Villa Escudero

Last June 15 we celebrated two events; the 32nd Wedding Anniversary of my parents and Father's Day for Papa Gary and Papa Nestor.  We all went to Villa Escudero to celebrate and enjoy the entire day. 

Villa Escudero - based from its website - www.villaescudero.com - is a self-contained working coconut plantation and it was founded in the 1880's by Don Placido Escudero and his wife Dona Claudia Marasigan.  Originally planted to sugarcane, the crop was converted to coconut by their son Don Arsenio Escudero in the early 1900's.  A pioneering agro-industrialist, he built the country's first working hydroelectric plant to supply his dessicated coconut factory and Villa Escudero, where he and his wife Dona Rosario Adap built in 1929.

Their children opened the estate to the public in 1981.  From its humble beginnings, the resort has become a prime tourist destination for locals, overseas Filipinos and a wide array of foreign visitors to the country.  It has a worldwide reputation as a showcase for the Philippines' rich cultural heritage, offering a beguiling glimpse of its history, cuisine, dress, customs and natural beauty. 

We took their day tour package, which is at Php1,400.00 per person from 8:00am to 5:00pm, then I asked my family if we can make it to Villa by 8am and we all did!  Good for us! 

We met up at the reception area (while waiting for the Fernando Family) and we were given their welcome drinks! 

After paying at the reception, you will be given a ticket for the following: 

1. Museum

2. Carabao Ride

3. Lunch

Then you will be directed to the pathway going to the museum.

This is the walkway..

Outside, it looked like a church but inside it contained history.  

There were a lot of religious items, collection of dolls, antiques, presidential ensembles and a lot more interesting things.  If you love history then you will enjoy the museum, unfortunately for me, I am not a big fan of history.  Though I enjoyed the doll collections from all over the world.

^_^ 

You can't take pictures in the museum so you have to have a good memory.

After the musuem, the next activity was the carabao ride to give you a view of the place and the houses there.  While waiting for 5 minutes.. Still no carabao.

Well I do not want us to waste my time waiting and also there was a long queue to ride the carabao and so we all  decided to ride in this one intead:

One thing is for sure, it's way faster than the carabao.  When we were being toured in the vicinity, we saw the houses of the workers there.  Yes they live inside Villa Escudero. 

Even if we were not able to ride the carabao, we were still able to take a shot with her! Yes her name is "Sexy" - bagay sa akin! 

After that ride, we all then went to the man made falls for our lunch.  Unfortunately we weren't allowed to enter just yet because it was just 10am - thus we were asked to wait.

Again, I do not wish to waste my time waiting and so I asked my sister to go and ride the bamboo raft with me.  

In Villa Escudero, there is a man made lake that is 30 feet deep and one of their activity  aside from fishing was rafting.

It has no time limit, but since I do not want to stay longer under the sun we decided to finish the rafting in 15 minutes.  Louise enjoyed it much!! That's good to know. 

Then we went back to the man made falls to have our buffet lunch!

It's a different experience because you will be eating while your feet is in the water.  The water is coming from the man made falls and it was really a good view.  It felt like you were eating while in a river. 

The buffet was from 11am up to 2pm so you can stay as long as you want and get as many food as you crave for.  We stayed there from 11am - 1pm. 

Of course we can never miss the photo opps in the falls! 

After that we went to the hall to watch their folk dance presentation.  This presentation are only shown during weekends and holidays.  It showcased the history of our dances in the Philippines. 

It was about an hour and a half long and if you really love to dance and you love history you will definitely enjoy it! 

Those who presented were also working in Villa Escudero as receptionists, maintenance and more, the kids are the grand daughters and grandsons of the employees which even made the presentation very special.

After the presentation, we then went for a dip for an hour and then went off! 

Overall, it was a very relaxing day and I would recommend my family and friends to come and visit Villa Escudero one of these days.

Xoxo