A Trip to Lake Agco at Mt. Apo

Hello, everyone! It's Monday, grind and shine!

Man, do I have so much backlog. I have some drafts I've written way before the ex-yaya had her disgraceful exit, and to reduce the amount, I'm going to tell you about the trip we've taken to Lake Agco at Mount Apo.

Which was about a month ago.

Anyway, I have a lot of photos so I'll begin talking now.

HELLO, LAKE AGCO

"Coined as the ‘Garden of Eden’ of Kidapawan city, Lake Agco... is one of the most visited scenic spots at the foot of Mt. Apo.

Lake Agco, Kidapawan is a popular destination frequented by tourists because of its hot and warm pools formed from the waters coming out of local hot springs. It is a unique inter-mingling of calm lake and thick forests, which makes this a delightful place to visit and stay.

The area where the lake is found is the sacred home of the Manobo Tribes of Mount Apo." - Philippine Tourist Attractions

To say I was looking forward to this day is an understatement. I was so looking forward to hitting the hot springs and stepping on Mt. Apo (kahit sa paanan lang haha).

We left home at 3am to pick up some of our companions at the realty office (the more, the merrier) at a McDo downtown.

It was both an exciting and a nervous time for me because it's the first time Yuri will be taking a long roadtrip. The trip from Davao to Kidapawan City takes more or less 4 hours in a private car, but Yuri didn't disappoint. He was such a good, well-behaved boy all throughout the day!

Here are some photos. (I wasn't able to take scenery photos because it's hard to do that when you're carrying a 2-year old. Maybe next time.)

THE MISHAP

We had a mishap that morning. I don't know where we were, but I think we were at the foot of the road going up to Agco. Apparently, it rained hard the night before our trip so the road (if you can call it "road") was muddy and slippery. It was also steep so we decided to leave the car there and take another mode of transportation. A man volunteered his jeepney (the kind of jeepney you see off road, carrying livestock), but he went somewhere else and we were stuck waiting. Some of our companions bravely started trekking ahead. To make the long story short, after around an hour, we were finally inside the jeepney in one of the bumpiest rides of our lives!

Selfie nalang while waiting

The driver took us not to Lake Agco itself but to a resort called Agko Mahomanoy Resort. I found out tourists really stay there since it is the only place with "complete" amenities and they just go on foot to visit all the hot springs around.

THE SPRINGS

There are actually several. Inside the resort, there's an ice-cold pool (my sister said swimming in it feels like doing an ice-bucket challenge) and a warm spring that Yuri and I enjoyed. Sadly, I have no photos of the latter.

Outside the resort, there's a mud pool with hot sulfur. At least I think it's sulfur. It smells like sulfur. I wasn't able to go there because our companions said the path was too slippery for Yuri. Okay. Next time then!

There's another hot spring that they call a "jacuzzi." It makes sense because it's just a little pool and the water bubbles in the center!

While Yuri enjoyed the warmer spring at Mahomanoy, he found the water here too hot!

They said there's another spring which is the hottest among all, but no one in our group got to visit it because it started raining before lunch.

To be honest, I feel like I missed out on a lot! I wasn't able to visit all the springs and I wasn't even able to properly dip because Aunt Flo made a visit. So I declare that I shall return! Hopefully, the road they're constructing will be done soon!

(By the way, entrance fee to Mahomanoy is, I believe, 35, while the entrance fees to other springs should be even cheaper. Sorry, I no longer accurately remember! Basta, entrance fees are cheap.)

SIDE TRIP

On our way home, we decided to make a stop over at Le Reve Resort at Makilala, which is another municipality in North Cotabato. Some of us heard that the resort was beautiful daw, but we were in for a major disappointment.

Given that it's in a municipality and not in a big city nor in a known tourist destination, I didn't expect it to be high-class. But I did expect cleanliness. Unfortunately, the place was dirty when we got there. The cottages were dirty and obviously, no one picks the trash of the patrons. There was litter everywhere.

With that, we stayed away from the pool. If they couldn't do a simple thing like picking up trash, should I expect the pool to be meticulously cleaned? Hmm.

But the worst thing about this resort was the customer service. When we were asking how much the entrance fee was, we took time before paying because marami kami. It's not as if there were customers behind us naman; we were the only ones paying. Now, one of our companions went outside the car to use the comfort room when she heard the receptionist (if you can call her that) say something like, "wala naman siguro kayong pambayad." (It was spoken in vernacular.)

Excuse me?! The entrance fee is not even expensive. Oh well. She's a good fit for the resort.

We finally left the place in less than an hour.

HOME

On our way home, we just stopped at Digos City to buy pasalubong at Mer's, but there was no bibingka. Huhu how sad, I was looking forward to eating bibingka. Which reminds me, this is just another reason to return!

That trip was the first road trip I took with Yuri. We have traveled before but by air, so I didn't have any idea how he will behave in a long car trip. It's a great thing that he loves cars and looking around entertained him a lot! He was also sleeping most of the time haha. I didn't have any trouble at all!

Davao's scenery, Mindanao's actually, never fails to amaze me. The rugged peaks of the mountain range reminds me how blessed we are to be protected from the storm. On the other hand, if you look at your right side, what you see are the vast seas! How amazing.

Another realization? You know you're in Davao when you see several police checkpoints. Security: just another thing I'm thankful about!

So that was how we spent October 26, 4 Sundays ago. Just writing abut the trip makes me want to go on one again!