Won't Take No for an Answer (Part 1) | Lake Carolina, Baganga, Davao Oriental

---

Correction! I've been away for 10 days. 😅 When I started writing again for my #project81PH 20 days ago, I was really hoping to be more active but the Christmas Season is the busiest time at work. My boyfriend curates for Worldmappin and although he's been mentioning about how everyone's going crazy about the #winterchallenge, I haven't fully grasped how the challenge works until this morning when I was tagged in the challenge update. Enough of the excuses. Will just give it my best! Now, let's continue exploring shall we?

---

It was late in the afternoon when we arrived in Lake Carolina from our visit in Curtain Falls. If I remember it correctly it was almost five (5) in the afternoon. We hurried to the entrance of the resort only to find out it was already close for the day. The security guard/caretaker of the resort explained but none of his words entered my brain.

Normally, if an establishment is close, one will just disappear and come back the following day. It wasn't the case for me tho. I couldn't afford not to see this destination. There was no next time for me. My driver and I explained the circumstances: (1) I'm from Cebu and I travelled in a plane and took hours and hours of painful bus/motorcycle rides just to get here and (2) I'd be on my way to my next destination the following day. It was a "now or never" scenario for me.😭

The security guard referred me to the lady attendant who ultimately gave the verdict! My heart jumped out of my chest when I learned that they're allowing me a quick access to the resort's vicinity under one condition: no swimming as the lifeguard is off-duty already. It was no biggie! As long as I could check-out this place, I'm all good! :)

From what I had gathered, Lake Carolina is a small lake in Baganga, Davaor Oriental. In reality, I'm not a huge fan of lakes but I won't left no crumbs in this part of my country. I won't be back anytime soon. Much to my surprise, my notion of what a lake is was shattered. Minutes after entering Lake Carolina, which by the way is inside Resort Cartagena, confusion enveloped me. Is this really a lake?" I questioned.

Lake Carolina definitely didn't fit any of my previous experience wandering in lakes; it looked more like a portion of a river or to be more exact a spring beneath the surface which is the source of a bigger body of water (river).

There was no time to waste so instead of trying to figure out things, I allowed myself to be immersed in this cool experience. There was no one else except for my driver and another man who was doing his afternoon swim. By the look of it, he could easily be an Ironman training for another race. He was swimming from one end to another nonstop.

The place was serene; the water calm with no movement except for the one coming from the man swimming. Tall and vibrant coconut trees lined up the riverbank along with other types of plants.

One reason I'm not a fan of lakes is that lakes in the Philippines tend to be dark (brown or dark blue) and I hate it when I couldn't see what's beneath me. Who knows monsters could be lurking in the deep, right? But that's not the case in Lake Carolina, the water was light green and it was very clear. I could even spot rocks on the riverbed. If only I could swim!!!

Time to go! After snapping a few more photos here and there, we were back on the road. I don't have a place to stay for the night so I was determined to be back in town before it totally gets dark. My driver was highly competitive and was outdoing things. Instead of taking me back in town, we took a less travelled road to reach the beach. Honestly, I was feeling uneasy as it was very far from the main road and there was no one there. Things were running in my mind but thankfully, I was just overthinking. I mean sunset by this beach was so worth the anxiety! 🤣😅

Really glad my driver was trustworthy. He also helped me look for my hostel/inn that night. We found this simple, affordable and nice place to spend the night before moving to my next destination farther down south. :)

Again, I'm thrilled for everyone who's joining the #winterchallenge I'm not here to win but to enjoy creating and re-telling my travel stories! Until next post!

---