A Day at the La Mesa Ecopark

The last week of November had long weekend. I decided to call my sis and bro for a day trip to the picnic grounds of the La Mesa Reservoir ecopark. Tita readily agreed as it her day-off on a Sunday. Cathy, her daughter is also excited to go. I asked Kuya Mike if he is interested to go with us. I called him on a Friday night to check his availability. He told me, he is scheduled actually to report for work that Sunday when we are bound for La Mesa. However, after some thought, he said yes. The condition though, that I provide for the expenses for the picnic. I told him I can take care of it. I told him the best time to expect me to pick him and his family on Sunday. And then, I bade him goodbye.

That Sunday, I went to Novaliches to pass by my brother's place. I arrived at around 9 to 930am. Mabelle, the common law wife told me that Kuya went out to have his "tari" sharpened and that Kuya will be expecting me to arrive at around 10am anyhow.

So I waited at their place, chatted briefly with her wife about her plans to work in South Korea and some stuff about baby Mykah. After waiting for a while, she decided to check out where Kuya went. After about 20 minutes, she came back to tell me and Kuya actually went to the garage and that he had tried to test drive his bus which had recently been repaired. However, Kuya will be with us in a very short while.

So I waited still. I was able to contact Tita and she is ready with preparations and is expecting me already to pick them up. I told her, I am waiting for Kuya Mike still. I waited some more until about 1130am. Then Mabelle decided to check Kuya as to what takes him so long to arrive. After about 15 minutes, Mabelle told me that Kuya has begged off for the occassion and was sorry. And Mabelle also tells me, she won't join us any longer. By God, I can't believe I waited this long and was too exasperated at that time.

I quickly drove off to Tita's place really angry with myself. After about 20 minutes, I was joined by Tita and Cathy. We chatted about the bizarre behavior of Kuya for a short while and the hesitation of his wife to join us instead without Kuya. Anyways, I bought some softdrinks and ice cream along the way and proceeded to the La Mesa Dam.

Cathy had to ask her friend about the directions to the ecopark and off we go. The La Mesa Reservoir is huge and teeming with water. During that time, the depth I believe, was about 79 feet. It is a huge lake that's created by the dam. And the view is just spectacular. Very green and stately trees all over the horizon. I can't believe there is such a thing as a verdant forest in Metro Manila. Although by any standards, it is not a large forested area, I still consider 100 hectares very large indeed.

We ate our lunch underneath the shade of a large tree. We came in late like 1pm and all the picnic tables have already been taken and occupied, so we had to content ourselves in communing with nature. And true enough, a many groups and families have laid down their picnic mats just all over the place.

It was fun and very refreshing. The ecopark boasts of a hiking trail, a swimming pool, a fishing area, a boating area, an orchidarium, an atrium, a bike trail and rental and a children's playground. Or you can just pitch a tent someplace, somewhere and enjoy the forest.

Cathy had fun taking most of the pictures. We trekked to the reservoir and took some pictures. A day after, the rowing and traditional boat race of the the 23rd Southeast Asian Games will be held in La Mesa Dam. We saw the preparations at the dam for the race, had my pictures taken with the boats and had the day filled with gladness.