angat, bustos, garay in a day

Saturday morning has always been reserved for out of town travels, appreciating

nature, heritage, greeneries, and the great outdoors. today we will do just that.

Our itenerary is: Breakfast at Garay, have a look at Ipo Dam, go to Angat, visit 

Casa FlordeLiza of our friend Meng Santos, go to Bustos Dam, have lunch at 

Cafe Apolonio , visit Bakas river, go up to the mountains of Garay, dinner at

Tito Renz then go back home.

Our first stop was our favorite, Casa Flor De Liza of Meng Santos

Maximo Fernandez ”Meng” Santos, the fourth generation of the clan and 

his loving wife, Dra.Queenie Santos, a doctor of medicine by profession, 

inherited the ancestral house which was constructed in 1888 by then Cabeza

  Maximo Villarama Fernandez  located in Brgy. Marungko, Angat,

The structure is surrounded by a garden of  plants and tropical fruits with 

flowers! the house is adorned with Capiz windows & furnished with antique 

furniture, a grandfather’s clock , chandelier, and an heirloom of statues 

handed down from generation to generation, during the war some of the

important items are stored in a "balon" by the owners.

 sir Meng  demonstrated his talents by playing a piece in his magnificent

ivory upright piano in the Sala. around the Piano there, you can see

Heirloom statues handed down from his grand parents, now, during the 

war, only 2 structures remain. and the house is never destroyed very 

very lucky house fit for a very very nice man. Meng Santos!

after visiting our friend Meng Santos ancestral house , (thanks for the chico sir) 

we headed to this 90 yr old dam called Bustos Dam which is currently being 

rehabilitated when we visited there. photo credits: Jenny See

my last visit to bustos was in 2014 also with LAKAD PAMANA. the rehab 

project is expected to be finished in 5 months time, once finished, it can prevent 

flashfloods and secure the delivery of irrigation to farmers of 16 towns of 

Bulacan, 4 in Pampanga. we took some time to take great photos of the 

dam(and me) 

we had lunch here. this is my 4th visit. the place opens at 11am. so 
we are the first customers officially. Jen was fascinated by the 

good looking manager. no chicks here though :( the food LOOKS good,
but  I ordered Salmon, sad to say, there are lots of scales! haha! took me
20 minutes to fnish my meal(that usually takes 2 mins to finish) but here,

you would be surprise to find an amazing place in a small town, you would
love the antiquity! set in a century-old house, you feel like you want to get
an old place and set up one yourself! Must- visit place for history buffs
like me!

in Baranggay Matictic, Norzagaray there is a river considered as one of Garay's 

tourist attraction. the TAGALOG word, Bakas, meaning "Trace/Mark" is the 

story of Bernardo Carpio who acording to locals set foot in Matictic leaving a 

huge footprint or bakas/trace on one of the limestopne rock formation. the other 

one can be found in Biak na bato. this makes the river you can see it has gigantic 

limestone rock formations with 3 huge statues of Christ then it makes the river a 

unique and perfect getaway for travelers, adventurers and religious pilgrims. 

Bakas River can now be reached using any vehicle even on street highway tires, 

before you need to use a 4x4 vehicle, but through the efforts of Mayor Germar 

passing this area is now effortless. For visitors’ safety, warning signs can been in 

the area about the unpredictability of the river’s current and water levels, these 

signs are made through the efforts of Roy Santiago.

after the amazing afternoon, we had dinner at tito Renz before heading back home.

this is your LOVERBOY Dennis signing out. watch out for my next

blog on Visita Iglesia to be published during lent.