city of seven lakes in a country of two simultaneous summers

Posted by ai on Mar 18, 2009 in ai's TRAVEL GALORE | 0 comments

Like my mood, weather is quite unpredictable at the onset of March. With three term papers to write and 101 research papers to check, I rode a jeep with my travel buddy to lose myself one hot saturday morning in Laguna and to finally get rid of asthma attacks. Since I had no plans of getting “lost”, I asked for directions to the city of seven lakes, San Pablo.

There I found peace and quiet. And a chill summer.

While wandering, I thought of writing my first book to be called Laguna, my Laguna, but I have to match Nick Joaquin’s style first in Manila, my Manila to deserve that title.

Here is the first of the seven: Sampaloc Lake, which I have always heard in folktales and tourism write ups but underestimated because of my embarrassing notion before that Laguna, my own hometown, is a boring place that should be called “the bedroom province” because many people from San Pedro to Calamba work in Manila and go to Laguna by night only to sleep. Alas, I am so wrong.

And here’s the ultimate treat to end the San Pablo day.

strawberry!