mountain climbing has been one of those sports i've always wanted to try but i never got a chance. mostly because my course always makes sure we are busy with exams and projects during the weekends when these climbing trips were scheduled... )4m\ 3c3! (i'm learning so bear with me)
So when leo asked me if I wanted to go ( i subtly let out hints that i was interested.) i jumped at the chance.
I even forced neal to come with me lol. He didn't want me to go but if I would force it, he would go with me anyway. Even if it is just to make sure I don't accidentally fall off the mountain.
So we bought shoes and equipment. We borrowed dawn's bag, cos' mountaineering bag and a carlo's sleeping bag. The rest of the stuff was bought. Water, I learned is really an essential on a mountain climb.
i was sick the day before the trip so i almost didn't make it. fortunately, i'm too stubborn for my own good and i still went anyway.
we decided to meet in alabang around 8am since it was just a short climb. a lot of people showed up for the trip. neal and i ate at jollibee while we waited for the others. leo was the first to arrive and we were next.
I've been to anilao several times. my aunt's company has a vacation house here and i've also gone skin diving here for my PE class ^_^ which was really fun. I knew it was kind of far.
after a long bus trip to batangas and two more jeepney rides to anilao, we finally got to the jump off point. Unfortunately, the jeep that took us there didn't want to go any further because there were so many of us. So we started walking up the road.
I've never walked up a road that steep! It reminded me of Baguio roads. If it wasn't for my adrenalin rush from the excitement of being on a mountian, I wouldn't have lasted more than 5 minutes. I forced myself to stay at the top of the pack because I didn't want to lag behind. Neal followed me closely but he was having a hard time since his bag was so heavy. He tried it in the house for five minutes and decided he can carry it.
I think the rule should be: if you think the bag weighs ok, lessen the load. It should feel light.
The only way I kept on was in deceiving myself into believing that after this bend, the road will be less steep. Hehe yeah right, that road barely had any level parts. The angle was so steep sometimes I felt like if I could kiss the road if I just bent a little more (or maybe i was just getting too tired).
It was also hard on the feet because it was a hard road. I was so glad we bought nice shoes for climbing. they helped a lot.
we took a lot of breaks. most of the time people were too tired to take pictures during these breaks. our trailmaster noted at the campsite that we had climbed too fast and took too many breaks. we should have taken it slow instead.
after the long hard road we finally got to the trail where we were surrounded by trees and plants. The way was still steep but I felt better because I now felt I was climbing a mountain. Plus, I got to use my gloves hehe, though they got dirty pretty fast.
It even rained a bit so we all took out our raincoats and after aroiund 5 minutes of wearing them, the rain stopped and left us all sweating under the raincoats.
one of my favorite pictures were during our break on the side of the mountain.
i love the way we just seem to blend with the surroundings
i think we reached the peak after 3 or 4 hours of climbing. around an hour before that we finally got to the part of the mountain where there were almost no trees and the slopes weren't so steep.
taking a break.. finally smooth slopes
there were lots of dogs, cows, a goat and even a horse up in that mountain. which also translated to lots of poo scattered everywhere. we had to tread carefully.
when we got to the site, there were already two more groups who have set up camp. We think one of the groups may be the UP Mountaineers. The highest campsite was already taken and the mountaineers occupied the next one so we were at a loss. Since we wanted a better campsite, we scouted around and found another summit. the way towards it was fenced though the man who was tending to the fields agreed that we could use that summit as our campsite.
The campsite was huge! we had a lot of place we could go to (something that we found very useful later on). We had almost a 360 degree view on our surroundings except for the highest summit.
We were contemplating who will roll down the mountain faster
Actually, we didn't help to prepare dinner which made me kind of embarrassed. I promise we will help next time.
neal and i inside our new green tent :)
We bought this tent on sale in storeshop. leo bought a similar one and set it up right next to ours. We also set up a makeshift clothesline using my violet mountaineering string(?!) which I've had since I was in highschool when my cousin and i thought it was cool to have mountaineering stuff even when we didn't climb mountains.
For dinner, we had sinigang na baboy and beef steak. We also had plenty of rice so we were really full. Oh yeah, we also found out we should be more careful in choosing the right canned food to bring.
After that came the socials which can be translated to "let's all get so drunk we can fall asleep anywhere". It's amazing how much booze people are willing to carry up the mountain no matter how heavy they are. (It's also amazing how much booze people will drink up on a mountain.) Our trailmaster told us that alcoholic drinks in glass containers, though heavier are better to bring than the ones in plastic containers because the alcohol seeps out and makes the drink less potent. ^_^ we wouldn't want that.
We had gin with extra Joss. Go figure.
socials
It also got really dark that evening so we saw a lot of stars. Leo used his tripod to take cool shots of the surroundings and of different constellations. The best time to see that stars was around 2am though.
It also made looking for a "bathroom" easier. During the day you had to pick a faraway spot where you hope no one can see you. Of course being up in the mountain didn't help. In the end, you hope your only witnesses are the cows and nature. hehe.
At night it was different, you didn't have to go that far. Just pick a spot, turn off your flashlight and no one will know what you are doing. Though there's nothing like doing your business in the dark, in a field full of dung, while the wind is blowing faster than a hundred kilometers an hour.
I like to drink but I don't drink until I lose consciousness. I also get very quiet when I'm tipsy. Leo's officemates, (possibly the whole group as well) thought I was a really heavy drinker. hehe I usually just go relieve myself and I get clear headed again so I can on drinking. I also noticed I kept going near the edge of the mountain during those trips which is not a very good habit. Especially since everyone will be too drunk to notice I'm gone and I usually go alone because neal can't accompany me.
Around 9pm some of us decided to go to bed. The rest of the group stayed up till 2am and only stopped because there was no more booze. We would have slept well since we were all basically drunk if it hadn't been for the wind. The wind was so strong we thought we would be swept away. No wonder the earlier groups didn't pick our spot. The freaky thing about it was that the wind will be blowing so hard that you'd think someone was outside pushing your tent and then, for no reason, stop. It was these sudden quiet moments that made you think of alien spaceships outside blocking the wind or some other unnatural phenomena.
early morning
We woke up early around 6am though some people were up earlier than that. The line for the hot water was long and it took a while to boil water up in the mountains. Besides that, the water will be hot for about 5 minutes and after that it will be cold again.
Our drinking water was the only source of water so we had to be careful in using it when we brushed our teeth or washed our faces. Hopefully the next mountain, which has a good water source, will make our lives easier.
When everyone finally woke up and had breakfast, we all packed or stuff and took last minute pictures.
all packed up and ready to go back to civilization... and toilets!
everyone is in the shot courtesy of leo's tripod
We had fun. Neal even wanted to climb a mountain again even after if he had a hard time lugging the big bag up the mountain. The group went down by another route, an easier route. We got lost, went back, realized we were on the right track and went back that way again... I think we walked longer going down than going up because of it. We were lucky to hitch a ride on a jeep that was going down our way. We found ourselves in a town far from Anilao so we couldn't go swimming though some of the Accenture people still swam for a bit at the beach. The rest either ate, rested or found a way to take a bath.
last jeep ride
During the trip home we were so tired we kept sleeping on the bus. The bus we rode on had a terminal in Cubao which was lucky for us because my house was near so we only had to take a taxi home. I hope next time the bus we ride on has a terminal nearer to our place so we coud just walk home.
Hehe I know this is really late but at least I decided to post this before our next trip which is this coming weekend to Daguldol, also in Batangas.
Stuff I learned
1. wear something that will make you look cute in pictures (yes leo, same as yours)
2. bring a smaller jacket (wind breaker is too big, makes me look huge and i can do better with long sleeves under a shirt. cuter too)
3. buy a smaller sleeping bag. (ahh... carlo's is too big. neal and i can fit inside it and zip it too) --done
4. buy less canned goods.
5. more water!
6. more face/hand towels!
7. even if we will swim, don't bring towels
8. get neal to take more pics
9. get in more pics
10. if it's heavy leave it. (a heavy bag you carried for 5 minutes will weigh 20x more while being carried up a mountain)
11. get a new flashlight, one that needs batteries not rechargeable and one that doesn't cost just 50 pesos hehe.
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