sojourn.
How to Get There
We rode a Ro-Ro ferry from Batangas Port to get to Calapan City Port. The fare was 192 pesos and the trip took roughly 3 hours. From Calapan port, we rode a tricycle to the city market. We had breakfast at one of the eateries near the market.
After breakfast, we went to the jeepney terminal in the market. The jeep ride to Baco costs 35 pesos and lasts about one and a half hours.
Mangyan Village and Lantuyan Falls
We arrived at the resort at around 12 noon, just in time for lunch! But we didn’t dig in yet. This trip was not just for fun – it was also for a cause. We visited the Mangyan Village near the resort to give a few school supplies to the kids.
We also trekked to Mt. Halcon (come to think of it, Mt. Pulag wasn’t my first mountain after all!) but we didn’t go far because Len, our organizer and Mike’s wife, is pregnant and because this wasn’t really planned. We just went high enough to see the horizon.
I learned the hard way that applying lotion just minutes before a mid-day climb is WRONG. It was sweltering and I was sweating like crazy. At one point, I slipped and the soil stuck on my skin. Not a fun experience.
Thankfully, lunch was ready when we went back to the cottage. It was served boodle fight style. For those who don’t know, boodle fight is eating with your hands (no spoons and forks) and food is served on banana leaves.
After about half an hour of resting after lunch, Mike and I went to check the waterfalls. Later, the rest of the group joined us.
This was the third waterfall I visited this year and this was where I finally realized that I enjoyed waterfalls more than beaches. True, beaches and the sea are prettier on photos but going to waterfalls usually (though not all the time) involve trekking and that’s something that I also recently discovered I enjoy. You can say that bathing in waterfalls is much more fulfilling after a tiring hike.
Before leaving, we checked out the resort’s videoke. Besides the current of the waterfalls, the songs played on the videoke was the only noise you’d hear in Tagbungan Mountain Resort. Okay, so it wasn’t a quiet sojourn, after all. But if you can tune it out, or if you don’t mind tone-deaf singers, you’re okay. Or you can just do what we did – sing and dance your hearts out. The image of Mike doing J. Lo moves to Let’s Get Loud is forever ingrained in my memory.
The next time you visit Oriental Mindoro, take the road less traveled and check out Tagbungan Mountain Resort. It’s new, it’s not as crowded as Puerto Galera’s white beach, and you can feel one with nature.
3 Comments