“Shooting the Rapids,” the most thrilling, two-hour boat-ride in Pagsanjan, or anywhere in the Philippines, was reinforced with more “horsepower” through a one-week “Pagsanjan Bangkero Festival” held recently through the initiative of the youthful town chief executive, Mayor Emilio Ramon (E.R.) Ejercito III.
“Shooting the Rapids” was for quite sometime, demeaned due to foreign tourists, particularly Germans, who were pedophiles. They victimized some children in Pagsanjan.
Even the Department of Tourism then removed Pagsanjan from the list of tourist destinations in the Philippines.
During a radio interview in our program, “Lingkod Pinoy” (11 - 12:00 noon, Thursdays, 738 KHz Radyo ng Bayan), Mayor Ejercito told us that the Department of Tourism Sec. Richard Gordon attended the “Pagsanjan Bangkero Festival” and gladly endorsed it.
Mayor Ejercito, who is in his first term as town chief executive, said that “Shooting the Rapids” is now much improved, with all the necessary precautions and safety measures in place. He also stressed that the boatmen are so skilled, that they can make your ride as if you are gliding in-between rocks or boulders as you go upstream of the Pagsanjan River.
Mayor Ejercito expects that there will be an influx of local and foreign tourists this summer who will try the thrilling experience of “Shooting the Rapids”.
“We have enough hotels, lodging houses or inns to accommodate visitors,” Mayor Ejercito added. “We have 11 of them.”
Some of the hotels are the Pagsanjan Rapids Hotel, Pagsanjan Falls Lodge & Summer Resort, Camino Real Lodging House, Magdapio Hotel & Restaurant and the Bonanza Landing Area & Restaurant.
The two-hour “Shooting the Rapids” begins in the still headwaters of the Pagsanjan River. Each banca, paddled by two boatmen, can accommodate two or three passengers. The boatmen steer the banca upstream, passing narrowly between or above boulders or rocks. At times, the boatmen have to get-off the banca, and with their bare feet, step on the boulders to push the banca upstream, maintaining balance, against a downward strong current.
There is a lot of excitement, but with the expertise of the boatmen, the ride is safe well enough.
The bonus is the pristine panorama on both sides of the gorge: wild orchids, ferns, vines, spiders, butterflies, dragonflies, birds, lizards on the rocks, chattering monkeys and the beautiful sun rays streaking through the trees and touching your face. There are even vines, Tarzan style.
Depending on whether it is low or high tide, you will pass through 11 or 16 rapids before you reach the major waterfalls where you will transfer to a bamboo raft that will take you beneath the cascading water and into a hidden cave. The falls come from a 300-foot cliff in full view.
The downstream ride is as exciting as the upstream ride, because at this time, the banca floats with the strong current. There are times, as the boat skips the boulders and rocks, that you gasp for breath but the boatmen steer the ride with so much expertise that they bring you back to the headwaters feeling relaxed.
Shooting the Rapids is a lifetime experience that must not be missed. Call the Laguna Tourism Council, (049) 808-1580, or telefax (049) 808-0464.
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