THE SPELLBINDING MAGKAWAS FALLS
Posted: Fri Jun 08, 2007 10:00 am
(Again, just another "filler." This is one of the many tourism-related articles I wrote that the Philippine Daily Inquirer printed.)
When somebody raved to me the marvels of Magkawas Falls, the newest must-go this side of Caraga, I gave her the smallest shrug. Like, I was blase with what nature can offer, having seen some of the best.
Oh boy, was I wrong!
The expedition was a last-minute proposal from Bebs, an officemate, who felt we all needed a tune-up after a grueling week. We lapped it up.
Backpacking with some officemates and friends that sunny Saturday morning, I didn't have much expectations. What sustained me throughout the one-hour jeepney ride from Tandag to Sitio Cagmino in Lanuza, Surigao del Sur, was the prospect of pigging out on Jhunnie's broiled blue marlin in homemade sauce, Tata's crabs in pure coco milk, and Dee's chocolate cake in sinful frosting.
From the highway where we got off, a billboard screamed: Lanuza Magkawas Falls and Green Paradise, a mountain resort eco-destination. A mouthful of hype, I told myself, but I let it pass not wanting to lose my disposition early on.
As we entered a wooden gate, the gatekeeper promptly told us that each child and adult would be charged an entrance fee of P5 and P10. He also told us to follow the duranta-lined footpath, as the falls was still 15 minutes away.
We hiked on a terrain so rugged that it was impossible for any form of transport to negotiate. Reaching the point where trees started to thicken, we climbed a 55-rung stair that was carved from a mound. As I savored the view from the top like Simba, I had rivulets of sweat. But by then, I already had a growing sense that I'd like what I'd see.
After going downhill, we walked under a foliage so thick and cool it was like being inside a cocoon, with only the chirping birds to remind us of an insensitive world.
Magkawas Falls doesn't grab you by the neck because it is not as majestic as other falls. But its starkness has a soothing quality of quiet to it that gives an exhilarating sense of moment.
As Dee aptly put it, the beauty of the Magkawas Falls is not visual but spiritual as it reaffirms, time and again, that indeed there's a God.
There are two bathing areas, separated by ripraps whose jutting stones made them look so natural, that are suitable for all types of tourists as they have varying depths. The water flows beautifully over the ripraps, creating miniature cascades that are postcard-perfect. Near the catch basin (the size of a half-court), there is a flat rock formation where one could poise a dive into the inviting waters that mirror graphically everything above it.
Despite its visual and spatial limitations, the Magkawas Falls is a striking showcase of how a small place can be so beautiful. It is also an excellent study of basic architecture: Landscaping was tops and the structures were built with fastidious attention to details that they fused seamlessly with nature. Cottages are made of round timber and built in such a way that they look like they are chiseled out from a cliff, overlooking the falls. They are connected by stairs whose handrails are either naturally wrought branches or enormous crazy vines. The anahaw thatch has an intricate pattern that creates a dazzling illusion of scalloped brocade. Tarzan and Jane couldn't have asked for a much better dwelling.
But what really caught my fancy were the stone vignettes amid exotic flora. Arranged in circles, stone slabs serve as dining sets with a vantage view of the falls. I never enjoyed eating before as much as I enjoyed it there.
The Magkawas Falls spins a practical magic that held me spellbound. I would have completely transported myself back to that pristine place and time of yore had it not been for the jolting presence of signages and billboards. They are annoyingly everywhere that they somehow spoil the whole ambience and mystique that the Magkawas Falls effortlessly creates. Which brings me to a digression: Why are we so fixated on signages and billboards? Is ours a hopeless generation that we always have to be told what not to do? (Signboard mania to me is the worst affliction of our generation that there ought to be a statute of limitation on it, given our predilection to overdo things and murder the English grammar.)
It is to the infinite credit of Mayor Algerico Irrizarri who transformed this hitherto hidden beauty into an emerging tourist destination by involving the whole community. Every Friday, he initiates a linis bayan to prepare the Magkawas Falls for weekend tourists. A few months from now, flowers will be abloom. And as I see things, the Magkawas Falls may after all, live up to its claim of being a green paradise.
Mayor Irrizarri told me he still has a lot of plans for the Magkawas Falls, especially now that he has received a lot of glowing comments for it, most notably from the few foreigners who had visited the site. I suggested for him not to succumb to the common pitfall of having concrete structures built within the perimeter of the Magkawas Falls as they have a way of vandalizing the thematic concept of nature.
If I have learned something from my visit to Magkawas Falls, it's this: With nature, nobody is past surprise.
When somebody raved to me the marvels of Magkawas Falls, the newest must-go this side of Caraga, I gave her the smallest shrug. Like, I was blase with what nature can offer, having seen some of the best.
Oh boy, was I wrong!
The expedition was a last-minute proposal from Bebs, an officemate, who felt we all needed a tune-up after a grueling week. We lapped it up.
Backpacking with some officemates and friends that sunny Saturday morning, I didn't have much expectations. What sustained me throughout the one-hour jeepney ride from Tandag to Sitio Cagmino in Lanuza, Surigao del Sur, was the prospect of pigging out on Jhunnie's broiled blue marlin in homemade sauce, Tata's crabs in pure coco milk, and Dee's chocolate cake in sinful frosting.
From the highway where we got off, a billboard screamed: Lanuza Magkawas Falls and Green Paradise, a mountain resort eco-destination. A mouthful of hype, I told myself, but I let it pass not wanting to lose my disposition early on.
As we entered a wooden gate, the gatekeeper promptly told us that each child and adult would be charged an entrance fee of P5 and P10. He also told us to follow the duranta-lined footpath, as the falls was still 15 minutes away.
We hiked on a terrain so rugged that it was impossible for any form of transport to negotiate. Reaching the point where trees started to thicken, we climbed a 55-rung stair that was carved from a mound. As I savored the view from the top like Simba, I had rivulets of sweat. But by then, I already had a growing sense that I'd like what I'd see.
After going downhill, we walked under a foliage so thick and cool it was like being inside a cocoon, with only the chirping birds to remind us of an insensitive world.
Magkawas Falls doesn't grab you by the neck because it is not as majestic as other falls. But its starkness has a soothing quality of quiet to it that gives an exhilarating sense of moment.
As Dee aptly put it, the beauty of the Magkawas Falls is not visual but spiritual as it reaffirms, time and again, that indeed there's a God.
There are two bathing areas, separated by ripraps whose jutting stones made them look so natural, that are suitable for all types of tourists as they have varying depths. The water flows beautifully over the ripraps, creating miniature cascades that are postcard-perfect. Near the catch basin (the size of a half-court), there is a flat rock formation where one could poise a dive into the inviting waters that mirror graphically everything above it.
Despite its visual and spatial limitations, the Magkawas Falls is a striking showcase of how a small place can be so beautiful. It is also an excellent study of basic architecture: Landscaping was tops and the structures were built with fastidious attention to details that they fused seamlessly with nature. Cottages are made of round timber and built in such a way that they look like they are chiseled out from a cliff, overlooking the falls. They are connected by stairs whose handrails are either naturally wrought branches or enormous crazy vines. The anahaw thatch has an intricate pattern that creates a dazzling illusion of scalloped brocade. Tarzan and Jane couldn't have asked for a much better dwelling.
But what really caught my fancy were the stone vignettes amid exotic flora. Arranged in circles, stone slabs serve as dining sets with a vantage view of the falls. I never enjoyed eating before as much as I enjoyed it there.
The Magkawas Falls spins a practical magic that held me spellbound. I would have completely transported myself back to that pristine place and time of yore had it not been for the jolting presence of signages and billboards. They are annoyingly everywhere that they somehow spoil the whole ambience and mystique that the Magkawas Falls effortlessly creates. Which brings me to a digression: Why are we so fixated on signages and billboards? Is ours a hopeless generation that we always have to be told what not to do? (Signboard mania to me is the worst affliction of our generation that there ought to be a statute of limitation on it, given our predilection to overdo things and murder the English grammar.)
It is to the infinite credit of Mayor Algerico Irrizarri who transformed this hitherto hidden beauty into an emerging tourist destination by involving the whole community. Every Friday, he initiates a linis bayan to prepare the Magkawas Falls for weekend tourists. A few months from now, flowers will be abloom. And as I see things, the Magkawas Falls may after all, live up to its claim of being a green paradise.
Mayor Irrizarri told me he still has a lot of plans for the Magkawas Falls, especially now that he has received a lot of glowing comments for it, most notably from the few foreigners who had visited the site. I suggested for him not to succumb to the common pitfall of having concrete structures built within the perimeter of the Magkawas Falls as they have a way of vandalizing the thematic concept of nature.
If I have learned something from my visit to Magkawas Falls, it's this: With nature, nobody is past surprise.
](./images/smilies/eusa_wall.gif "Brick wall")
