2 days in the Farm at San Benito

We just came back from the Farm and I’ll recap in three sections: place, play, and food. The place is known as a holistic healing center. It has programs for healing, wellness, and beauty, quite popular among celebrities and richest people in the country. I wanted to check it out for a while but hesitated because of its price tag. Since our trip to Coron got shortened and I’m counting the places we MUST do before we leave Manila, I found a last room at a reasonable price and we went. It’s surprisingly close to manila, only 1.5 hrs away. We left 6:30am on 12/30 and arrived there at 8am. After quick check in, we had breakfast and started exploring the resort.

The resort: the place is like a big garden, full of greens, artificial lagoons, ponds, more gardens, waterfalls and meditation spots. This is the path to our room.

I sign up for a restorative yoga session and the girls checked around the lagoon

this is the spot where I practiced yoga

this is one of the swimming pools behind the pescatarian restaurant. I read for a while when the girls played around

mini playground for the girls

Our room is the Palmera Glass Villa, a single house surrounded by bamboo, water fountain. We absolutely love our villa. The girls slept at this lounge sofa.

facing the king size bed

a really spacious bathroom coupled with the closet. Two showers, inside and outside, and outdoor bathtub.

Play: they have daily activities for adults and kids. Girls enjoyed chasing the peacock

which we quickly realized no need to chase them as they came to our villa both days.

feeding the ducks

and fish. I joined a rope dance class the second day. A really different kind of workout if I can call it workout as it’s basically swinging the ropes following the music.

Food: the resort has three restaurants: vegan, Indian vegetarian, and pescatarian. Originally it only had vegan as it’s a healing center that promotes healthy living lifestyle. Then to adapt to a broader market to people like us that comes without any medical condition and has not booked any treatment, they opened the pescatarian restaurant, probably the busiest among the 3. We ate at the vegan place as I wanted to see its quality of food.

we ordered vegan pad Thai

sweet potato spring rolls with veggies

Indian rice and vegetable dish

samosas and naan.

frozen coconut ice cream for dessert

for breakfast, each set includes steamed vegetables, fruits

toast with eggplant and a vegetables porridge. And unlimited bread, pancakes. juices and coffee.

I must say after one meal there, I’m kind of over it. They all taste okay but I find it carb heavy, especially breakfast, oily as many dishes are fried, and not well balanced in term of veggie/protein/fat. I wouldn’t recommend it for someone who wants to become healthy to eat this kind of vegan food. But well… maybe it’s a good start for non-vegans.

to digest all the carbs, we went to the gym before we checked out.

overall, I enjoyed our visit and 1.5 days is perfect to explore, relax, and enjoy the nature. The girls especially enjoyed the movie night with popcorn and watermelon juice, while hubby and I stayed in the room to finish “Don’t look up”.

Yet, I don’t find the place as authentic as a wellness center because of the food they serve, and the wellness talk I attended. It’s probably targeted to beginners toward healthy lifestyle as the concepts the doctor discussed were basic and when I asked him some questions, his answers were not to my satisfaction.

I am yet to find a wellness center that I learn new ideas and practices. If you know one, let me know 🙂