When Trees Can Live Centuries (A Visit to the Millennium Tree)

Human life is short, and life expectancy is getting shorter. Adam may have lived almost a thousand but the oldest person who ever lived is Methuselah, who died at 969. Such age didn't even reach God's one day equivalent to human years.

However, trees can live longer than humans. In fact, some of the trees in the park near our house are around 100 years. Some of them are even uprooted by strong typhoons many years ago. If only we can live longer like trees but due to a lot of illnesses, people are getting younger. I mean those who are dying are even younger. My friend friend passed away at 23 because of a kidney illness which is a complication of diabetes several years ago. Imagine young people getting afflicted with diseases usually by elderlies. We cannot do anything now, and all I can do is be a better person so I can gain God's approval.

Back to the trees, it's amazing that many of them living decades to centuries. People from different generations got to see them. When we went to Aurora Province, we first came to Ronquillo Balete Eco Park where The Millenium Tree still stands. It's already around 600 years old (yes, not yet 1000 years), and it stands at around 60 meters. It's even higher or lower depending on its current state. The province of Aurora is prone to typhoon's path, that some of its branches might have been cut down.

The tree is really huge. It is located at Brgy. Quirino, town of Maria Aurora, Aurora Province (it's not a coincidence with regards to the town's name and the province). Entrance fee is Php15 for adults, and Php10 for kids and senior citizens. Unsure if the fee remains or increased.

There are beliefs with regards to Balete tree either there are "enkantos" or anything supernatural but I don't believe in them so I am not scared of coming closer.

I admit I didn't see anything really special but for some it's some kind of a souvenir to visit and have pictures at one of the oldest trees. There isn't that much of amenities in the eco park unless there are improvements since we visited the place November 2019, which is almost two years. There's a small train ride which will move you around the eco park but I don't think it's worth it because I can easily walk around the area as it isn't too huge.

My wife (then girlfriend) tried to climb at the trunks of the balete tree, and I took pictures. They even got inside of the trunks but there are some people around, and I decided to stay outside. I didn't even climb at the trunks because I can't carry myself up. 😂

Coconut trees are grown nearby. In fact, Aurora Province ( even nearby provinces especially in Southern Luzon) has a lot of coconut trees around. I have been to Laguna, Cavite, Batangas, and Quezon Province and I saw a lot of coconut trees.

Buko pie are made in the province, and are sold in pasalubong stores. In fact, there's a pasalubong and souvenir shop inside the eco park. I don't have any spare money at that time so I didn't buy anything. Also, we stayed in the province for three days. Buko pie might have went to our stomach, and not able to take some home. Lol!

We haven't ate our breakfast yet since we arrived at the eco park early in the morning so we had our meal there before visiting other places of the province. I'm actually tired because of lack of sleep as well as the long travel. It was around 5-6 hours of travel because of the zig-zag road in the mountains, and road construction. I also transferred another van because of the bad experience I had at the van I was designated. They gave me a seat at the back with other 4 individuals. The man beside me even sleeping banging on my shoulder which has spasm. Anyhow, I had a better trip at the other van. I still enjoyed the trip, and thank God he gave me energy.

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