Whenever I have vacations, I always think of my province Zambales, not only because my relatives live there, but for the nostalgia of hearing the sea waves, the rustling of grass when you pass by, and the night lamps the light up the city streets at night. My parents are more of a sea-person so usually the places we go to are resorts, and there is this not-so-famous resort we have went and is one of the prides of Zambales. It is called Coto KIDZ Pool, a place where there are natural waterfalls where you can take a bath on and the water that flows down into the river where you can swim in.
The ride to Coto is, challenging I must say, you definitely need to own a car and if you have a ranger or a car made for rough roads, you should try this place out. Before you’ll actually be able to go the exact place, you still need to pass through a one-hour worthy ride (or maybe because we went slower so that rocks wouldn’t damage our tires and car since it’s not an off road vehicle). Though you shouldn’t worry because there are still public transportation you could ride such as jeepneys, it accommodates people who don’t have their own car.
The warm sunlight mixed with the cool breeze from the river will welcome you with such great pleasure. As soon as you walk into the rocky pavements leading to the concierge area, staffs and workers with bright eyes and wide smiles will treat you with complete hospitality. The cottages up the riverside are wood and homey enough for the tourists, it may not be as elegant and grand unlike the rooms in other resorts, but it is a good break from advanced civilization, after all, Coto is not a resort, but nature’s pride.
My parents rented a cottage with two rooms for our overnight stay; we are a family of 6 so we just asked for bed mattresses from the place so that all could sleep inside. We laid out all of our things in our small patio up front, and after that decided to explore the place before fully indulging in it. The road among the cottages are higher so we took the stairs down to the riverside and there are boulders of rocks with water from up the mountain splashing to them; the two roads were separated by the river and the path to the other side can be reached by stepping on stone pathways.
The day went on with me and my cousins swimming in the shallowest part of the river, I have a phobia on deep waters that’s why I couldn’t swim further with them, and just stayed on the side. We also watched other tourists trying the diving board, and I wasn’t that brave when I was young, so I just had fun watching (now that I grew older, I want to go back and try it, to overcome my fear also). My mom, aunt, and my female cousins are sitting calmly in the middle of the river, letting our head rest in a rock with cold water engulfing our body. On the other hand, while we were relaxing, my dad and my brothers went up the mountain and entered this secret diving spot, there was no estimated feet on how high up it is from the water, but I know that I would be scared to do it. They were laughing at who made the biggest splash and who ended in the water in a nice pose; cheering and laughs are the only ones we could hear.
What is more refreshing than hours of swimming? That is, eating fresh food right after. The best feeling is when you got out of the water right after, and proceed to sit on bamboo furniture to eat grilled pork belly (liempo), grilled fish (inihaw na isda), and vegetables on the side with toyo and bagoong as condiments. The smell of saltwater is still on your hair and it mixes with the smoke from the fire on your dad’s roasting. These moments make life slower than it is and is meant to be enjoyed until the last bit.
Later that night, you will feel the epitome of the aesthetic ‘cottagecore’. People are helping each other in finding wood logs in order to create a big bonfire. While you are up on the patio of your cottage, you can see beneath that road are tents of people who decided to sleep outdoors and gathering around the bonfire to roast some marshmallows, kids are still playing on the abandoned playground equipment, while the parents are fixing the tent. There are flowers all over the grassland and the sound of crickets and wood burning fill the night. The electricity in that place can’t accommodate everything that is why there are no fans in the room, but the cool breeze and warm bed will make you feel relaxed.
Coto is a worthy place visit, it is not expensive and it’ll not just bring you physical revitalization but also mental refreshment. A fun fact for this place is that a famous Filipino Movie was filmed there, it is entitled “My Perfect You”, starring Gerald Anderson and Pia Wurtzbach, that movie shows every beauty you’ll see in that place, and no more encouraging should be done for tourists to be intrigued.