Christmas Holiday Trip: Timoga Cold Springs, Iligan

As is our practice every Christmas break since we became lovers, I and Wendy went on a trip this year. But this time, along with some of our friends. Call time was 8:00 AM at El Manuel Hotel where Rey and Maricel spent their first night together as a wedded couple. They tied the knot the previous day, December 20 where I and Wendy served as candle sponsors.

Our itinerary for that 21st day of December was to take a plunge at the Timoga Cold Springs in Iligan City, “The City of Majestic Waterfalls”. We left at around 8:30 AM with our hired Toyota Revo.

It was a smooth 3-hour drive from Cotabato City to Marawi City as we plied the Narciso Ramos Highway. It took us another 1 hour  drive from Marawi City to Iligan City where we arrived at 12:30 PM and took a brief rest at the place where we stayed, Marylou’s friend Rose’s residence. By 3:00 PM, we set off to Timoga Cold Springs.

Timoga Cold Springs is located at Bgy. Buru-un, around 9 kilometers away from the city proper. There are five spring resorts located just along the highway. The place was so full when we arrived that we had a hard time finding a suitable parking space for our vehicle until we came to Dela Mar Resort. The resort is just besides President GMA’s ancestral house. We didn’t have the chance to enter it as it was close.

Entrance fee to Dela Mar Resort is P50. I forgot how much we paid for the cottage but I know it was just minimal. There’s a small pool and cottages just by the entrance but we climbed up to the top of the hill since the larger and better pools are there. There’s an Olympic-sized pool…

…and three smaller pools for kids and teenagers. 

The place has a cool and nice ambience. It seems that you are just in a park. 

There’s even a grotto there. 

After our tour of the place, it was time to dip in the pool. The water was really cold but tolerable. The Olympic pool is I think 16 feet at its deepest but we just stayed at the shallow areas.

We stayed until 5:30 PM as the resort’s closing time is at 6:00 PM. It was earlier than normal due to the recent series of bombings at the city. However, you can’t feel that the Iliganons are scared. They just shrugged it off as it has become just a normal occurrence in this part of the country. As a native of Mindanao, I understand the feeling.

We posed at the entrance before going home.

We were already excited for the main purpose of this trip, whitewater rafting at CDO for the next day, December 22.

Yeheey!

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