The unexpected:

It was a spur-of-the-moment decision. The plan was to go to the Crocodile Farm. We didn’t anticipate on going to Camp Eleaga. It took us an hour and half to get to Camp Eleaga. A mountain resort that featured a cold-water spring-fed pool.

We were considering the first few days as our down time for this adventure. A time to finalize the plans.

The drive:

We reached Camp Eleaga by driving through roads that were narrow and paved most of the way. The shanties on both sides of the road were too close to the road. Pedestrians and by standers did not seem to mind that our vehicle was passing by too close to them. Our destination ended at the parking area for Camp Eleaga. There was a short dirt path leading to the entrance of the resort.

The lagoon:

Spring-fed water was held back by a dam. Tree foliage were floating on it but it looked unadulterated. The water overflowed over the dam into a secondary rectangular pool. It then spilled to a nearby creek. A smaller children’s pool was located at a higher ground. Somehow, the surroundings felt similar to our past outdoor activities.

People were mainly paddling a makeshift bamboo raft or a canoe around the lagoon. Adults and bigger kids loved swinging and jumping into the secondary pool. The kids loved playing around in a shallow kid’s pool. Loud boombox music and laughter filled the air.

We managed to find a decent corner and set up our picnic site. It was close enough to the lagoon that afforded us a good view of the surrounding area. There, we were idling our time and watched. The kids made a beehive for the water. We had our filling of food from our picnic basket. Anything else, there was a store on-site that seemed to have everything for a picnic goer.

The first sign of dusk had people parading for the exit. We understood that darkness settled in really fast in this part of the world. We got the idea and did the same thing too.

I felt the road trip back was more dangerous considering that we were losing daylight. We made a wrong turn and the roads started looking narrower. The ride felt bumpier. It was only when we were merging with the main highway that we felt relieved. We were home in no time.