Villa Escudero

The trip was overall satisfying in terms of location, food and sights but what grated, somehow, was the fact that the personnel somehow seemed to be always wanting to be tipped. For example, when my husband was unloading stuff from the car to the cottage, I gave him money for tipping and when he came back, he said there were some 8 people carrying our luggage. And mind you, we were there for an overnight stay only. The bags we had weren't that heavy at all so that the morning after, the maid simply made two trips to the car without any effort. It was a good thing she did this early because shortly after she was done, some 8 ladies came and asked if we were checking out. When we said yes, they asked where our bags were, adding you had a lot yesterday.

True, I understand how hard money is to come by these days but somehow, the propensity to almost literally ask for tips irked me. For example, the man who helped us go down to the falls said as we were eating, I'll be upstairs waiting. Somehow, I took that as a hint to be tipped. And the ladies in the souvenir store weren't too hospitable. Of course there were exceptions but somehow, the attitude of the rest tarnished whatever goodwill the others somehow created.

My husband noticed how even the old women seemed to still be serving. I saw the plus side of that: they were somehow like mentors for the young ones. Hopefully, mentors on a positive note.

meanwhile, when I told a friend about how many of the personnel seemed to be waiting for tips, she suggested that -- oh never mind, that's second guessing and may be unfair to the establishment.

The personnel, notwithstanding, our stay in VE was very satisfying in terms of food -- the three meals that came with the lodging fee somehow didn't make us hungry for merienda. There was always soup, a seafood or fish dish, vegetables, etc., dessert. Drinks were at P30 each, be this soft drinks or buko juice. Breakfast spelled freshly baked pan de sal and loaf bread. Delicious.

Our room was nice, but again lack of product knowledge surfaced. When I contacted the office in Manila, personnel said she'd book us at a garden room with a garden view as the unit had no steps. Charge was P5000 plus per head. When my husband saw the unit, there were four steps leading to it and a few meters away, he saw Gumamela A which had a ramp and a river view to boot! Luckily for us, this was unoccupied and the man who handled the transaction readily voided the first credit card slip. The Gumamela A unit was a thousand pesos cheaper per head. At least, though, the girl in Manila knew well enough that there was access for a wheelchair-bound guest to get to the falls for lunch. To view pictures, check out the following site. There are pictures too in my multiply site.

I'll add a few here of the cottage where we stayed and some other facets of VE.















As I reread this, some six hours or more after writing the entry, I realized how often I used the words "somehow" and "seemed". I think that SOMEHOW my doing so is an attempt to show appreciation for the establishment as a whole and a slight disgust/disappointment at certain aspects of it. It doesn't deserve outright bile, but things could be better. Calls to mind how the personnel of Rustan's are generally well trained, eager to help, eager to please, and there's no tipping there. Calls to mind too, a neighborhood grocery store, Shoppersville Supermarket, were tipping is strictly not allowed.

On the way home from our out of town trip, we passed by Kusina Salud which is owned by Patis Tesoro's family. The afternoon merienda menu shouted "Tips very much welcome" or something to that effect. Somehow, that didn't leave a bad taste in the amount because to begin with, the place screamed bohemian, fun, disarray via the colors, layout, setup. VE on the other hand, seemed (there goes the word again) to want to convey a certain quiet genteelness, gentility, a semblance of the old rich man's hacienda were people were quietly servile, obsequious, without being annoying.

Where food was served there were lots of flies. Considering the number of men and women hovering around, I almost expected the "tabug", those fan-like things to drive away the pesky flies. Think Cleopatra, think those long flat handles with one-inch strips of manila paper attached to one end to drive the flies away. But no, the servers used their hands. Two incidents made me wince: when we were eating in the pool area, one server picked up the slipper of a child from the water and handed it to the child. Thoughtful, I thought. Then she went to our table and with that same hand served some food. I thought I saw a drop of water from that hand going to our grilled fish. Another incident. The servers were dressed in native attire. So the blouse of the ladies hangs out rather than sticks to the body. Okay imagine this. One lady server beside me reached to the middle of the table to arrange the food. Whoa, her bloused touched my rice and chorizo. I softly said "sana palitan" but she seemed not to have heard it or failed to get my drift. My husband who was farther away from me said, "exchange na lang tayo." I said no, but he insisted. As we did that, the server looked wonderingly at why the exchange of plates took place but didn't ask why. Clueless...

See there were small irritants where the personnel were involved, irritants that could well be corrected to improve image, VE's image. But I don't want to offend anyone, I don't want to be poisoned, if I return, for being so critical. Maybe if I meet the owners? As if we move in the same circles...