Day 2: MN Farms, Squash Mountain, Lake Apo, Hotel de Susana Resort and Middleton Apartelle

Good morning, Bukidnon!🌞⛰

Wow! I really love waking up in the province with fresh air, peaceful surrounding and just hearing the dogs barking or the cows mooing or the people talking. No pollution! No traffic! And no noise from the cars. 😃

We have a lot of activities to do in our Day 2. We started it by harvesting Rambutan from one of the trees in the farm. Everybody was excited and tried doing it (except me because the stick is so heavy for my thin arms 😜).

After harvesting, having our breakfast and talking with Maize\’s father, Tatay Mario, we went to our first stop for the day and third for the whole trip. It is called the Squash Mountain. If there are lots of squash, we don\’t know. But if it is beautiful, we believe so it is a yes! This is what we saw in the FB. Hehehe.

But before we can step on the mountain, we have to travel for about 20 minutes to reach there. The only thing you can see is a field of either sugarcane or rice or pineapple. And it is such a good experience being able to pass the road like this. It is not an everyday opportunity though.😉

The trek was not that long. Maybe, it was just 10 minutes. But it is not an easy trek and kinda tiring. It is so steep and there is just a small walkway to take. One missed step and you might end up with a bruise or a wound and have to pick up yourself at the foot of the mountain. 🙂

These photos were taken during the time that we stopped and rested for a little while. Unluckily, we were not able to bring water.😓

After a couple of minutes on the top, enjoying the view and taking pictures, we headed back to the house.

If getting to the top is hard, going down is much harder. You have to walk slowly and with care. Or else you will really end up in the finish line the fastest but the most painful way. Howell had wounds because he slipped. Jessie ended up with a damaged slippers. Chinkee sat on the ground a few times. It is just me, Tatay and Toj who did not have any bloopers. 😛 Maybe because Toj was wearing a pair of shoes (the shoes that he bought just for this activity and will throw after! Kidding! Hahaha), Tatay is becoming a mountaineer (with all the lovely ladies accompanying him! :D) and I have a Go Pole that I used as a support when it\’s kinda hard (just like the crutch!Poor pole. :P).

So if you are confused why it is called Squash Mountain, we are too. At first! Hahaha. Because there is no squash in the mountain. Not even one. But Howell explained it to us. The form of the mountain is like a squash. It looks more like it when it is summer and the grass becomes brown. Indeed, it is.

When we got back to the house, we then took a bath and prepared our things because we will go to CDO after in Valencia. So we need to bring all our stuff.

Before heading out, we went to thank the family especially the parents of Maizel for the warm welcome and wonderful accommodation. We just asked permission that we will go because we will still see later that afternoon.

We passed lots of like these in going to Lake Apo.

An hour after, we were able to reach our second destination for the day, Lake Apo, timeless distinction place.

The entrance fee here is Php 50.00 while the floating cottage costs Php 230 plus Php 100 for the tour guide.

Indeed, this place is wonderful, relaxing (again :D), and instagrammable (so millenial hahaha). I hope my photos can give justice to the beauty of this place.

WHAT TO DO IN LAKE APO

1. Fishing – you just need to rent for the fishing rod (Tatay)
2. Take pictures – the place is both picturesque and instagrammable so take an unlimited shots as much as you want (Chinkee)
3. Picnic and some photo under the heat of the sun – you can bring your foods and even grill then enjoy eating while cruising the lake and being surrounded by the beautiful Mother Nature (Howell)
4. Cruise around the lake – pull the rope in order for your cottage to move. You can either hire a guide to do it for you or do it by yourself for free (Jessie)
5. Emote and enjoy the moment – you can just sit in the cottage and enjoy the view. Or play some playlist that can let you remember your loved one. Or just cherish the moment to be in this beautiful place once in your life. (Toj)
6. Rest and relaxation – the place is perfect for everyone to rest and relax. You can even sleep with the cold and fresh air plus it is peaceful.

Where Lake Apo located?

It is located in Barangay Guinoyoran in the city of Valencia in Bukidnon Province. It can be found in a hilly area which is about 11KM from the city proper of Valencia.

Why it is called Lake Apo?

According to my friend, Wikipedia, its name is derived from the bisaya word Apo which means elder or grandparent.  According to legend, there was a man living in the mountains who assaulted his granddaughter and was punished by the mountain deities for his disrespectful act by flooding the area forming the Lake Apo.

As of today, no one can determine how deep the lake is as no one has been able to reach it.

We did not stay that long in Lake Apo because Howell needs to be in Hotel de Susana Resort (our next stop) at 2:30PM.

So we went there at around 2PM, and he just dropped us off since he needed to be in the church for their nephew\’s baptism. For the 5 of us, we decided to have our lunch in the restaurant. The foods were all delicious. And we stayed their for a couple of minutes before deciding to go out in the pool area for some pictorial (as always hahaha).

The Ontanillas Family was already there when we went out but we still proceeded to the pool because they were still settling down.

This is Hotel de Susana Resort in Valencia.

Then, Howell called us because it is eating time.

So, we did gatecrash the event plus we were given giveaways. How blessed are we. 😀

Took these photos while waiting for The Harwarts before heading to CDO. The hotel\’s chandelier is beautiful too.

Then, we departed at aroung 6:30PM and arrived in CDO after 3 hours. We directly went to Middleton Apartelle in Carmen, CDO where we will stay for the night.

After arranging our stuff and changing, we went for a night swimming and the continuation of Tatay\’s birthday celebration. Another night of Emperador Light plus the Rambutan plus the cake and Tatay ordered Alberto\’s pizza. Burp! hahahahaha

We ended the session and decided to sleep at around 12MN because we still have an early wake up call for the most exciting and adventurous activity for the whole trip. 😉

TIPS

1. Hire a vehicle for the tour. It is totally difficult to reach there by commuting. You might get lost and end up looking for the place the whole time.
2. If you want to visit Squash Mountain, it is better if you know someone from the area that can guide you in getting there. It will surely be hard to find and go.
3. Lake Apo should be spent a longer time than we did. I believe the rent of the floating cottage is maximum of 2 hours. So if possible, use all these hours to make it worthy.
4. Bring some foods and drinks for you to munch while cruising.
5. Take as many pictures that you can. Getting there is hard so better take advantage of the chance that you had reached there.
6. When in Valencia City, you can check in at Hotel de Susana Resort. They offer good foods, service and amenities.
7. Middleton Apartelle is a perfect place for those people who is visiting CDO but wanted to be away from the hustle and bustle of the city. It is quite far from the city and at least you can really rest.
8. The Apartelle is perfect for big groups. The unit that we rented have 2 bedrooms.
9. The Apartelle\’s pool only operates until 11AM. After that, the security guard or staff will placed chlorine on the pool whether someone is still swimming or not. Hahaha!
10. It is better to buy Alberto\’s Pizza in their store than ordering and have it delivered. The first is I think much faster. Hahaha. (Sorry iapil na lang sad nih nako!)