After the Cathedral Falls trip with my boyfriend, my father was talking about the mysterious Santa Cruz Falls incessantly.
And so last weekend, we embarked on a family (mis)adventure to Kapatagan, Lanao del Norte. Yes, my boyfriend and I was back to Kapatagan much sooner than we originally expected.
Totally unprepared for what we were about to get ourselves into, we braved practically into the middle of nowhere (Santa Cruz cannot be found on Google maps mind you) with nothing but ourselves.
And when I say nothing, I mean no water, nosh nor sunscreen. And that’s because our house helpers and “habal-habal” drivers (who served as our guides) said that the falls was just “near”.
On that day I learned that the meaning of the word “near” is only relative to the speaker. And so if you come from the city, please don’t trust anybody coming from a rural area telling you that this certain place is “near” because…
To get to the mysterious waterfalls, we had to climb up and down a series of boondocks…
We had to take off our footwear and walk barefoot to cross river bends…
Okay, we had a quick break here from hopping from one fiery hot stone to the other…
Carrying on, we had to trek “for days” through very dense native flora until…
Finally! The mysterious Santa Cruz Falls is a mystery no more! It was an adventure definitely worth my severe t-shirt patterned tan line.
And to cap off this post is a closer view of this beauty dubbed as the Niagara Falls of Mindanao. Be at awe with another marvelous God-made creation!