WAWA DAM AND PAMITINAN CAVE: BEAUTY UNVEILED by Dianne Alvarez

                If you like nature and adventure at the same time, this is the place you are looking for!

                I never expected that a breath-taking place like this could be found in Rodriguez, Rizal. I spent my childhood years in Montalban but I never visited the Wawa Dam. What more surprising is that within this historical place, there’s a cave called “Pamitinan Cave” wherein historical events took place.

                With so much I can say about this really great place, let me start from where we started. Starting from Montalban Rizal, we rode a jeepney going to Wawa Dam. Going there, we felt the ambience of a province since Rizal is still a province. I missed that ambience since I’m living in the city. Riding in a jeep, we saw the side of the river and we felt excited on how much more it could be from a closer view. When we got in the terminal, we started asking the people living there which way leads to Wawa Dam. It’s a nice walk because you can see the rocks, beautiful big white rocks on the side. God is amazing because He has placed these rocks with different shapes and forms in their exact places. One could not do such wonder except God. I was so amazed looking to these beautiful rocks like I’m really captured by their beauty. Since I just can’t stop there all day and look at these rocks with the river flowing on their sides we continued our walk to Wawa Dam. But first, let me give you an advice what to wear. You can wear comfortable clothes depending on the temperature, but for the bottom you should wear “tokong” or shorts (if you plan to enter the Pamitinan Cave).

You should use rubber shoes so you could enjoy more walking because it’s rocky place. 

                

                Continuing our walk, we cross bridges and caves. As we draw closer to the Dam, we can hear the the river flowing and when we saw how it flows, I was like “Wow, ang ganda.”

                 During summer, people can swim below the falls where they can sit on the rocks. People there said that the river is clearer during summer days wherein no rain disturbs the water. We moved and continued our walk, not knowing that what we will see next is the calmness of the river on the other side, where people (bikers in particular) love to hang out after mountain biking. Swimming in the river serves as their relaxing moment after a tiring day.

                 From the very spot looking at the calmness of the river, we saw the two mountains separated as it was in the myth. 

                From there,  we saw a different kind of creation by God. We saw the hanging bridge together with the white rocks and the river.

                After this, we move along and went back to the Tourism Office to ask how to go to the “Pamitinan Cave”. Since it was lunch when we asked them for a tourist guide, we are asked to wait until they have taken their lunch. It’s still a worthwhile waiting because we got to hang out in the hanging bridge and saw the fullness of the Wawa Dam. 

                Going back to the Tourism Office and saw the plan they are going to establish for the improvement of the place. They are planning to build a zipline, rapelling, floating restaurant and many more! But what I thought when I realized that they will improve the place is that it’s possible that the beautiful huge white rocks will be lessened to make way for improvements.

                Finally, our two tourist guide arrived and we’re all ready for the Pamitinan Cave! 

                 We brought flashlights and our exciting hearts. Kuya Allan have me borrowed his slippers since I wore sandals that day because it’sd muddy inside the cave. Getting more and more excited, I thought we will cross first the hanging bridge but it’s not because what’s  great in here is that you will have to take the different way and how we will make it to that way. The thing is we have to climb down on rocks, ride the “balsa”, and climb up on rocks going to the cave. WOW!! It’s great if you love ones like these. Climbing down, it’s really advisable to wear rubber shoes because it’s slippery. The rocks that we are just watching lately are the ones that we had stepped on climbing down. After that, we rode the “balsa” made of bamboo. We can actually touch the river as we sat on the balsa. Then after this, the hardest but the most adventurous was climbing up on rocks. It’s really high and tiring that we all sweat. Well, to cut this trial short, we made it to the top and we reached the cave finally! Well, this is it. The Pamitinan Cave which serves as the hiding place of Andres Bonifacio and other Katipuneros. It also served as the base of the Japanese during World War II. Though it’s muddy inside, it’s still great seeing the glittering stalactites colored yellow and violet. I was really amazed. The Cave is a 1km walk and at the end, there’s a water from the river. We went back, did the same clmbing down, riding the “balsa” and climbing up to the land. It was great that all I can say after are “Wow.. astig.. Ang ganda talaga.. Grabe..”.

 

                Every place has it’s own historical part and it has all the inexplicable effect that will amaze every visitors. Just like in Wawa Dam and Pamitinan Cave, an amazing place with it's historical touch and nature wellness!