A Visit to San Pablo, Laguna: Part Three - The Lakes (Sampaloc and Pandin)

In photo is the Sampaloc Lake, the biggest of the Seven Lakes which the City of San Pablo in the Province of Laguna, some 70 kms south of Manila, is famous for  (San Pablo is sometimes called the City of Seven Lakes or Lungsod ng Pitong Lawa in Tagalog). The lakes are actually cauldrons or crater-remains of once active volcanos in the Laguna area. 

This post is Part 3 of a series of posts on a recent visit to the City of San Pablo. Here I'll talk about two of the more famous and most visited lakes - Lake Sampaloc and Lake Pandin.

The above panoramic photo I took during our visit shows one of the mountains that surrounds the City. This one is called Mt. Cristobal. The lake sits just right next to the city itself. In fact, it is just a few steps from the backside of the City Hall. There's a  circumferential road where one can go about and explore via one of those rental bikes available at the area. The total distance of this road is about 3.5 kilometers and is also a popular route for joggers. In the late afternoon and early evening, an area in the lakeside called Lake Sampaloc Boardwalk, is an ideal place to while away the time just soaking in the scenery.

Watch these videos of Lake Sampaloc which I posted on my YouTube Channel.

 https://youtu.be/jjFyyJmY-V8

https://youtu.be/o1cmmFQItgM

There are a number of small cafès, and lakeside benches along the circumferential road with a good view of the lake itself where visitors can stop, rest and admire the view. It is, however, not recommended to swim in the lake as it is said that the water is unsafe due to pollution caused  by decaying fish-feeds from a proliferation of fish cages in the lake. There is also the presence of human waste produced by squatters or illegal settlers near the lakeshore.


This is Lake Pandin, one of a couple of neighboring lakes which are also called the Twin Lakes. At the far end of this lake, there is a short but moderately steep path that one needs to negotiate to the the other lake called Lake Yambo. Lake Pandin's access is via a 5-minute tricycle ride through a narrow road (paved at the time of my visit), from the main road. While the trip is short, it can be very exciting as the tricycle driver are not just ordinary drivers - they are daredevils! 

Lake Pandin is relatively popular (compared to the other lakes) to visitors because one can actually swim in the emerald-green waters! While the water is not really very deep, visitors are always asked to don life-jackets. Aside from the prospect of swimming in the cool emerald waters, visitors can take their lunch while floating on a bamboo raft and crossing from the near to the far side. Lunch fare is arranged before one boards the raft and consists mainly of locally prepared food such as Ensaladang Pako. Pako is a kind of fern that is usually found along the banks of rivers, streams and lakes like this one. There's also Inasal na Tilapia or charcoal grilled Tilapia fish. One other popular dish is the Inihaw na Baboy, that part of the pig-meat called Liempo  or pork belly. Then there's the ever present fresh buko or yung coconut freshly picked from the tree. One can spend the entire afternoon after the sumptuous lunch to just lay about the raft gently undulating in the mild wave.

Here's a video which may show what you may see just before setting out to the lake for that delicious feast for lunch - https://youtu.be/lnfREP7bcKM

*NOTE: the bamboo raft business, along with the lunch preparations, is run by an all-female cooperative enterprise. They do have men in the workforce but the entire management is run by an organization of housewives in the area.

While looking at some resources for this post I came across a friend's blog which I consider to be a very extensively research post. And When I say extensive, I also mean exhaustive as well. If you are interested in knowing more information on these lakes and the five other ones in the famed 7-Lakes of San Pablo, I recommend you visit TitaS blog at 
https://titastravels.wordpress.com/tag/seven-lakes-of-san-pablo-city/

Once again, thanks for dropping by and maybe you can drop a line or so in the comments section

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