Friday, February 23, 2007

The Wajus family had talked about going to the Pagsanjan Falls every time they came to get each of their three children, but for one reason or another they had never made it. They are here now, visiting, and more determined than ever to make it to the falls.

The package tours ask for $98 per person, but we suggested that we could drive them out and probably save them a lot of money. We've never done it before, so we really didn't know what to expect, but it turned out marvelously.

We picked them up at their hotel in Makati at around eight in the morning, and stopped in at our house (next to the baby home) at around nine to pick up the rest of our family. It was a two hour drive (75 km) from our house, but pleasurable and beautiful.

The 'standard fare' is P660 per person for the boat ride, but they told us up front that that didn't pay the banqeros (boatmen). When we asked how much we should pay them (two in each boat, with two or three passengers) they said, 'Wait to see how hard they have to work before you decide how much to pay them.' And they were incredible. Very considerate and incredibly athletic to haul our happy carcasses up the rapids.

You can get a little glimpse of some of the local flavor and the banquero's heroism at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LiC-NLXvdV0

The boat ride was one of the most incredibly enjoyable things I have ever done in the Philippines, and our boys loved it. Unfortunately, I don't know that it would be appropriate for a very young baby with new adoptive parents. It was five hours from port to port, supplemented by some heavy 'traffic' in places where the rapids are too narrow to allow two-way passage.

The one frustration was not knowing how much to pay the banqueros. They were champions, to a man. And we hardly wanted to short them. But, frankly, from the pleasure we gave them when we paid P1000 each, I'm pretty sure we overpaid; from the pleasure they gave us, I think we paid about the right amount.

One thing I'd definitely want to repeat if we do it again was stopping for lunch at a little 'restaurant' half-way up the river. It was just a little hiking camp, with tents made out of tarps. Barbecued chicken with rice, though, has never tasted so good.

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