Pasyal at Pahinga

I have very fond memories of Villa Escudero. In the early 1990s, my grandparents celebrated their Golden Wedding Anniversary and that occasion gave their large brood of 12 children (with spouses) and their 24 grandchildren reason to get together. Half of the family had re-settled in Canada, and half remained in the Philippines, and the two halves were together for that brief period. It was a time of outings and parties and Villa Escudero was one of the places our big family went to.  The lunch buffet at their waterfalls restaurant was memorable to me. Table upon table of aunts and uncles, and cousins, and beloved grandparents, Lolo Maning and Lola Ilit. I hadn't gone back since - not in 30 years!  So when my husband and I took our kids there, I wondered - will it be as I remembered? I figured some things wouldn't have changed, like the waterfall itself, which is part of the Arsenio Escudero mini hydroelectric power plant.  The concept of the restaurant is of an outdoor di...

  Camp Spotted Wood is a first rate campsite located inside Villa Escudero Plantation and Resort which is accessed through its entrance in Tiaong, Quezon.  One registers at Villa Escudero's front desk to perform the usual health protocols and settle fees before entering the gate and following the road that leads to the campsite farther into the property, beyond the resort's more popular attractions.  Named after the Spotted Wood Kingfisher, a brightly-colored, medium-sized species endemic to the Philippines, the camp is the habitat of many bird species and diverse plants.  Villa Escudero, as I remembered it from my youth, was all about man-made attractions: a waterfall (of the mini hydro power variety), cultural shows, museum, buffet, coconut plantation - these are all still here - but a turn to nature has taken place. There’s now a forest with more native trees where mostly coconut trees used to be, there’s new camping grounds in addition to the air conditioned acc...