I sent my hiking buddy a link to The Bisaya Traveler's blog about the stunning, not-so-hidden gem Tagaytay Hill in Toledo City, Cebu. She also didn't hesitate to say yes when she saw the photos. We had everything set two weeks before the D-day.
The day came, we were supposed to meet up at 5AM to have breakfast together but it was raining so hard. Change of plans, she bought breakfast for me and we met directly at Cebu City South Bus Terminal instead. Going to Toledo was Php 130 via an airconditioned Ceres bus. Luckily, the bus immediately departed right after we got on. We ate our cheesy eggdesals, and then slept through the journey to save our energy for later. The rain made me re-evaluate my decision to go out on a Sunday when I should've been sleeping in cozily at home.
I asked the conductor to drop us off at Julie's Bakeshop in Barangay Magdugo, Toledo City. Since it was an early Sunday morning, the trip took lesser time than usual. We alighted from the bus and several habal-habal or motorcycle taxi drivers came at us asking if we were going to Tagaytay Hill. We ignored them for a moment because we had priorities. We went straight to Julie's Bakeshop and bought ourselves bread to fuel us in our journey.
After which, we approached the habal-habal drivers who offered to take us all the way up to Tagaytay Hill for Php 700 each, roundtrip. We told them our purpose was to hike our way up to the hill so we asked them to just take us to Barangay Gen. Climaco for Php 150 each. The motorcycle ride going to Gen. Climaco took around 30 minutes. I thought it was a normal ride until we had to cross a stream. It was my first time to experience that and I swear I would rather cross the stream myself than do it on a motorcycle.
The rain made the road going to Barangay Gen. Climaco muddy and slippery making the journey even more challenging. Not to mention that the roads were a series of ups and downs, literally and figuratively. We arrived safe and sound, at least. The starting point going to Tagaytay Hills was just right where the drivers dropped us off.
We started our ascent, took a few stops so we can eat our breads and enjoy the view. The trail was uphill all the way. I had no problem with it until I realized that the descent will be the one I will surely struggle with because of my knee pain. I shrugged the thought off and continued with the ascent. Let's cross the bridge when we get there, shall we?
I liked the trail going to Tagaytay Hill because you will surely get there without getting lost and without needing a guide. You'll meet locals along the way whom you can ask for directions, too. Our ascent took about an hour and voilà, we finally reached the top.
We finally saw with our own eyes the lush green mountains surrounding the hill and the magnificent Malubog Lake. We took photos and videos before we settled in a spot in the middle of the hill, sat down, talked about anything and everything under the blazing heat of the sun. It was around 11AM, I think, that we started our descent because we noticed the clouds were getting darker and we were starting to hear thunders from not too far away.
While I thought I was doing great because I didn't feel any pain in my knees going down, but oh boy, my knees just couldn't give me a free pass for once. We were still in the middle of the descent that I started feeling it so I had to slow down. Thank goodness I made it. My knees made it all the way back down to the starting point. We hailed a habal-habal and asked the driver to drop us off where we can get on a bus going back to Cebu City. The habal-habal ride was only Php 100 each, much to our delight. The driver dropped us off at the bus stop and not long enough, we were able to get on a non-aircon bus going back to the city and paid only Php 90 each.
We had a late lunch in Asiatown IT Park before my hiking buddy and I parted ways. She flew back to Manila the day after our hiking adventure while here I am suffering from sunburn because of my conscious and intentional decision to sunbathe at the top of the hill.
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