Sail + Swim in Lake Pandin

          The moment I opened my eyes from camping, I prepared myself to descend to Lake Pandin...I was the early bird then, and why not? I had a complete rest vs. the other mountaineers. I brushed my teeth with limited water, yes it's possible :) I am more excited to see the Lake and swim, being a mermaid in my entire life, swimming really excites me and it will always will.

More than 10,000 steps, 10 stop overs, 1,000 milliliters of  combined mineral water and coconut juice intake, 10ml of sweat, 100% of my energy were utilized from Mt. Mabilog to Lake Pandin. It was scenic view from top but even better when you get close, especially if you came from an overnight camping with no real  dinner and breakfast. I swear my eyes twinkled like a meteor shower when finally I saw that Lake. 

I didn't waste my time, though my stomach was empty, the fact that I saw body of water relieved me. But we had to go to the deeper part of the lake to swim, after all food were loaded to the balsa, we sail through. This is also the first time that I'm gonna swim in a lake, hmmmm. The balsa ride with 4 female sailing to reach the destination is an adventure already. Pinay power to the extreme! 

The water is crystal green, hot and cold combination. There were portions like you're in a hot spring, and the cold part like you're in a refrigerator. I dunno how science would explain that, for me it was just an awesome experience. 

The water coming from the bukal freezes me, it's really cold! It feels like im taking a bath in Baguio City with no heater at all. This is where the locals get their drinking water, so we refilled our bottles too. Taste better than the distilled and purified water, imagine the nature's magic...

I keep on swimming the whole 5 hours that we were there. I don't need goggles here, though I brought  one. We tried to check the depth of water but it's impossible with life vest. I tried to remove my vest but our guide got mad. 

 

She said I shouldn't do that even though I'm a swimmer, so I better listen. These are some of my funny pics. Looks like they're watching me!  What would be the best caption here?

What amazed me more was the structure of Balete tree beside the river. I though it was planted in the lake, so we checked closer. What we saw was just roots of Balete tree find it's way to the lake. Looks like getting supply of water through its roots. According to our guide, it took hundred years before these roots grew like this.

Never contented, we climbed the Balete roots, oh ghost forgive us! Were just having fun, trying to detoxify through bonding with nature.I believe that nature has healing power, because every time I feel sick and tired, I didn't take medicine, just few moments with nature and I'll be ok.

Swimming is my multi-vitamins from A-Z, my stress-buster, my cough relief and my good friend.  I swear. And its proven, been stressed out several times and I just went swimming, drove away from the toxic city. 

After that, I know I'm okay again to face everything. So I guess, more swimming adventure awaits me.