On our first day, we left Makati quite later than scheduled so we skipped out some of the items in our itinerary (e.g., Rizal Shrine in Calamba). The weather wasn’t looking too good – it was cloudy and the sun was nowhere to be found. Odd when we were taking the Viaje del Sol or the Tour of the Sun!

Anyway, we got to San Pablo, Laguna – and “wazed” Lake Pandin – our first stop. When we got there, we were told that we had to walk 15 minutes from the high way so we parked our cars and started the muddy trek towards the lake.

We got to the lakeshore and it was raining a little bit so we were freezing. We didn’t really plan to swim in the lake because we had more places to visit after, so we didn’t bring any extra shirts or clothes with us (we left them in the car). We braved the cold, got on to our rafts, and ate our baon of Andok’s lechon manok and liempo. It was a late lunch so we were starving!

But of course, picture first before eating –

We also had leche flan for desserts & fresh buko (coconut) juice for drinks! Eating on a raft, in the middle of a lake is an experience!

By the way, this specific tourist spot is run by the town’s regular housewives, as an opportunity for them to earn extra income for their families. This one really struck me because the ones manning the raft, pulling the ropes to get to the other side of the lake were probably the same age as my mother. 🙁 Life is hard, but they were happily chatting away so it’s probably not as bad. I just wished they didn’t have to work this hard.

Going back – the sun came out when we got to the middle of the lake, and we were grateful because we finally witnessed the beauty and charm of the lake, sparkling under the sun!

Now, the results of our photoshoot by the lake –

After playing around for a few minutes, we finally decided to go back because we had the rest of the day ahead! The day started out gloomy but the sun came up and I would consider it a great start to an unforgettable weekend with friends.

If you want to visit Lake Pandin, I can share with you the contact number so that you can get their rates. If you book early, they can prepare your lunch for you. If not, you can just buy food like we did and bring it with you to the raft. Make sure you don’t throw your trash into the lake!

Off to the next stop: Nagcarlan Underground Cemetery!