i’m on top !

I have always been a fan of sports of any kind.  In my early years, I joined sports competition at school whether be it a group or an individual competition. A sucker for good adventures as I call myself except doing extremes sports and Golf…a sports for the rich ! And why I am passionate about it because I love the sensation of  giving out the best in me. Indulging into sports is about improving my skills, develop my self esteem and establish an interpersonal ability.  Being young and oblivious of danger I will do everything that would satisfy my desires and expectations .

When I met Bernard who is a nature lover he asked me if we could do some hike near Manila.  Honestly, at the age of 28 I haven’t really experienced mountain climbing and I don’t know any mountains or places where to hike especially near outside Manila! If you ask me, I would say you can hike somewhere Mt. Banaue, Mt. Makiling, Mt. Apo and Mt. Banahaw….those are the only mountains I know.  I was not into trekking until my dearest sister introduced me to it ! Thanks to her, now I was then thinking to impress him ! Just kidding, of course!  

My first hike was that in Batangas at Mt. Maculot.  I went with my sister as our tour guide, Bernard and my cousin Grace. The trek was even more exciting when we took the bus from Manila to Batangas. Arriving at the city of Batangas we took the tricycle heading to jump off points to Cuenca barrio. On the road we have crossed other tricycles with 5 person inside and a pig hitching behind the steel open compartment. Bernard found it very amusing and cute!

The mountains is 2,500 ft. above sea level at the shoulder camp of Mt. Maculot. We started the challenging trek. On our way, Bernard asked me astonishedly because he saw some people who were wearing slippers “Why do they hike with tongs ?  They should have at least wear rubber shoes! It could be slippery.” I told him that we Filipinos and ”tsinelas” (tongs) are twins. We are used of wearing  slippers because it is comfortable and anyway the hike is not that steep…it was an easy hike ! He was exagerating because when they hike they usually wear special hiking shoes even if it’s just an easy hike. An observation I have now that I hike very often here in the South of France.

Going back to the hike, it took us less than  2 hours at a fast pace. It was not a prominent hike but it was a good walk for  beginner like me ! On our way, we have seen  vendors 500 meters away from the other vendors. There are even vendors who hike while asking hikers to buy a fresh mineral water, sodas and ice candy with different flavors. Another thing that surprised Bernard….only in the Philippines ! You could even buy palamig, halo-halo, junk foods, and this isn’t a joke! Bernard was really funny because he did not stop imitating the monkeys he jumped from trees to the other ! He’s very good imitator ! When we reached at the peak of the mountain I was enthralled by the beauty of it. You could see the famous Taal Lake and the neighbooring mountains and villages. I’ve seen a lot of hikers by twos, by threes and by groups never alone (I guess) , and a lot of Japanese tourists with their tour guides or could be with a Filipina girlfriend and some Americans and Europeans too ! The campsite is very nice but it could be very crowded especially during summer for the reason that it is starting to get popular to the hikers. It was fun and exciting and I am beginning to really adore trekking !

Unfortunately digital camera doesn’t exist at that time so I would like to share some scanned photos from the album ! Of course because of my computer illiteracy I have asked again the help of our computer genius ! Thank you very much again Kala for fixing my photos and doing the collage !