MOUNT PINATUBO: One of Philippines Tourist Attraction

Philippines, though categorizes as a third world country, is very rich in natural resources. We have extensive sea coast with good bays and harbors, navigable rivers and lakes, mountains and caves, land rich in minerals and agricultural products. Back in 70s, Philippines is one of the richest countries in Asia.

There are many factors why we are one of the poorest now. The Government seat has full of corrupt officials who never serve the interest of the Filipino people. Our Political system is one of the things that I’m never proud of.

As requested by some of my friends, I will be featuring one of the most visited tourist spot in my place, Mount Pinatubo. This mountain is an active volcano located in the island of Luzon and can be found at the intersection of the borders of the provinces of Zambales, Pampanga and Tarlac. The volcano’s recent eruption in June 1991, two weeks after I was transferred here from Manila (I’m not a local here, I was assigned to work here). This eruption came after 500 years of dormancy and produced one of the largest and most violent eruptions of the 20th century. This result the dislocations of thousands of families, destroyed many towns, houses, churches and millions worth of properties and resources. One of our indigenous people, the Aetas, who were living peacefully at the foot of the mountain, were forcibly evacuated against their will but some stayed in the caves and just waited there to die.

I, myself was sleeping peacefully on that early morning when my room mates woke me and told me that Mt. Pinatubo had erupted and when we go out we saw that big smoke circling the part where Mt. Pinatubo is located. The next days were storm of ash falls and we were wearing masks. The company had closed and asked us to go home. Most of us were pioneer employees of IWSPC then and were just relocated to assist the newly opened Japanese company. After a week, we were back to work but we have to sweep and help clean the ankle deep ashes surrounding the entire building. Those were the unforgettable story of my first weeks in Tarlac. But not as sad as those who lost their families and loved ones who were never had the chance to recover even the remains as the ashes wiped out the entire towns and buried the houses turning the place into desert-like area.

More than a decade after, the trees started to grow, people started to build their houses again and now that raging volcano turned into a beautiful tourist spot and now visited by many tourists from different countries.

A local tourist from Manila can reach Mount Pinatubo in 4 hours depending on the traffic. There are many available bus going to North. To name a few are; Victory liner, 5 Star, Dagupan Bus, Philippine Rabbit heading to Dagupan or Baguio City. The exact destination is Capas, Tarlac. That is at least 200php- more or less $5.

If you are interested to visit the place you can contact me as I have many contacts in different travel agencies. I personally designed the ID card by Mount Pinatubo Tourists Guides and most of them are Aetas.

 

Pinatubo Local Tour Guide ID – I designed and created this last year

There are also cheap hotels and transient houses at the adjacent areas surrounding Mount Pinatubo. Some range from 1000php/day- or at least $25/day but first class hotels range from $50 and up. Food from local food chains & restaurants like Jollibee, Max’s, Kentucky, Shakeys, Pizza Hut, Kentucky, Shakeys, Pizza hut & Mc Donald range from $3-5/meal per person. If you want me to email you a detailed info, pls. leave a message in my chat box or post a comment here.

Mt. Pinatubo is also one of the most frequently visited because of the mud Spa, and trekkers can have a nice massage after a long day of walk.

Our services is usually availed by different establishments here to make advertisement banners, flyers & posters. For Interested parties, please leave a note.

Because of the overwhelming response of my readers here, I included Mount Pinatubo Tour Guiding as part of our services.

Update 2/8/2009

Please click the link to see our recent Mount Pinatubo Trek activities

December 2009 

February 6 & 7 2009

For further inquiries, detailed info, trek schedules and itineraries please visit my other blog:

HTTP://PINATUBOTREK.BLOGSPOT.COM/