Seven Lakes of San Pablo

Going home from Pahiyas last year, we accidentally pass by Sampaloc Lake because the roads in San Pablo going to Sto Tomas exit to SLEX is not straightforward as no street signs around. It was lucky though as a new target destination is listed. This year, I took my family with me to see the seven lakes. It was the day of Dolphy’s funeral, there may be heavy traffic going south bound on C-5 and elsewhere there so we try going backdoor going through Tanay then Fami then through Laguna. The same route we used last year. The trip took us four hours while going back going through SLEX just took about three. As we noticed last year, road signs going through Laguna when going through the other side are rare so getting lost is a little likely. This time street signs to where to find the lakes are on the other side of the road again.

We did some of our stop-overs last year just so my sisters who love taking photos can take pictures as well. We stopped by the Laguna de Bay View Deck in Pililia, the old Pagsanjan town arch and the Nagcarlan Underground Cemetery. We also buy bucopies from the original Collette's in San Pablo. I wish we coull have entered the town proper of Liliw to see the church there and to buy slippers.

The view of Laguna de Bay is not that clear this time

Welcome to Pagsanjan

My sisters wacky jump shot in Nagcarlan

The first of the lakes that we stumble upon was Bunot Lake. Thanks to one road sign telling us the way. I saw one blog saying this lake is also used for fishing and swimming. We were very disappointed when we saw what it looked like so no pictures were taken. It smells bad. It was almost noon when we left the first lake so we went to Sampaloc Lake to have lunch. I still remember Café Lago, where we ate dinner last year. We also got a map of Viaje del Sol which may help us a bit in looking for these lakes. Hopefully we will find what we came here for. We are also going the other way so hopefully road signs will guide us.

me and Andres Bonifacio

my father posing on Sampaloc Lake

duyan sa Cafe Lago

The next lake we passed by is Palacpaquin. We just pass by that lake which has a bridge and some kids swimming on it. There are also some fishpens more like Sampaloc and Bunot.

We are getting a little lost and hoping for signs, literally, for at least see the twin lakes. Luckily we saw the sign. There was this 20-minute trek to Lake Pandin. Parking cost us twenty pesos. In Pandin, rental of the wooden balsa is 180 pesos per head. That will include a coconut as refreshment. They don’t have coconuts when we got there so with my father’s awesome haggling skills, they let us rent one balsa(for the eight of us) for one grand. They are also selling leche flan and tamarind which we ate during our time in the lake. The leche flan cost 100 bucks for three trays and the spicy tamarind is 15 pesos per pack.

This lake is awesome. It is a lot clean compared to the other lakes and very organized. These ladies who are our boatmen are actually members of the local Samahan ng Kababaihan. it is good that they have a group which is giving these ladies source of income by tourism.

Lake Pandin

At the right side of the other end of the lake, there’s another climb to the other lake, Yambo. This is also beautiful. there’s some fishing but it is still clean. We took photos then get back to our balsa then swim a little. 

Lake Yambo

We were supposed to go to another lake, Calibato, but I messed up directions. We should have turn left but I thought it was on the right side. So overall, we only saw five of the seven lakes. Too bad because I saw a picture of Calibato on other blogs and it has a view of Mount Banahaw on the background.

So next time when I get around San Pablo, I know where the lakes are.