Dusk and the Mother Falls | San Luiz, Aurora

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What a fine day to be talking about another place I explored in my quest of finishing my #Project81PH. Any idea where we're headed today? 🤔

Just when you thought we're done with Baler or the Province of Aurora, in general, we're not! Today we are going to explore Ditumabo Falls or what people in Aurora dubbed as the Mother Falls.

Ditumabo Falls is located in San Luis, Aurora approximately 18km away from Baler. We arrived here past lunchtime, I didn't even realize how hungry I was until I saw a few carinderias or food stalls lined up before we reached their Tourism Office. So Kuya Jaime and I ate our lunch (yup, lunch at 3 PM!)

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River trekking

Kuya Jaime retired for a few minutes as he's not officially allowed to guide me here. The Tourism Office assigned their local guide for this adventure.

Just like any waterfall I've been to, this one required a few minutes of trekking from their Tourism Office. If you'd look it up in other blogs, the author might mention 40-45 minutes of trek time. Yup, reaching this waterfall isn't easy peasy. A few minutes from the Tourism Office, we saw these huge pipes by the mountainside. The pipes served as our guide on which path to take.

As you can see, we had to cross rivers just to reach the day's destination. Luckily, it wasn't raining that day so it wasn't hard to trek. Gladly, I wasn't alone in this journey. A few minutes later, we saw other tourists still trekking in the direction we were going. There were kids and a dog, too!

A few more minutes of walking with the guide and all I've seen were huge rocks along the way. According to our guide (unfortunately, I couldn't remember his name, but yup that's him in the photo), these rocks used to be part of the mountains, and due to natural calamities in the past, some rocks were eroded and formed part of the river.

When we finally reached the paved road (which the local government initiated), the tour guide finally broke his silence "We're near!" I honestly was in a hurry as it was already getting dark. I know it was nearly 4 PM but dark clouds gathered above us signaling heavy rain.

The worry intensified when I saw some tourists on their way home. But the guide was calm and collected; I just thought maybe we wouldn't be allowed here if it's dangerous to trek late in the afternoon. And oh, before I forgot, I was one of the last tourists allowed to visit the falls that day. They have a cut-off time because if one starts trekking very late, they might end up spending the night trekking on their way home. It can be scary there, trust me!

Without delay, we kept moving forward towards the waterfall. Despite being in a hurry, I couldn't help but be amazed by the simplicity of the surroundings. You could barely hear anything except for the birds singing and the flow of water in the stream.

When I went here, I had no idea why it was called Mother Falls. And I honestly didn't have the energy to ask my guide. I was worrying if we'd make it on time. But when I saw small waterfalls, I thought these are the kids of the Ditumabo Falls. I was only able to take a photo of one of the smaller falls but there were few we saw on our way to the Mother Falls.

We took exactly 27 minutes to reach the falls including stops to take photos. Not bad afterall! We could cut it into 18 minutes without picture taking! But travel without pictures won't for me. You know I love to take photos! Lot of them! 😂

Then we finally reached Ditumabo Falls. I was a bit disappointed as I expected a huge waterfall, the likes of Kawasan Falls in Cebu. It may be huge compared to the smaller ones we've seen along the way, but it ain't too huge. Maybe my expectation was just too high.

But despite being a bit disappointed, I was still glad I made it to the falls. Just like any waterfall in the Philippines, the water was crystal clear and it's ice-cold, too! I actually had to take a few minutes to decide if I'll swim or not. It was an easy decision to make tho. Since I was already there I hiked almost an hour back and forth, might as well experience the waterfalls to its fullest. So yup I swim but didn't last long in the waters. I felt relaxed and my muscles were able to release tensions gathered after a day's tour in Baler and neighboring towns. It has been a long day for me and surely what a way to end that day!

Although I was already starting to fall in love with the place, time wasn't on my side. We wrapped up the pictorials and prepared to start trekking back at the Tourism Office. It wasn't advisable to stay longer since it was starting to get dark. We need to reach the Tourism Office before sundown, that's the goal.

But before finally heading back, I posed and took a lot of photos of the place:

AS you can see, these photos aren't edited. I was really the last one to leave the place! Everyone headed back while I was still striking these poses. haha

Perks of being the last one to leave, a photo of the falls without photobombers! Yay! 😁

I was supposed to pay Php 30.00 ($.58) for the entrance fee but they waived the fee. Perks of being a friendly tourist! haha I get a lot of free stuff (food, transpo, etc) in my travels. Although I insisted to pay, they wouldn't receive it and mentioned to just give a tip to the guide, which I did. Although, it's nice to receive free stuff (free entrance fee in this case), as much as possible, let us not exploit the locals as this is their source of income.

That would be all for today for our #Project81PH featuring the Province of Aurora. Have you been to a falls recently? What was your experience? Let's chat in the comment section!

I'll see you in my next post. 😁

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