Anyway, one of our colleagues directed us to a place where they had gone a month ago. Much to the surprise of everyone, an aircon room good for eight persons costs four thousand pesos. I had been anticipating all along that during summer time, prices of commodities, services, and amenities in this place are not pocket friendly. That is, if you want to stay within the beach front and it seemed that my group insisted that we will not stay far from the beach. Since they were the ones deciding and I was just an invited guest on their trip, I simply keep mum about the whole thing. If only they can do a bit of leg work and not being choosy of the place, we can further trim down the cost of our accommodation but they were not particular about going some distance.
After settling down, we had our breakfast in one of the eateries. A simple hot dog sandwich costs 85 pesos, a decent breakfast meal without a drink is 100 pesos, and an American breakfast is as low as 250 pesos. And you will be forced to order a drink because water is not even offered for free.
Right after our brunch, I went solo. I went around the place with my camera at hand, taking photos and talking mostly to locals about other stuff aside from the beach of Puerto Galera. The idea of visiting a nearby falls would be fun but the tour guides offer incredible prices. If you are new to a particular place and you would like to explore it, don't be easily enticed with the promises and tall tales. Most of the time, they are misleading and exaggerated.
I asked one local tour guide about the Tamaraw falls. She said that we should take a tricycle ride towards the falls and the ride itself will cost us 200 pesos back and forth. Aside from the fare, she will also charge us 200 pesos per head and she will be the one to pay for the entrance fee to that falls. 250 pesos per head may be affordable but one thousand pesos for the four of us is already expensive. Though she was trying to convince us that it was a good bargain already, we told her that we were not yet ready for the trip.
Aside from Tamaraw falls, the tourist guide also offered Aninuan falls as an option. Aninuan falls is near the White beach but the trekking would require 30-40 minutes. Since my colleagues are not fond of long walks, they showed little interest to the offer.
whew! i live here in puerto galera and its sad that these locals where misleading and ripping you off. what a shame!!! good decision you didn't fall to that tourist trap you can go to tamaraw falls by just riding a jeepney for 60 pesos then pay an entrance fee of 20 pesos. its just some normal falls and its not even worth it coz its cemented with iron bars its just waste of time to go there.
ReplyDeleteIt's really sad to encounter this kind of "promising" trips from the locals and the same is true in some parts of our country when you are a tourist.
ReplyDeleteWhen I was still a novice adventurer, I was easily enticed. But through time, I learned my hard lessons. It is always advantageous to ask around rather than grabbing right away what seem to be an incredible offer and tall tales.
Thank you for taking some time to share a piece of your concern.