Road Trip...The Last Adventure for Summer 2010 - Part 1

For the longest time I have been wanting to take a road trip to Northern Negros via the Translink Highway that run from Salvador Benedicto town to San Carlos City.  The first time I passed through here was in the mid 90's when it was still being completed...the view was fantastic but on the roadsides were basically just nipa huts and road workers.  I remember we were a convoy of ambulances and we would wave at the people and they would wave back, especially the children.  I actually felt like some minor celebrity...heehee.  And so last June 5, 2010, a day after my brother's birthday, we decided to take that road trip.

We had an overnight reservation at Lalimar Resort, a class A government run resort in the municipality of La Libertad, Negros Occidental.  I had read about this resort but it seems that not many people in our side of the island have heard of it.  I would have wanted to stay longer but since it was a last minute decision before the end of summer, I was able to get the only available date before classes open on the 15th.  There are actually several routes to the resort but using the Negros Translink Ecotourism Highway (that's the official name, btw) is the fastest way since we will only be traveling about 151 kms. from Bacolod-Murcia-Salvador Benedicto-San Carlos(Neg.Occ) to Vallehermoso-Guihulngan-La Libertad.  The coastal route (Silay City, our point of origin to San Carlos to La Libertad) will be 183 kms.   La Libertad is nearer to San Carlos City than to Dumaguete, so using the Mabinay route is not even an option.  This road trip also made me realize that Negros Island has a very good network of roads and you can get to different places using several routes which actually interconnect. There was a group in the resort from La Carlota City and they took the  highway via La Castellana (Neg.Occ) - Canlaon City (Neg. Or) - Vallehermoso (Neg. Or).  So, it's good to know that our DPWH in Negros Occidental and Oriental are both doing a good job in the island.   Here is a road map of Negros Island.  We left Silay at 7:30 AM...there were 7 and 1/4 people in the van...Mom, my brother, my son, my nephew, my niece, my baby and her nanny and of course, our mechanic-driver.  If there is one lesson we all learned during last year's road trip (to Dumaguete and Dauin)...travel light!!!

to be continued.....