Laresio Lakeside Resort Review

May 1, 2017


What's more fun to do on Labor Day than do something unusual, unplanned and forbidden lol

So before i share the whole story, here are some of my fast tips to those who plan to experience Laresio.

Fast Tips

1. Come early. You'll never know how long the queue will be until you're there except of course when it's lean season.
2. Bring your own food. I have nothing against their food since I haven't tried it but if you have budget concerns, then that's one option for you. You can also try the store right across the resort or any affordable restaurant nearby by riding the tricycle, jeep or your own car.
3. Wear aqua shoes that are surely tied down to your feet. You'll find yourself removing your slippers most of the time (if that's what you'll wear) while doing the water activities. And that means enduring the hot path walks like the bamboo as you head back where you left your slippers.
   
   
   
4. Instead of renting open cottages,  just use the free picnic tables and chairs. But if you have valuables,  I suggest you rent a locker.
5. Plan your itinerary. There's plenty of things to do but you'll be more concerned with what to do first. And may i say that even if you have it all laid down, you'll find yourself unable to stick to the plan because your courage is missing 😂 But still,  a guide of what to do on the day would somehow lessen the time that will be consumed in decision making especially if you're in a bigger group. Plus,  your itinerary corresponds to the package you have to avail.
6. Consider the Jump n' Fly (BLOB)  in the latter part of your itinerary. I think it's the most exciting activity in the resort (aside from 32ft cliff diving) and I don't know if your body has to endure the same as my body did. So in order to get going with the other activities, let your body suffer or enjoy it (whichever is applicable 😂) by the time when you are to do less demanding activities afterwards. You can check our itinerary below and see if it's cool with you. 
7. Invite more friends to join you with this adventure. A lively cheer from a group of friends could do so well in keeping your spirit high thus giving you more willpower to face your fears. 
   
8. Wear a cooperative swimwear. You don't want any wardrobe malfunction and an all of a sudden fiesta bonanza exposing every bit of you 😊. So just put on something that will secure everything. 
9. Bring water proof cameras or cellphones. Yes! You'd love to capture that moment which you thought you'll never do in a million years and more so the time before you've finally decided that yes,  i'm doing it after hours have passed 😂
10. Protect yourself from the sun.  You already know why and how so i better not explain.
11. Pray 😇 The passport to conquering our fears is God. 

And now, this is my story. 😊

A good friend asked if we have anything planned this summer with our high school buddies. I was not sure of what to say since we have an upcoming reunion which is yet to be planned. She said it was supposed to be different than the reunion and so our canvassing begun.

guests inquiring about the resort's packages

We settled with Laresio because it's near, budget friendly and very promising with all their water activities. Yes,  i'm not just into swimming especially when i don't know how to swim. 😂 I want adventure but to a certain extent only. I've seen Laresio's billboard advertisement years back when I attended a wedding nearby and had high hopes since to visit the resort.

guests watching the resort's activities while waiting
for their wristbands

What i didn't expect was how the plan turned out. It became an overnight agreement as we finalized it this day and had to do it the following day with just the  two of us (both girls) going. Yes!  My knees are shaking 😂 This is so not me 😂 Talk about rush,  unplanned and unattended. Yeah!  I'm going all time high here 😂 And to top that,  my parents had every reason to oppose the idea. #1 i need to rest since the following day is back to work. #2 i don't know how to swim and had a not so very supportive experience with life vest #3 they don't trust lakes #4 we're both girls. Well I can't argue with those because they are all in my head too. But i know deep in my heart that we'll do just fine. So i followed my instincts and smiled my way to my mom's heart to reassure her that i won't do anything silly.

As expected, heavy traffic was there but it was tolerable given the long conversation my friend and i had reserved for months 😂 And because it's labor day,  it's just appropriate to talk about work 😂 Yes we're there to relax lol 😂😂

our bill

We arrived just right on time. We bought some snacks at 7'11 before heading to Laresio. We're at the resort  by 8:30am, signed forms, waited for our turn and paid for the 750 all wet package we've chosen and 300 for the locker (inclusive of 200 refundable deposit).  So that's 1,050 per head. And so we're issued the keys to our locker and the pink wristband.  

And then we're welcomed by the, what they call, alligator lake which i hope has no alligators 😂 Lovely! It's crater shape and this broken mountain on the side adds up to the relaxing view.  The place wasn't that crowded, just the right number for us to be sure that we get to do what we came here for.

We were escorted to our lockers and to the life vest station.  By the way,  rent of life vest is free but you need to provide identification. One ID per group will do. Then you need to renew your rent after every two hours otherwise you'll be charged.

We changed to our swimwear, put on some sunscreen lotion, place our cellphones in water proof cases and fastened our life vests. To be honest,  I'm so scared of the lake because you can't see what's underneath. And my research told me how deep it was. So as much as i want to enjoy the day, something's holding me back.  And that's my mom's voice in my head saying, "Be careful. Don't do that". 😂

What to do first? What to do next?  These we asked most of the time.

1. SLIP N' FLY 2.0

We agreed to do the slip n' fly 2.0 first with our life vest on. So there's no one guiding us when we did the slide. It could actually take us years if we choose to before we push ourselves down so long as no one follows, otherwise the queue will be forever. Since i don't have many followers lol you can imagine the long wait i'm giving myself before i convinced me to finally do it.

kuya pulling me up

Slip n' fly 2.0 is wider and longer than version 1 although we didn't try version 1. The self release was safe , i must say, but i wasn't looking lol. It's advisable to move your body to a straight position before you reach water so that it wouldn't hurt that much. The impact was strong enough to detach the leg strap. Still,  my vest managed to bring me above water.

A life guard is also there to help you out of the water. The guy threw a floater for us to hold on to as he pull us on the side of the balsa where my friend was waiting. By the way,  the lake where we landed after the slide is 50ft deep but they have nets set up to 30ft as what the guy told us. 

2. 13ft CLIFF DIVE

I'm not into diving (because i still hope that someone catches me if i fall lol)  so I didn't do this. But my friend did and it also took some time lol. Despite her fear of heights and the never ending scene of "to jump or not to jump", she went down the water like it's nothing. Yes she did it!

At 13ft you can still jump with your vest on but with 32ft, jumping with vest is no longer allowed.

3. KAYAK

a view of the kayak destination

I think it was 10am when we lined up for kayak and by then we're already in a long queue. This, I don't suggest you do at such a time when the sun is like scorching hot. We finally got our turn by 11:30am i think. And it was on our own effort that we got our kayak and paddle since the guy in-charge with who's next was not around.




I'm not confident if i must do it but i want to coz it's in my bucket list. I will more likely achieve it here since the lake is much calmer than the ocean. I just have to forget how deep the lake was, why no life guard was watching over us, my inexperience in paddling and all the negative thoughts that won't leave me lol.

my friend getting some rest after the tiresome paddling

No one is allowed to kayak without their vest on and i can just totally agree. That's the security i hold on to and my endless prayers. But i couldn't help envy those who just jump right onto the lake,  paddle wherever they want to,  do the single stand-up paddle board as if the lake is just 5ft lol.

Anyways, we managed to get to the other side, the broken mountain, despite all the fish bumping to our boat and the going a little further than the destination. I couldn't be more proud of this achievement. Thank You Lord ☝

There were men waiting to assist us step out of our kayak. We stayed for a few minutes, took some pictures, informed my mother of our current situation, relaxed and just enjoyed the view. The entire kayak was supposed to be 30 minutes but i don't recall how long we've been there. 

a view of laresio from the broken mountain

Then  we're assisted again to our kayak as we prepare for our travel back to Laresio's base. I didn't expect the stress of paddling back. It felt like forever. We kept paddling but it's either going back to the broken mountain, or on our way to the mid-section of the lake which is far deeper, or we just keep rotating. You can imagine my frustration under the heat of the sun. I was so anxious to go back, have lunch, be over kayak and be happy that it went well as i would hope to tell my parents. However, it's not happening too quickly and easily for us.

But God never left even if my faith was somehow shaking. And so we're delivered back to the base with everything just part of history.


4. LUNCH
We only bought snacks so for lunch we went to a carinderia right across Laresio. Yes we may go out of the resort since we have our  wristband. The food was not amazing but good enough to fill our empty stomachs plus it's affordable. My friend requested for noodles and it was cooked then and there.What i loved about lunch was the simplicity and warmth of the ambiance as i engaged myself in a chat with an old friend. It's been a long time since I felt that way and i just missed it. 

5. RUSSIAN SWING

I actually don't know which is which with russian and vine swing.  So i'll assume this one is russian.

Since we're still full and buying some time to decide what to do next,  we opted to do the russian swing.  This,  i could do all day since i enjoy the wind touching my face as it started to swell, get hot and itchy then due to photo sensitivity. And the spot has a very nice view.

We also took pictures and checked out the pools of the resort which we never get to taste lol i think because we're too caught up with the water activities.

6. VINE SWING

Few meters on the left of the russian swing is the vine swing. My friend already had her trip there in the morning but couldn't get herself to do it. And as i told her,  i'll do it first. But it took like an hour of trying it then bailing, then encouraging myself and others too then bailing again. Yes it was endless! I don't know!

We even tried the mini swing so we could assess if we can do it. Our talk was filled with we don't want to do anything to hurt ourselves, someone else must do it for us lol. Yes,  because this activity requires you to swing yourself and then let go.

me as i grab the floater thrown by kuya

My concern was what if my hands couldn't hold on to the swing long enough before i reach the right spot to release myself.  Will i hit the stones underneath? My hands are also kinda greasy because of the lotion. And to make it more frightening, the guy in-charge was giving me all this scary talk but then he later claimed that it was just a bluff. I asked kuya repeatedly to just push me so i could go beyond the falls but he said they're not allowed to do so.

After some rethinking and boosting of energy, i finally did it. Yes it wasn't scary! It's just all in my head.

7. JUMP N' FLY (BLOB)

waiting for our turn

This is the next big thing. The line up in water starts to get long as the clouds get darker. We're there sitting and waiting for our turn as we watched the repeating flow of getting picked up by kuya to the kayak, transferred to this huge inflated sort of balloon, positioning of body, jumping of either one or two guys to the other end of the blob and the much anticipated fly. And yes, the long wait makes me want to back out. 

Again,  we asked why we're doing this to ourselves lol. And again I don't know!  I guess we're there to forget all the stress and yes we did lol. I almost lost my memory, just kidding!

bakit natin sinasaktan ang mga sarili natin? 😍Thank You Lord 😇 safe pa din

My friend did it first as i video her amazing performance. One guy jumped and she back flipped. It was such an amazing acrobat but for a moment i feared she might hit the kayak coz it was too near. I'm glad she didn't. But she said that the fall hurts and so i worried for myself lol. 

unti-unting mararating kalangitan at bituin, unti-unting ang legs ko ay mangingitim  - sabi ko ke kuya light lang, tip ng isang kuya ay takpan ang mukha, nagtakip at pumikit at ako'y lumipad, ok... nasan na ang tubig, oh man... ang tagal ko sa ere, pagbagsak.... ouchhhhhhhh... review ng video... ay kagaling ni kuya!! ang taas ng lipad ko..kaloka! the following day... ay ang galing! dami ko pasa, manas ang binti at mukha, bugbog ang leeg, tiyan, legs..ay buong katawan pala! Thank You Lord no major injury so far 

Then came my turn. I asked for tips and kuya advised me to cover my face. I requested the other jumping kuyas to just make it light so that it wouldn't hurt much. I closed my eyes, covered my face and my heart was restless as i tried to figure out if kuya or kuyas were about to jump. And then my body was lifted. Yes i was flying without wings. While on air i asked myself where is the water,  why does it feel like I'm up there longer? I didn't realize that I bent my left knee. Then i finally hit the lake. Ooouuucchhh! I was anxious about my brain. It felt like someone shook my head like it's a scrambled egg. I didn't understand then what else was aching until the following day.


And yes this activity was the highlight of it all. It sort of released every little thing kept within lol.

8. BALSA RAFTING

I'm a little lost as to how we can try this one because no one seem to offer the ride and we have to be very proactive to make it happen. Thank God a guy approached us after our BLOB activity and asked if we want to ride the balsa. He's trying to invite more people so it would be worth it for them pulling the balsa. The timing was perfect as we need to relax our aching bodies. It's also an opportunity for us to recapture the view to and from the broken mountain that we weren't able to do during kayak.

We were joined by some Koreans and a group of nurse from St Lukes QC including the girl named Mary, if i remember her name correctly lol, who we got the chance to talk to.

The ride was fun. It was entertaining and informative. We were able to interview the guys pulling the balsa. And so we learned that the deepest part of the lake is the mid-section where the zipline ends. It's about a 100ft and a diver couldn't get to the bottom of it because it's too hot. From what i learned from the internet, the lake is actually an inactive volcano (i.e. if my brain still remembers correctly after the BLOB).

My friend also tried pulling the balsa after non-stop friendly bullying from the guys.

Mary, on the other hand,  shared that they chose Laresio this summer because of their water activities. They learned about the resort from the internet. We exchanged stories about work,  the locals, the travel etc.

And now it's getting dark and my cellphone was non-stop with my mom's follow up if we're going home already. So we decided to clean up,  return the vests, claim our deposits,  take final shots and say goodbye to Laresio.

Laresio is truly worth every peso. I may have some body and health issues after this adventure but i don't regret any of it. Thank You Lord that we survived the whole journey from the time we're planning it to enduring all the pain our body went through til this very moment i'm wrapping up this blog.

TO GOD BE ALL THE GLORY

So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, 

do it all for the glory of God. - 1 Corinthians 10:31