Conquering Mt. Tapyas and Maquinit Hot Springs

We had different choices on what to do next, when to do the different activities and how we execute them.

One of the options was to go up Mt. Tapyas and see sunset from there (I love sunsets!). After that we will go to Maquinit hot springs to relax our must-have-been tired bodies from the climb. Other options included shopping, taking a rest or just bum around.

I secretly had the intention of going to each and every place possible. When this idea opened up, I set up a plan on how to make everyone agree. I mentioned that if we do this in the morning instead, we might be too tired to do other things, or that if we do it late morning and we were late, it would be too hot to climb and that the hot springs would be hotter due to the sun.

And they agreed! It meant that we could go to more places the next day too!

After our last destination, Twin Lagoon (also known as twin rocks), we already concluded our island hopping for the day. The boatman and tourist guide brought us to a place near the market to disembark. From this venue, we hired a tricycle (a motorcycle with a side car) to bring us back to hotel (to drop off our snorkeling gear and bring items like food and camera), wait for us, bring us to Mt Tapyas, (wait for us again), go to Maquinit hot springs (then wait for us, yet again) then bring us back to the hotel. Expense wise-that was our big mistake – first, to not agree on a price, and to let him wait a lot. However, looking back, we at least didn’t have any problem at all.

We arrived at the foot of the mountain looking ahead with all smiles. We also had a mission, to count the number of steps it would take to reach the summit. Along the way, some took it seriously, others just waited for their turn. When we reached the top – it was tiring. Maybe we could blame it on excitement (in our turn to count,we outpaced ourselves to finish early) or maybe lack of preparation (not all of us maximize the Gym benefits we had).

We reached the top and counted it 722 (it was actually wrong). However, reaching the summit was great. You can see the view of the whole islands. Our tour guide also mentioned the myth on how the siete pecados was created, which you could see from the top. Some stories were also exchanged. It seemed we reached the summit earlier than planned, sunset would be around an hour away. So we just stayed and enjoyed the view. We also took lots and lots of pictures!

You could also probably see our sunset shots, and our favorite shot of all. After the sunset we all went down looking forward to our next destination – hot springs. Descending, we noticed that our legs were shaking – and we were not controlling it. But the view was still great. We were all expecting to rest from all days activities as well, we discussed dinner and our plans for the next day. When we reached our tricycle, we asked to stop by a local sari-sari store (its like your local 7-11 but smaller) to buy drinks then off we went to the hot springs. It took quite some time, as we passed different barangays, and we arrive there night time.

The Maquinit hot springs were really hot. I guess its name was derived from the tagalog word Mainit- meaning hot, but I could be wrong too. They say it was the only salt water hot spring in the country! They said it was 40 degrees celsius (yep, that hot!) and it was night time already. If we did it the next day, as one suggested, it might have been too hot. Some of my friends enjoyed it as it cooled the tired muscles. They all even went to the hottest area. But I couldn’t take it. It was so hot that I felt my wounds open up. Maybe it was a mind over matter thing that I failed again. I just rested on the edge and splashed the water from time to time.

After about an hour, we left the place feelind rejuvinated and ready for dinner, sleeping and the next day.