Travel & Tourism
Posted on 06:18 PM, May 15, 2014
Text and Photos By Jennee Grace U. Rubrico
Villa Escudero: Glamorizing country life
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IT IS a place where buffalo rides are comfortable, feasts are held beside a child-friendly waterfall, and guests can dip their feet in a stream on a hot day without worrying about getting bitten by mosquitoes or other bugs.
(from top)LABASIN LAKE, where guests can go bamboo rafting; the facade of the AERA Museum, which is built to look like a church and Who’s Sexy, the cart or the carabao? One of the buffalo-pulled carts used in Villa Escudero to transport guests.
Villa Escudero Plantations and Resort, a tourist destination south of Manila, gets up to 1,000 visitors a day during peak season for glamorizing country living.
The lack of gilded gates to announce the property’s presence sets the stage for the Villa Escudero show, the easy-to-miss wooden sign by the highway that points to the dusty road leading to the plantation drawing guests deeper into the charade.
In Villa Escudero, the “carabao ride” does away with the leathery-hide-against-seat-of-the-pants experience in favor of the classier and infinitely more pleasant roofed-cart-with-cushioned-seats variety.
It sprinkles a dash of romance into the frenzy of the barrio fiesta by moving the festivities out of the house and into an aquatic setting. Visitors set plates laden with Filipino food down on tables which rise from a pool filled with ankle-deep water that is cool to the feet and teeming with fish small enough to delight toddlers. The man-made waterfall that children bathe in and lovers use as a background for selfies, mushy or otherwise, looms over the revelry.
It is this promise of a fun, hassle-free time in a rustic setting that gained the 40-hectare resort -- carved out of a 300-hectare coconut plantation at the border of Laguna and Quezon provinces -- its reputation as a popular destination for unwinding.
Leaving Quezon City at 7:30 a.m. on a Friday got my group of four adults, a one-year-old toddler and a three-month-old infant to the plantation at noon -- just in time for lunch at the waterfall.
After being met with a welcome drink of sago’t gulaman by a lady wearing a tapis, we went on a short ride to the lunch venue on Sexy -- though it was not clear if the name/adjective pertained to the spacious cart which looked like a jeepney without an engine, or to the robust albino buffalo pulling it, because while both looked handsome, neither was particularly alluring. The coachman said 22 dedicated buffalo take turns pulling seven carts around the park and that after each round, the load is removed from the beast, which then rests in a pool to await its next trip.
Though our ride didn’t last more than 10 minutes, entertainment was on hand -- another tapis-attired lady and her equally traditionally garbed guitarist serenaded us with familiar folk songs such as “Pipit” and “Paruparong Bukid” from the back seat of the cart.
The all you-can-eat lunch made the day tour fee of P1,400 per adult worth paying. Grilled tilapia, vegetables cooked in coconut milk, fresh tomatoes, raw mangoes, steamed okra, peeled turnip, grilled pork belly, and steamed rice, among others, competed for attention. But what won my heart and palate was the bagoong (sautéed shrimp paste) in the clay jar which, though flavorful on its own, made other dishes it was mixed into taste even better.
As is expected at any town banquet, crowds formed at the buffet tables, but staff were on hand to keep order and help guests with everything from securing eating space to getting their drinks. The waiter who took our order of fresh coconut juice was quite the professional -- when he found out that the remaining stock of young coconuts contained less liquid than normal, he got back to us and asked if we still wanted our drinks. Waiters of a lesser calibre would have brought in the order and hoped the guests would not notice the difference.
After the meal, we burned off the calories by walking to the venue for the cultural production that the resort stages on weekends. Regional dances, including the Singkil, Manglalatik, and Fandango sa Ilaw, were performed to live music. Perhaps the most engaging number was the Sayaw sa Banko, where two pairs of dancers performed increasingly daring stunts on narrow benches while keeping the tempo of the music. The dancers intentionally fell from time to time, prompting heckling from the other performers and eliciting laughs from the crowd.
Guests who wish to get more exercise or take a closer look at the scenery can have a go at bamboo rafting in the man-made Labasin Lake. The rafts, which can seat two people, do not come with a boatman, so those who are up for the challenge are sure to work up a sweat.
For culture and art aficionados, the AERA Memorial Museum is a must-visit -- but be warned that it is not for the faint-hearted. Housing 300-year-old relics, old dolls, stuffed animals mounted on walls, skulls and coffins -- even a shrunken human head in a jar -- the museum is crammed with the stuff that horror stories are made of. However, there is more to the pieces than their shock value, and the place also houses items that do not necessarily induce nightmares.
Built to look like a church, the museum is a sanctuary for religious art.
Among the attention-grabbing relics are ornate altars that tower over the ground floor, and larger-than-life images made of ivory.
A barnacled jar that is said to have been fished out of the Sea of Corinth hundreds of years before Christ stands on its own on one side of the museum. Tucked in a corner, an illustration created out of the words of the New Testament is perhaps the most popular item in the building -- the work garners quite a bit of mention on Web sites and online reviews.
On the upper floor, the weapons, armor, traditional costumes and numismatics showcase, along with the clothes that former Philippine presidents wore to their inaugurations, take guests back to different points of the country’s past.
On the grounds outside the museum, tanks, a fighter plane, and cannons that hark back to the world war serve as installation art.
The museum prohibits photo-taking, and children below the age of four are not allowed entry.
Taking the electric jeep would bring guests to the village that plantation workers call home. According to the driver of the e-Jeep we took, 70 families, all of which have one or more members working in the plantation, stay in the village.
The route passes a quaint chapel that is known for being the venue for the wedding of celebrities Lorna Tolentino and the late Rudy Fernandez. After we had a snapshot taken in front of the altar, the driver hastened to mention that Villa Escudero offers a wedding package for those who want to get married in the chapel -- and it comes with a horse-drawn carriage.
Villa Escudero also has pool facilities -- perhaps as a concession to guests who would want to take a dip after a long day of sightseeing. There are two pools for children, and two for adults, one of which has a Jacuzzi. One may want to think twice about the pool, however, during peak season.
Sharing the pools with 1,000 other guests -- the average that the resort gets on summer weekends, according to one of the staff -- may not be the best way to spend the day at Villa Escudero.
While some elements of the Villa Escudero experience could come across as contrived -- those cement statues of rural folk and farm animals that dot the grounds and give unsuspecting guests a scare at night, for instance -- the hospitality extended by most of the staff at least seems genuine. A minor altercation with a poolside employee threatened to mar our otherwise pleasant day at the resort, but the supervisor we talked to about it handled the situation well.
A day tour is sufficient to sample what Villa Escudero has to offer, but those who wish to stay longer can book rooms in the property. According to its Web site, other activities in the resort include bird watching, cycling, and watching coconuts being harvested.
For details visit http://www.villaescudero.com.
The lack of gilded gates to announce the property’s presence sets the stage for the Villa Escudero show, the easy-to-miss wooden sign by the highway that points to the dusty road leading to the plantation drawing guests deeper into the charade.
In Villa Escudero, the “carabao ride” does away with the leathery-hide-against-seat-of-the-pants experience in favor of the classier and infinitely more pleasant roofed-cart-with-cushioned-seats variety.
It sprinkles a dash of romance into the frenzy of the barrio fiesta by moving the festivities out of the house and into an aquatic setting. Visitors set plates laden with Filipino food down on tables which rise from a pool filled with ankle-deep water that is cool to the feet and teeming with fish small enough to delight toddlers. The man-made waterfall that children bathe in and lovers use as a background for selfies, mushy or otherwise, looms over the revelry.
It is this promise of a fun, hassle-free time in a rustic setting that gained the 40-hectare resort -- carved out of a 300-hectare coconut plantation at the border of Laguna and Quezon provinces -- its reputation as a popular destination for unwinding.
Leaving Quezon City at 7:30 a.m. on a Friday got my group of four adults, a one-year-old toddler and a three-month-old infant to the plantation at noon -- just in time for lunch at the waterfall.
After being met with a welcome drink of sago’t gulaman by a lady wearing a tapis, we went on a short ride to the lunch venue on Sexy -- though it was not clear if the name/adjective pertained to the spacious cart which looked like a jeepney without an engine, or to the robust albino buffalo pulling it, because while both looked handsome, neither was particularly alluring. The coachman said 22 dedicated buffalo take turns pulling seven carts around the park and that after each round, the load is removed from the beast, which then rests in a pool to await its next trip.
Though our ride didn’t last more than 10 minutes, entertainment was on hand -- another tapis-attired lady and her equally traditionally garbed guitarist serenaded us with familiar folk songs such as “Pipit” and “Paruparong Bukid” from the back seat of the cart.
The all you-can-eat lunch made the day tour fee of P1,400 per adult worth paying. Grilled tilapia, vegetables cooked in coconut milk, fresh tomatoes, raw mangoes, steamed okra, peeled turnip, grilled pork belly, and steamed rice, among others, competed for attention. But what won my heart and palate was the bagoong (sautéed shrimp paste) in the clay jar which, though flavorful on its own, made other dishes it was mixed into taste even better.
As is expected at any town banquet, crowds formed at the buffet tables, but staff were on hand to keep order and help guests with everything from securing eating space to getting their drinks. The waiter who took our order of fresh coconut juice was quite the professional -- when he found out that the remaining stock of young coconuts contained less liquid than normal, he got back to us and asked if we still wanted our drinks. Waiters of a lesser calibre would have brought in the order and hoped the guests would not notice the difference.
After the meal, we burned off the calories by walking to the venue for the cultural production that the resort stages on weekends. Regional dances, including the Singkil, Manglalatik, and Fandango sa Ilaw, were performed to live music. Perhaps the most engaging number was the Sayaw sa Banko, where two pairs of dancers performed increasingly daring stunts on narrow benches while keeping the tempo of the music. The dancers intentionally fell from time to time, prompting heckling from the other performers and eliciting laughs from the crowd.
Guests who wish to get more exercise or take a closer look at the scenery can have a go at bamboo rafting in the man-made Labasin Lake. The rafts, which can seat two people, do not come with a boatman, so those who are up for the challenge are sure to work up a sweat.
For culture and art aficionados, the AERA Memorial Museum is a must-visit -- but be warned that it is not for the faint-hearted. Housing 300-year-old relics, old dolls, stuffed animals mounted on walls, skulls and coffins -- even a shrunken human head in a jar -- the museum is crammed with the stuff that horror stories are made of. However, there is more to the pieces than their shock value, and the place also houses items that do not necessarily induce nightmares.
Built to look like a church, the museum is a sanctuary for religious art.
Among the attention-grabbing relics are ornate altars that tower over the ground floor, and larger-than-life images made of ivory.
A barnacled jar that is said to have been fished out of the Sea of Corinth hundreds of years before Christ stands on its own on one side of the museum. Tucked in a corner, an illustration created out of the words of the New Testament is perhaps the most popular item in the building -- the work garners quite a bit of mention on Web sites and online reviews.
On the upper floor, the weapons, armor, traditional costumes and numismatics showcase, along with the clothes that former Philippine presidents wore to their inaugurations, take guests back to different points of the country’s past.
On the grounds outside the museum, tanks, a fighter plane, and cannons that hark back to the world war serve as installation art.
The museum prohibits photo-taking, and children below the age of four are not allowed entry.
Taking the electric jeep would bring guests to the village that plantation workers call home. According to the driver of the e-Jeep we took, 70 families, all of which have one or more members working in the plantation, stay in the village.
The route passes a quaint chapel that is known for being the venue for the wedding of celebrities Lorna Tolentino and the late Rudy Fernandez. After we had a snapshot taken in front of the altar, the driver hastened to mention that Villa Escudero offers a wedding package for those who want to get married in the chapel -- and it comes with a horse-drawn carriage.
Villa Escudero also has pool facilities -- perhaps as a concession to guests who would want to take a dip after a long day of sightseeing. There are two pools for children, and two for adults, one of which has a Jacuzzi. One may want to think twice about the pool, however, during peak season.
Sharing the pools with 1,000 other guests -- the average that the resort gets on summer weekends, according to one of the staff -- may not be the best way to spend the day at Villa Escudero.
While some elements of the Villa Escudero experience could come across as contrived -- those cement statues of rural folk and farm animals that dot the grounds and give unsuspecting guests a scare at night, for instance -- the hospitality extended by most of the staff at least seems genuine. A minor altercation with a poolside employee threatened to mar our otherwise pleasant day at the resort, but the supervisor we talked to about it handled the situation well.
A day tour is sufficient to sample what Villa Escudero has to offer, but those who wish to stay longer can book rooms in the property. According to its Web site, other activities in the resort include bird watching, cycling, and watching coconuts being harvested.
For details visit http://www.villaescudero.com.
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