Nagcarlan Bunga Falls and A San Miguel Beer Commercial

Did that get your attention? 🙂 When Titus and I were discussing places to explore in Laguna, Nagcarlan’s Bunga Falls was among the destinations on the table. What sway the vote in favour of this “twin falls” in Nagcarlan? The San Miguel Beer Commercial in the 1990s.

“Baby yung falls na yun pinakita sa San Miguel Commercial”

“Talaga?! Hanapin natin sa Youtube!”

Lol. I was excited because heyyy this falls was on a product commercial! It is nearby our place in Liliw. Plus the time was ripe to go on the road and have another adventure.

~Working at home all the time leads to humdrum days; nothing breaks the monotony of being keyboard warriors than to go out there, in the open, embracing nature.

Finally the best time was at hand to visit the Bunga Falls of Nagcarlan. Titus’ Kuya Emil came home in Liliw one fine Saturday, while a few days before he arrived, our friend Julie climbed to our highland kingdom, hightailing it out of the city.

What to do when you have four wanderlust-bitten-individuals? Go explore, of course.

 Bunga Falls of Nagcarlan Laguna

Bunga Falls in San Miguel Beer Commercial

The commercial. The concept of this 1990s San Mig commercial is similar to the more recent one with Bossing Vic Sotto arriving at a party and asking for ice cold San Miguel Beer, if you remember it. =)

Watch the video now focus on 0:26 to 0:32 then 0:41 to 0:42, those are shots with the rushing waters of Bunga Falls. No HD version of the video, sorry.

Bunga Falls Sikat! 😀

HOW TO GO |  Bunga Falls of Nagcarlan

Am not sure where you’ll be coming from, I’ll just use the closest city to Nagcarlan which is San Pablo, as the landmark.

In San Pablo, make your way to the Cathedral. Across the cathedral, there is the Fire Station. On the same street as the fire station is the Liliw Jeepney terminal. Ride a Liliw bound jeepney, fare to Nagcarlan is only P25. Inform driver to drop you off “sa Nagcarlan munisipyo”.

There is a tricycle terminal just across the Nagcarlan Municipal Hall. Hail a tricycle to “pakyaw” it, 4 to 5 persons can fit into a single tricycle. If you are on solo adventure and don’t want to ‘contract’ the tricycle, you will have to wait for other passengers to Bunga.

TRAVEL TIME: Nagcarlan town proper to Barangay Bunga is just about 15 minutes.

If you ‘pakyaw’ your tricycle, tell the driver to take you all the way to Bunga Falls entrance. Fare is P20 per person. From the jump-off point, it is only about 50 meters downhill to the falls.

Now, if budget is tight and you want to cut corners where you can, you can tell the driver to drop you off in the Brgy Bunga tricycle terminal, you’d save P5 by paying only P15 and walking the rest of the 400 to 500 meters to the falls.

 TIP: You can request your tricycle driver to wait up for you or fetch you back at an agreed-upon time, for an additional fee.

A Bunga Day!

At the jump-off point, a kid sheepishly points to the marker that says ‘P5 Entrance Fee’. Hand-in those five pesoses friends, as this is a barangay levied fee.

Bunga Falls is for those who don’t mind roughing it out. There is no restroom, no shower, no sari-sari store nearby. Crude bamboo cottages with nipa roof are the only accommodation you can find there. Which, if you ask me, is good and hopefully it stays that way. We already have too many over-commercialized tourist spots in the country, let Bunga Falls remains as it is.

Downhill trek to one of the three waterfalls of Nagcarlan, less than 10 minutes from the vehicle parking area.

Crossing the makeshift bamboo bridge to get to the other side with bigger cottages.

No frills nipa cottages

If you can’t rough it up, don’t visit, it’s not for you.

It rained the night before so like any other falls after a heavy rain, we expected that the waters in Bunga will look dark and murky. But despite its dark color, it’s clean. In fact, fish thrives on its stream. We chance upon the guys below patiently waiting for fish to take their bait. One of them was kind enough to pose for the camera with his catch.

p.s. did you notice the “hayahay” kid? Check above pic again 😀

All in a Day’s Work

Many says that Bunga is a twin falls, am not sure of that. Bunga is one big drop split into two due to the huge rock jutting a few feet from the ravine’s top, is that how one qualifies a waterfalls as a “twin falls”?

The pool’s sides and edges are shallow then without much warning plunges to more than 5 feet. Knowing this I stayed latched onto the boulders. Lol.

Kids will be kids

These kids, fearless, take turns jumping to the deep pool.

Naka-try ka na bang mag jump sa isang waterfall? Ako, di pa, di brave. Lol.

The youngest of these courageous ones was maybe 4 or 5 years old! Amazing!

Don’t go chasing waterfalls at the edge heheh. I was like these young girls perpetually at the pool’s shallow area. Lol.

Si Tatay chill chill lang sa salbabida. 😀

Penfires and Field Trip Boy

this was our first nature excursion after we got married ^_^

After the falls, you can follow our trail as we checked-out the Nagcarlan Underground Cemetery, St Bartholomew Church and public market for some fruit smoothie, then back to Liliw to catch the beautiful sunset at the Liliw Tourism tower.

If you are from Manila or South Luzon and wanting a fresh kind of adventure, the off the beaten path type, I invite you to explore San Pablo – Nagcarlan – Liliw route, di ka magsisisi. You can combine one, two, three sites in one weekend getaway.

Nagcarlan’s Festival is called the ANA KALANG FESTIVAL. For 2015, the festival will run from April 15 to 19. Come! Visit Nagcarlan!

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