Valentine's Day at Malangaan Cave

Hello again. I'm posting a new blog again due to recommendations of several officemates upon reading my Taal blog. Thank you to those who expressed their appreciation. Lots of love from me to you. :)

Since I am single and don't have any plans for Valentine's Day, my closest office friends decided to go on a trip. Since all of us are from different towns of Bulacan, we decided to explore a good destination within Bulacan. Thanks to the following blogs of The Lost Kid Travels and Byaherong Barat, we came up with Malangaan Cave in Sitio Tukod, San Rafael.

Since I was from Norzagaray, I found it easy to travel to San Rafael. My companions, Yunyce and her sister Mica, are from Bocaue so we decided to meet up at Angat Town Proper. From Norzagaray Circle, I rode a tricyle to Angat (10 pesos per person) and waited for the De Jesuses in a convenience store.

We started our journey around 8 in the morning. Just outside the convenience we started our bargain for a tricycle ride to Sitio Tukod. Some offered 500 to a two-way ride but we found it expensive since we still don't know how far Sitio Tukod is from Angat. Here's an idea if you wanted to know:

Upon asking several tricycle drivers, someone offered us a two-way ride from only 300 pesos. Meet Kuya Jasper of Angat TODA (Body No. 123). If you're planning to go to Malangaan and will be commuting from Angat, I recommend you to get him as you're driver. Why? You'll soon find out. Kuya Jasper can't be contacted via phone since he told us he doesn't have one. According to him, just ask for his tricycle's body number. 

A stolen shot of Kuya Jasper

And so the journey continues on a tricycle ride from Angat to Sitio Tukod. It was a smooth ride across the green scenes of countryside San Rafael until we came to a rough road which signaled us that we're almost near or destination. When we arrived in the entrance to Malangaan, we were welcomed by two kids, Rodmar and Jerry. This is why I wanted to post my blogs as soon as got home from the trip itself). Since they were the first to approach us, we decided to get them as out guides for this trip. To get your vehicle to Malangaan, you have to cross a stream and there was a crossing fee - 10 for 2-wheelers, 15 for 3-wheelers and 30 for 4-wheelers. We paid 15 for Kuya Jasper's tricycle and what we saw first is the Malangaan Spring.

Few steps from the spring, we finally saw the rib-like rock formations of the cave. These formations stretches approximately 250 meters and I found myself in awe while walking in between them.

Beware: Lost Kid in Action

Our guides assisted us on climbing one of the high parts of the rock formations and believe me, the struggle is real. For the first time in my life, I felt like I will be using my life insurance any moment now.

Me, Yunyce and Mika traversing rock formations
(credits to Yunyce for the last picture)

Minutes of climbing and tantrums, we finally reach a high point in the rock formations. It makes me feel like I'm on El Nido's Taraw Cliff.

If you played the video above, you can see that Kuya Jasper was also with us during the climb. Now you know why we recommend him. The moment we arrived at the area, he asked the three of us if we can swim. Since we all can't, he told us he would stay close in the spring to assist us if ever the need arises. Instead of just staying in his tricycle and sleep while he wait for us to come back, joined us in the trail. He also helped us through the hard climbs and to where we should step our foot to climb safely. It's as if we had three guides in this trip. For that, thumbs up for Kuya Jasper!

After hardships on climbing up to this point and climbing down to safety, our guides invited to explore the deep dark parts of the cave. When we decided to go, Rodmar insists that we can't since someone stole the flashlight that he brought for the trail. Unfortunately, we have to go back to Spring area to ask for someone else's flashlight. That was then we met Kuya Kulot, another guide in the area who provided us with not one, not two, but three flashlights. Luckily, he also joined in the trail to the dark parts of the cave. Now we have four guides for this trip.

The path inside the cave is definitely not easy. There is a part that you have to crawl your way to the passage, which is really hard especially when you have to insert your arms pass by first and you let your abdominal and leg muscles do the thing. Seriously, I felt like I was doing a worm dance by that time. But once you passed through that tough passage, you will arrive in a high-ceiling part of the cave where you will see a lot of calcite formations, which somehow lessens your stress of pushing yourself though the path. 

Again, the struggle is real
(credits to Yunyce for these three pictures)

The cave experience was so much. Unfortunately we noticed some concerns on the cave. There were no measures being implemented to conserve the beauty of it. It can be noticed in the pictures below that vandals are seen in the rock formations. Also, the calcite formations in the cave are being taken by some visitors, making their crystal-like luster to disappear. Calcite formations during the trail can only be seen on high-ceiling areas or on areas not easily reached by people. I hope that the local government, visitors and locals around the area would help each other in preserving the natural beauty of the cave.

Notice the vandals on the cave walls </3

This trip taught me that great things can still be found on places near you - places that don't necessary need a plane or a boat ride. You just have to learn to appreciate them. Till my next adventure. :)