by the lake, i was there.

it was june 26th, monday. day 1.

I was both dreading and looking forward to this day. We were to have a workshop at work, but it was going to be held somewhere else. Far. At least, far from Metro Manila. Far. As in butt-numbing far.

As a map person, my first instinct upon learning of the venue was to check the map. It was located by a small lake, and going there would maybe require a short boat ride (we ended up taking a 2 to 3-minute ferry ride).

Day 1 was for learning. Day 2 would be for building camaraderie. Day 3 would be for going home.

We were traveling for a resort just right by the Lake Caliraya. The lake is located in the Laguna province of the Philippines, and is -- to my surprise -- man-made.

i didn't know lakes can be... man-made.

📍 Caliraya Resorts Club, Lumban, Laguna, Philippines

I kind of lived in Laguna for five years, during my undergraduate studies. Granted, it was in a location about an hour away from Caliraya, but I somewhat prided myself in knowing stuff about the province.

It bummed me that I didn't know about the fact that the Lake Caliraya was actually man-made. It is the byproduct of the creation of the Caliraya Dam, from a few years before the World War II.

I didn't know it then, but I ended up taking a picture of part of the structure of the dam while sat inside the bus.

On our way to the resort, I took a lot of videos. But they're meh videos, so I couldn't be bothered to share them. I could swear that the view on our way was so beautiful, though. Lush trees lined up the roads, and if we weren't riding a bus, I would love to feel just how clean and refreshing the winds in the area could be.

The following are drone shots of the lake taken by a colleague.

We took a ferry ride to be able to cross to where the resort was. During the few minutes of water travel, I took notice of the waters. It was quite murky, but water lilies grew abundantly everywhere. The experience started off well.

day 1 ended almost too soon, and here we are at day 2.

The morning of Day 2, the sun shone bright. The weather was being very moody the last few days, so while the morning was brimming with brightness, I doubted I could say the same about the afternoon.

Before our day officially started, though, two of my friends took me to the hotel's viewing deck. I somewhat (or really) screamed my way up, but the view was worth it!

I was told that the view was just as good during the night.

The mountain that can be seen throughout some areas in the resort was actually a volcano called the Mount Banahaw. We initially thought it was Mount Makiling, a quite popular mountain in the country, but checking the maps told us it would make more sense if it was Mount Banahaw.

I was in a single point of view at that moment in the viewing deck, though. So when I turned around to get back down, these beautiful rolling lush greens surprised me. It matched the sunrise so majestically, I thought I would cry.

I literally gasped, and one of my friends had to hurry me down, else we would be late for the activities set for the day.

so it was a blur.

Honestly, I couldn't remember much about Day 2. It was erratic.

It was crazy.

We had all sorts of games that ended up with me getting a lot of bad bruises and scratches. A huge volleyball game (called earth ball) injured two of my colleagues, and quite seriously, too. One of my friends ended up getting lots of wounds, a couple of them even bleeding.

It was crazy.

The only time we were able to somewhat calm down was during this quick break, where my friends decided to play spike ball, and the other half of us played dodgeball.

Also met this super friendly dog just outside our quarters. Couldn't help but play with him for a while to release some stress.

I wish I could say that I took a lot of pictures during Day 2, but I couldn't. 🤧 I was too busy getting bruises and scratches to be taking pictures LMAO.

Had the opportunity to try out the 30-meter giant swing with another friend, though! It was crazy, but I had fun! Here's a quick, sped up GIF of how it turned out.

(If this was the actual video, the sound would be censored. My friend couldn't help himself from hurling all the curse words he knew all throughout the ride LMAO.)

other activities we tried

My friends did a lot of canoeing and kayaking! Besides the giant swing, I also went ahead and sat through the zipline. I was kind of disappointed that it was short distance. 🙈 Thinking about it now, if you tell me to try bungee jumping, I might actually do it.

The resort also offered other fun amenities, like the sky bicycling and hamster wheels, which I was not brave enough to try. There was the Pinoy swing, too, which was a combination of both a swing and a small zipline. That one was fun. We felt like a bunch of kids going over and over it in the playground. 😆

bonus picture of the cute dog from the resort

experience.

I enjoyed the experience. I wasn't able to take much pictures and videos, but the views remained vivid.

The green. The trees. The smell of rain. The blue sky, the pretty clouds, then the dark clouds. Even the sound of chattering, screams, and laughter from everyone. Heck, I wouldn't forget the eventual body pain.

It was such an experience, and it became ten times better with good company, too. Two years ago, I didn't know that I would be making friends with people from work. But I did. And they made the experience so fun and memorable, I will definitely cherish this moment, and remember them when I think of Caliraya.