The province also abounds in picturesque sceneries, in the San Pablo Valley there are nine beautifully-set crater lakes. Banahaw, a mountain having an elevation of 7,382 feet, is covered with vegetation of all kinds. In the crater of San Cristobal which has an elevation of about 5,000 feet there is a beautiful fresh water lake.
San Pablo is a progressive town well worth visiting. It is one of the largest towns in the Islands and is up-to-date in every respect. A large park overlooks a lake of rare beauty with the majestic San Cristobal mountains in the background. A long flight of white stone steps leads from the cliff above down to the lake shore, and the park is a favorite picnic ground. The veteran’s monument at this point always attracts much attention. The town has numerous private residences of striking architectural design.
Pagsanjan Falls One of the prettiest and wildest spots lies within easy reach of Manila—Pagsanjan Falls. Pagsanjan, the town, in itself worth seeing for its beautiful residences and the surrounding forests, can be reached in three and one-half hours by train or automobile through a lovely coconut country. There are good hotel accommodations with clean beds and food. Everything is done for the tourist; arrangements are made for boats and guides, and launches are provided.
Pagsanjan Falls, Laguna
From the hotel you walk a short distance to a long row of bancas, prow on shore, and a noisy throng of men clamoring for the favor of your patronage; but you have probably chosen men at the hotel and are conducted to certain boats by your guide. In the center of your boat is the seat, a split bamboo chair with reclining back and bottom of bamboo splints. The two boatmen take their places at the ends of the boat and push off into the small stream for a few hundred yards to Pagsanjan River.
The boat is paddled up the river past large rafts of coconuts, by great trees dipping their leaves into the water. Along the shores are parties of laughing people—some bathing and some washing clothes. Now there are long reaches of quiet water, clear and deep; then banks begin to rise above you; there is a swirl here, a ripple there, and a swish below the gunwales. You are drawing toward the rapids. The boatmen get put into the water and pull and tug and shove; the water sucks viciously. The boat enters the gorge and its shadows. The river becomes silent stretches of black water, and the air is cold. Above, for hundreds of feet, tower the great cliffs of Pagsanjan to which cling vines, desperate trees, and dripping shrubs. On all sides are falls breaking upon the rocks and filling the canyon with a pleasant murmur; then more rapids and sweeps of fierce water. Great boulders have fallen into the river. Unable to paddle against the current or to wade, the men now fight painfully forward by clinging to vines, the rocks, anything. Then out of the boat again, lifting it and you bodily up steps of pouring water, around corners, shooting across a quiet pool into a fury of cascading foam. At times you scramble out of the boat and detour a little over intervening rocks, while the fight with the river goes on. For two hours the journey continues, until you come to the end—a large pool—above you, Pagsanjan Falls, the largest waterfall in the Islands, around, the insurmountable cliffs fringed above by shining palms. Monkeys and iguanas scurry over the slippery bluffs complaining at intrusion.
Montalban Gorge
You should go prepared to rough it. Only a bathing suit is worn in the boats and except at times of low water, kodaks had better be left at the hotel, for rapids lap over the side. Indeed many have been the spills in the swift water. But there is no danger, and a wetting is of no consequence. The whole trip need cost no more than twenty pesos nor occupy more than a day and a half.