Blue Green Today: Eco Park in The City

Urban living has always been all about cars, buildings and pollution. It may seem impossible to break free from this everyday scenario if your living in the city. And if you do, you'll spent 2-3 hours of your time just to go to that special place, where the grass is green, trees are tall and birds fly freely.

Fortunately, I was able to visit the La Mesa Eco Park. It is a forest park tucked in the heart of the city, located just 30 minutes to an hour from Quezon City's business and commercial districts. It is a convenent place to visit to break free from the stress of the urban lifestyle.

The place is accessible to public utilities and cars.

For those who intend to use the public transportation:

Take buses and jeepneys going to Fairview, just tell the bus operator or the jeepney driver to drop you off at the la mesa eco park corner stop. If you've passed by the Commission on Audit office and Batasan Road, the street going to the Philippine House of Congress then you are just a couple of minutes away from the stop.

At the stop you will see a sign that points to the direction going to the park, there you will also find tricycles that will take you to the park. This is approximately a 10 minute ride.

For those traveling by car:

Coming from Quezon City circle, take the commonwealth road, it will be the road you will be taking for the next 30 minutes or so. If you passed by the Commission on Audit you are about a hundred meters away from the corner stop. Approaching near the area you will see a sign that will take you to the directions going to the la mesa eco park.

Upon reaching the entrance, you will may opt to ride an über silent electric powered jeepneey (e-jeep) for free or walk and enjoy the view going to the park. At the park, aside from enjoying the view and breathing the fresh air, there are several activities you can do. There are picnic groves where you can have picnics with the family, and for those who didn't bring anything, there are variety of foods and snacks available in the store huts in the area. A salt water pool is also available for those who'd like to experience swimming in the middle of the forest. Horses and bikes are available to take you places. And for the true nature lover in you, there's a pathway for trekking the forest. Some extreme sport activities are also available outside the park proper. A paintball field for playing war games with friends, is located to the right of the administrative building. Across it is a wall climbing rig and zip line on top of a lagoon where you can also rent a boat.

The administrative building also houses an organic store, wherein you can purchase goods made from organic materias as well as organic vegetables and flower plants to take home. While looking into some of the products, I came across a prune like product called Daguey, it was said that it is a wild berry that came from Nueva Viscaya. I wasnt able to try it, but the sales lady told me it tasted similar to prunes or raisins. Another note worthy product is noodles made of carrots, papaya or malungay leaves. Souvenir shirts are also available for you to take home.

The park closes at 5pm and as the day ended i felt refreshed revitalized knowing that I can always return here in a zip, whenever i feel too consumed by the city life.

Here are some more pictures:

The E-Jeepney