Visiting the Cagsawa Ruins

SC's adventures: Cagsawa Ruins

This happened a while ago, but I was too preoccupied to remember. My trip to Legazpi City with my friends took place in October. We started by going to the PRC (Professional Regulation Commission) office to obtain some documents. We haven't seen each other in a long time. We planned to go somewhere after we finished our errands. Most of us were not yet COVID-vaccinated at the time, so we couldn't go to the mall since we wouldn't be allowed to enter the mall's premises.

I'm already exhausted, but since I'm too busy with work, I thought that it is a good time to go with my friends. We all decided to visit the Cagsawa Ruins.

Cagsawa ruins are the remnants of the Cagsawa church, which was buried in lahar in February 1814 when Mayon Volcano erupted. It is the volcano's most powerful and deadly eruption ever recorded. It not only buried the Cagsawa church, but it also killed thousands of people and submerged the nearby towns in lahar.

The church was buried when the Mayon volcano erupted, leaving only the belfry, which is now known as Cagsawa ruins. It is now a well-known tourist spot in Albay since visitors can see the spectacular Mayon volcano from here. The perfect-cone-shaped volcano can be seen perfectly. In fact, when we visited the place last time, I've seen tourists who looked like they came from out of town.

Upon arriving at the place, we paid the entrance fee which is only 20 Philippine peso ($0.40)

My friend @JulyAnn and I took a selfie right after we got inside. We're already looking tired after having to get up and traveling early that day. And we had to wait a long time at the PRC office because of the long queue. Despite this, we felt compelled to take a selfie for the sake of documentation lol.

After taking a selfie I also took a photo of the belfry.

Like the Mayon volcano, it also looks like standing proudly in this photo.

Fortunately, there are a few people during the time that we came here since there is a pandemic going on. Unlike when we came here in 2019 when it is so hard to take a photo without any photo bomber.

Then I went off to photograph a landscape that I used to see on postcards when I was a child. My parents never took me to this popular tourist site when I was a kid, despite the fact that we lived close by. That is one of the reasons why, now that I am older, I enjoy touring new places.

How do you like this photo?

I had a little touch of editing and applied a preset to this photo and now it looks aesthetic to me. I really love how it turned out.

We were a little tired and the sun is also scorching hot during that time, so we decided to take a shade under the canopy of the big and sturdy trees, a few meters away from where we are taking photos.

And while resting, my friends were taking Tiktok videos and I on the other hand was busily taking photos of the place for me to share here.

Look at these boulders; they come from the previous eruption of the volcano. And there are even bigger ones that have been thrown away hundreds of kilometers elsewhere. Think about what would happen if the volcano erupted and these boulders landed on your roof! Imagine this: folks have actually experienced it!

There are also cottages across the field where tires tourists can take a rest while chilling with Bicolano's famous delicacy - the Sili (chili) ice cream.

Well, of course, I can't leave the place without a cool photo of me. Thankfully, @JulyAnn was there to take this photo of me in panorama mode. It took us more than ten shots before we got this. The volcano is already starting to hide behind the white clouds though during this time.

A few moments later, the sky looked like it's going to have a rain shower, so we had to hurry and find a shade where won't be drenched in the rain.

We ran as quickly as we could when the rain started to fall, and thankfully, we were able to find a shade as the rain became more intense. I noticed this store only a few meters away and encouraged my buddies to accompany me there.

Before the pandemic, there were several shops here selling locally produced products made of local materials, such as bags, shirts, Pili nut pendants, and other items worth purchasing as a keepsake. Some of the products are also available in other parts of the Philippines, however, they are less expensive here, where they originated.

After we bought some sweets, we decides to go home.

There is another adventure here that I haven't tried yet - the ATV adventure and I hope that I could ride that and try the adventure on my next visit.