profound bliss

My Mt. Maculot traverse experience with K reminded me of my very first mountain climbing experience in Mt. Romelo. It was August 2010 and I was supposed to go to Taytay Falls but the friend I was supposed to go with stood me up so I decided to just go somewhere with fewer people - the mountains. I hired a guide who perhaps had a third eye as well, the reason why he saw what he did. We were walking towards Lansones Falls, he was like ten feet ahead, when I noticed that he kept on looking back towards me. I thought he was just checking on me as the thought of "stuff" like that in the mountains hasn't really occurred to me at that time. Had he told me he saw something right then, I wouldn't have allowed myself to take a dip in Lansones Falls' catch basin and enjoy its very cold water. But since I was unsuspecting, I even asked the guide to take pictures of me as I posed with the waterfalls as my backdrop. There was one part of the area, however, that w...

It was supposed to be just plain mountain climbing but K, my climb buddy, wanted to go "chasing waterfalls" so we went to Buntot Palos (or Hidden Falls, as what the falls is known to the locals) last Sunday, July 24, 2011. We didn't get a guide anymore cuz we heard the trail was pretty easy to follow. You just have to lookout for this flat rock in the middle of the trail right after passing the second stream ( sapa ). A little before that rock is the almost invisible trail to the left that goes down to the campsite. Once you reach the campsite, there's another trail to the left that leads down to the falls area. It was very steep, reminiscent of the steep trail that leads down to Buruwisan Falls. But K seemed to find the descent so easy. I took a video of him at one point. You have to cross the water in order to get near the falls. The rocks were quite close together but there's this one hop I had to make that I couldn't do. The rock was inclined a...

Before my climb buddy started school last month, we decided to climb again. Dayhike destinations are already becoming rare, though, cuz we have already climbed the ones near Manila. If we could avoid it, though, we really wouldn't go to Mt. Kalisungan without a group. Holdups and getting lost stories in the jump off were so all over the internet and could we avoid that place, we would choose a different destination. But we couldn't. So last June 8, 2011, K and I braved the bad weather and went to Calauan, Laguna to climb Mt. Kalisungan. We boarded a Sta. Cruz-bound bus in Alabang and told the conductor to drop us off at the Duck Junction in Victoria, Laguna. He said okay so all the while, we thought he knew where the place is. Good thing that at one point, K decided to ask him again if we're still far from the Duck Junction. A man sitting across the aisle overheard us and said we're already past the said junction. It was only then that the conductor said he knew ...

The last mountain that I climbed was Mt. Pundaquit when I went with the MSOC to Anawangin Cove . It was November last year. My friend K also invited me to their Batulao climb last January 9 (Sunday) but he texted me January 8th while I was already in Calapan . I couldn't actually go home Saturday night from an out-of-town trip and leave again the following morning for a mountain climb. Yea, pwede, but my Nanay would fume mad and Princess would feel depressed two days in a row and that's bad. Then some of the MSOC applicants invited me for a MakTrav the following Sunday, January 16th, and I immediately said yes. It would be my first major climb ever. K didn't join the team so I went to the Jam Transit station in Buendia alone at 3 AM. It was even baha in Pasay Rotonda because Manila Water was working in the area. Most of the team members were already there when I arrived. We left for Sto. Tomas at 4 AM via an air-conditioned Jam Transit. The trip cost P90.00 becaus...

I woke up around 3:30 AM that August 1 morning, so excited to go to a waterfall in Laguna which boasts of its freezing-cold water. Gerald, the friend who went with me to Kwebang Lampas last month, was also supposed to go with me on that waterfall trip. I texted him before I took a shower telling him to get his lazy butt out of bed. We agreed the night before to meet at my house 4:30 AM so we could start early. Ever so excited, I was all set to go a few minutes before the agreed time. But when I checked my phone for his reply, I found none.   By that time, I kinda knew something was off. I started calling him to wake him up, thinking he overslept. I rang his phone over and over for 2 hours. Nanay left for church at 6 that morning and she reminded me not to leave if Gerald wouldn’t make it.   But then I was all set wearing my new Penshoppe shorts , and with my rucksack packed especially light, I didn’t want anything (read: being stood up) to get in the way of having an eventful...

I went to Siniloan, Laguna last Sunday and upon arriving at the town proper, I immediately looked for the local parish. It's one of my personal rules to first and foremost visit the local church of wherever my destination is, to give thanks for arriving there safe and to pray as well for the safety of those I left at home. Since I wasn't really prepared for a Siniloan trip (I was scheduled to go to Majayjay that day), I wasn't able to search the net for its local church beforehand. Anyway, I was sure a local or two would be willing to give me directions to their local parish if I'd kindly ask. I didn't have to ask anyone, though, because when the jeepney driver dropped me off in the intersection where I could hire a tricycle to go to my destination, it was in front of a church. It's not facing the road, like most churches. It's turned sideways and is flanked along the road by all sorts of stores. It's still prominent, though, ...