Mt. Marami

This is my first climb after a really long hiatus. A year and half without a climb made my body aches a lot after this one. This is a practice climb before we go to Mt. Pulag in two weeks. Some people could not make it but hell yeah this climb is a must.

To get there we took a bus ride to Naic, Cavite then a long jeepney ride to Magallanes where the jump off point is. That trip is really long. Biyaheng probinsya. There’s the terminal where the jeepney has to be full before it could go. Because it was full, there was no space for my butt to move a little. It has to stay at that same position in that firm seat the whole time.  Before reaching the Barangay Hall, there still yet another tricycle ride from where the jeepney dropped us off.

It was noon when we got there. We don’t have butane so we have to eat our lunch there. There was this sari-sari store where the good lady cooked meals for us for a really low price. We also have to cook rice there for our supper later.
 

The trek began. We were lucky that it was cloudy because the trail was really open, not much foliage to protect us if it was sunny. The first part of the trail going to the river was a really steep downhill slope. I know then that it would really suck going back the next day. The whole trail actually is really hard because it was dusty. I read blogs describing their experiences with this mountain during the rainy season and it would sure be muddy and slippery by seeing how steep and dusty most of the trail is. 

This weather suits trekking this kind of terrain

rubbish near the shanty

People also get lost along the trail because there’s too much of them. We had a guide but Mang Junior left us on the first camp site and then true to what they say, we got lost then. It was kinda close to the summit so we just hack our way through the bushes into the direction of the summit. Some moments later we found what looks like a camp site.

He left us right there then we lost our way

Pico de Loro from the west side of the summit

Because we have no butane, we ate dinner early that night. Not cooking for dinner and also for breakfast saved us a lot of time. The adobo was still yummy. We were also very tired so we slept very early. We were awoken a lot of times though because of the really strong winds. It was really fortunate that we pitched the tent satisfactory this time and the shape of tent helps a lot.
 

I intended to wake up early that morning to see the sunrise and take photos of the clouds. I woke up 6, it was not that late because the sun rises late but I kinda forget how to get back to the summit because of all the cows surrounding us then and I also lost my sense of direction with seeing new tents around us. I failed to get a picture.
 

We descended early compared to our previous climbs. Not cooking breakfast really helps. It was sunny that day so the dreaded thought of climbing up steeper trails going back will be worse, and it was.

Tagaytay Family Trip

This trip is to vindicate Tagaytay as a food trip destination because my previous trip there last January was a little unsatisfactory.

So my sister from Singapore arrived July 8. She was itching to go places so she suggested a trip to Tagaytay or to go swimming in Bosai. It was rainy season, Typhoon Falcon just recently passed and Goring underway, we opposed the swimming plan and voted for the Tagaytay trip.

We went there Sunday, July 10. It was still raining but we still go anyway. We initially planned to go before lunch but because it is a family trip, procrastination inevitable, we set off at around two in the afternoon. We picked up Paul in Market Market and drove through a McDonalds in SLEX for some fries. After two hours we arrived at Tagaytay. Good thing I still remember the way going to that Bag of Beans place for our merienda. I was really craving for carrot cake because it was not available the last time I was there. They ordered lasagna, blueberry cheesecake and some coffee. 

we meet again, bag of beans!

It turns out it was a bad idea to ask the whole family to eat there because it has to be my treat. It was the most expensive carrot cake I ever eaten.

Next stop should be some park but it was a little late. Too bad because my youngest sister would love to buy some pasalubong. Good shepherd is also already closed. We settled in buying a lot of fruits in the side walk. We got ourselves some papayas, santol and pineapples. I think we got a good bargain with those fruits. The vendor even gave us one whole papaya which we say is already damaged (it has a little bump or scar, I don’t know what it’s called) but still tasted good.

After some fruit shopping, we went to LZM restaurant where we ate our lunch last January but bulalo was not available because it was a little over 2PM. This time I was lucky to eat some bulalo. We also ordered kilawing tanigue. It was also delicious.

dinner!

After dinner, we crossed the street to take photos on a known landmark(as my sister puts it), the Starbucks.

yes, it is landmark

That was it. Another day when I went to Tagaytay just to eat.

should be overlooking the Taal Lake

Pico de Loro

The month of March sucks. We cancelled a climb to Pico de Loro March 11 because we are supposed to fly to Taipei. Unfortunately, there’s this conflict between the Philippine government andTaiwan ROC which was not resolved until the 14^th. That sucks big time. I was really looking forward to coming back to that city since my last stay there lasted only 14days.

Anyways, we rescheduled the climb April 2^nd.  The weather was fine that day. We meet up in our RBC office 6AM and rode two cabs to fit the eight of us going to Baclaran. From there we got to ride a bus to Maragondon town in Cavite. The fare was 71pesos. From the bus station we hired tricycles to go to the town market so that we can buy provisions for the climb. After that we hired another set of tricycle to take us to the jump off point in DENR to register. The tricycle cost us a hefty price of 280pesos. A market vendor also offered 250 for the tricycle but unfortunately she got bullied by a mob of tricycle drivers. That was a little uncomfortable on our part. Of course we want to get the cheapest offer available but all the talking was overwhelming. We were forced to deal with the "real" drivers.

After paying the twenty pesos registration, we started the hike.  The early part of the trail was under foliage. It was pleasant to be walking under the shade. We eat our lunch in base camp 1. We bought green mangoes for 2bucks each. By and by, we saw other mountaineers getting themselves free mangoes by climbing them trees and putting the fruits in a big rice sack. They also made a campfire where they cook rice in a very large pot. Open fire: talk about leave no trace principles.

After eating lunch of corned tuna, we learned that the table we were using is for rent which worth 20pesos per head. Wow. We should have been informed prior. After paying, we get two liters of water each because we were informed that it will be the last source of water. It would be another four hours until the summit.

 The trail was difficult. You head up under trees then you traverse hills, walk on boulder-filled side of the mountain then walk in the open sunshine. Then do it again only the next it would be more steep.

We reach the camp site near the summit around 3pm. We pitched our tents and take some photos. We waited until 5:30 until we did the assault to the first summit. 

photo during the assault. from Takie's flickr page

It was worth it. The view from the top is breathtaking.

on top of the first summit. on the background is the parrot's beak (and an on-going photoshoot)

Dinner was prepared by Frank immediately after descent to the camp site. Pork sinigang is on the menu. Pork adobo and string beans will also be prepared for tomorrow’s breakfast and lunch. After dinner they drank a little (I don’t drink). It was Frank’s birthday the next day anyway. Lights out was very early at 11pm.

The next day, the group of teachers next to our camp was awake very early before 5am. They will climb the summit that morning. Lucky for us that we were also awake because we were able to see the Milky Way that dawn. It is very seldom that we see a lot of stars in the city, what more seeing these galactic clouds.

I wake them up around 7AM. The sun is up and we want to be early when we do the traverse to Nasugbu. Breakfast was of course delightful. Danggit, dried squid and adobong sitaw. We have to eat a lot because it will be uncertain what time we will eat lunch. We also need to budget water provisions because we also don’t know how long the trek will be. There were also no other groups that will go the same way as we do.

After we break camp, we head again to the summit to go to the other side of the mountain. We also climbed the other summit, the parrot’s beak which we didn’t really plan to climb the day before. Climbing that big rock is very dangerous. I was really terrified on the tricky part of that rock but it was worth it when I was on top.  

me on top of the second summit

This mountain would have been very lovely if not for all the vandalism it has to endure. I always ask myself throughout the hike why the hell someone would bring permanent markers when climbing a mountain.

on top of the parrot's beak. visible are all the scratched vandalism on the rock floor(they just have to eventhough they forgot to bring a permanent marker)

After that we head down the trail least taken. It was very steep. This trail is worse than the other way. It’s like going to bamboo-land then into a forest of trees then into grassland. After that we hear motorcycles. We are finally on climbing a side of mountain and into a road. We were in high spirits at that time. They hail this motorcycle guy who sells ice for 6pesos. It was too much but for people like us who badly needs water, it was and so far the best tasting frozen water ever.

this guy sold us the frozen water. he will also pass as a good barber with all the tall tales he told us

Going down the road, we found two tricycles. We rented them and asked them to bring us to the nearest beach. They brought us to Sta. Mercedes, Maragondon, Cavite. In this side we can see the Parrot’s beak-like peak from the mountain we just traversed. It is very far from where we are standing. Beaches of Nasugbu are also close by but the place was fine. We rented a place for 300pesos for four hours. We only stay there to eat lunch and tidy up a bit before going to the bus terminal. We also take a swim in the Manila Bay before sunset.hahaha.

Before 6pm we left the place, ride again on the rented tricycles. The journey to Nasugbu bus terminal was very frightening. We were going too fast in a dark road on uphill and zigzag roads. Another thing is that we have another guy in the roof of the sidecar. It adds up to the fear we are having with our existing phobia on riding fast tricycles.

Finally we reach this bus terminal near a Jollibee. During the ride, I am estimating how close we are from the terminal by using the km marker on the side of the road to a Jollibee (like this: Jollibee 4Km, then 3Km then so on..). that estimation was so freaking dead accurate.

The buses to Pasay cost about 150pesos. The trip was very long with the frustrating Metro Manila traffic. We arrived in the Pasay terminal about 10pm. We ate in a Chowking then part ways.

The whole adventure was awesome. The uploaded pictures in facebook draw lots of attention that people want to join in on the next climb. Too bad that our little crew is not that equipped to consider.Talk about funrun is so dead.