My pilgrimage through zero visibility

“We warriors of light must be prepared to have patience in difficult times and to know that the Universe is conspiring in our favor, even though we may not understand how… Because once we have overcome the defeats—and we always do—we are filled by a greater sense of euphoria and confidence. In silence of our hearts, we know that we are proving ourselves worthy of the miracle of life. Each day, each hour, is part of the good fight.”

-The alchemist, Paulo Coehlo

There’s something about the clouds that amazes me. It assembles into a certain shape which can convey the type of weather that would come about that moment, talked about the four types of clouds. It occupies space, floats on air, and goes along with its flow. What does it feel to be standing above it? Maybe that’s what being in cloud nine (nine feet above the clouds) literally mean, in euphoria, feels like floating on air (feeling high ba?!). However, in every goal you want to achieve entails hardwork. The desire to achieve it is not enough. Mental and physical preparedness should coincide to bear the long walks, withstand the coldness, and the unexpected conditions that awaited you. I climbed the second highest mountain in the Philippines with my SMberks last November 25-27, 2011, but I didn’t meet Mr. cloudy that time. I didn’t reach the summit, but the climb pushed me to my limits, built my patience, tested my faith and placed me in front of myself to face some realizations I’m going through in my life. The experience during the journey was worth to treasure rather than the destination.

The lucky 13, which consists of me with my SMberks, s’Jim with M’Lot, s’Mel with m’Sam, s’Leo with m’Do, m’Arisse, m’andrea, m’Riz, m’odhie, s’Jovy and s’Mike, met and departed at Victory liner in Pasay around 11:55 p.m. I couldn’t explain my feelings that time, but what I’m sure about was that includes palpitations, which may be due to excitement, fears, or anxiety. I was not worried about the climb, but I was more worried about the cold. “Gaano ba kalamig ang lamig???” Thank God I’m paranoid, because I brought a lot of personal effects to protect me from the unanticipated coldness.

It was a 5-6 hour travel going to Baguio. We arrived at the terminal around 6 am and fetched by the rented jeepney. Along our 4-hour jeepney ride was a fair but cold weather. I saw big and tall pine trees as we travel on a zigzag lane beside the mountains which made me nauseated and dizzy. We also had a stopover at ambuklao lake to have some group pictures and jump shots, stopped at an isolated eatery, and then, continued our travel going to the DENR station. While on the road, we saw dark clouds at the peak of the mountain, “Mukhang bumabagyo sa taas.” However, under a sunny blue sky, we were already travelling through a muddy to dusty, rough roads where we looked like a juggled, bouncing, balls inside the jeepney. In which, we needed to hold the hand drills both hands to go against its flow. There was a time that the jeepney could not pass through an ascent, but thanks to Ate Gina that she already anticipated that it could happen at that moment. There was a second jeepney which waited and helped pulled our jeepney up to the place where it could already proceed. The muddy, rough roads continued about two hours until we reached the DENR station, where we had some seminar about the mountain and LNTs. We could already experience an alternating rainshowers, and fair weather at the station. Then, after the registration, we ate our lunch and continued travelling by jeepney up to the ranger station. The rain and the strong wind continued as we started to trek from the ranger station up to the campsite 2 with Ma’am Ines as our guide. We took the ambangeg-ambangeg trail, which was about a three hour long walk through a watery, muddy, and slippery trails, on a mossy forests with some slopes, peaks and troughs.

When we arrived at the campsite 1, we had some rest at a shed, put down our bags to have some stretch, and ate our trail foods. We also met other mountaineers there, who were so wet and chilling. I heard one of them saying while stuttering due to coldness, “Grrrabbbe ang lllammmiggg sssaaa gggrassllllanddd!” Then we proceeded walking and met a female guide on our opposite way. We asked her, “Mam gaano pa po kalayo hanggang camp 2?” she answered, “Malapit na mga 20 minutes na lang.” We were so comfortable walking when I noticed that I was already tired saying, “Parang 40 minutes na tayong naglalakad parang ang layo pa rin?” I just realized that guides and porters walked very fast as if they were just walking on a plane surface as compared to my pace. We arrived at the campsite 2 after an HOUR, but the camp at the lower part was already full, so we needed to go higher at the grassland to pitch our tents. Looking upwards, I couldn’t see anything but rains, and fogs. It was zero visibility and temperature at that time was already recorded at 10 degrees Celsius. I told myself, “Gulp! Diyan talaga tayo magcacamp???” But there’s no time for turning back. I needed to pitch the tent and resist the coldness to have a shelter the whole night. I didn’t know how to fix and pitch a tent, but I had to do it immediately, and not to wait for someone else to help us. 

I and Arisse had a hard time to pitch the tent due to the strong winds but thankful that s’Jim and s’Leo helped us, and we immediately went inside the tent. The floor of the tent was already moist so I became worried that the water may seed through it and get wet later on. What we did was we placed a garbage bag on the floor topped with my poncho, then placed our aluminum earthpad. I changed my clothes to prepare myself for a temperature drop at midnight. On my upper body, I wore a knitted long-sleeve topped with a thick-cotton sweater, and knitted gloves then, on my lower body, I wore leggings topped with a thick-cotton jogging pants, and dry thick socks. I felt warm already, but my feet although dry with socks was still cold, so I went inside my sleeping bag. We never went outside after that, everyone was waiting for the following day. I and Arisse had our own socials, while eatingtaquitos. It was the longest night ever. I couldn’t sleep not because of the cold, but because of the nonstop rain and strong winds. I tried to sleep at around 8 pm, my feet was still cold, so I placed my fleece blanket inside the sleeping bag, and while I was waiting for myself to sleep, it seemed like I was talking face to face with God that I made some realizations…

- I’m not afraid to die but I’m not yet ready to die because I still have a lot of unfinished business.

- I love my family more than anyone else. I missed my parents, my brother, and my pamangkin’s.

- I still have to marry my future husband and have four kids

- I still have a lot of patients to meet, to heal, to have some quality talks, to give my precious time, to inspire…

- During hard times, you’ll only depend on yourself and to the man above

- I still have a lot of mountains to climb as long as my knees and feet can.

- I’m so blessed everyday, that I have a soft bed and air-conditioned room when I sleep, I ate 5 times a day with chocolates and sometimes ice cream, I don’t worry to get wet during stormy weather because I have a shelter to protect me, and mostly, I have my mom who will get mad at me when I come home late at night because she can’t sleep and so worried about me.

-  There are my three makukulit na pamangkins who always disturb me during my resting time because they wanted to play with me.

- There are tormentors everyday that surround me, that build my patience, and make me a stronger person each day. That despite everything they did, I still did not give up my dreams which I thought was seemed so far but now, it’s already within my grasp.

- I’m surrounded with people who care and love me so much, though they come and go, the lessons they taught are always within me. 

Then I almost woke up every hour and looked at my watch. It was 9:30 pm, then 12 am, 1:30 am, 4 am, 5 am, and thanked God it was already 7 am, but still the weather didn’t change.  s’Jim boiled some water, so I had the most delicious, hot instant-noodle breakfast that time. My bladder was full, so I attempted to go outside the tent several times, as in SEVERAL TIMES (with emphasis, he he) and on my seventh attempt, I pushed myself to go outside and urinate for about a minute. There was still no clearing. We fixed our things and had our breakcamped at 8:30 am. It was another time to go outside and bear the coldness. I felt I was in a freezer and my sweat was already iced, but I needed to move and went down from the grassland. My backpack was heavier due to some wet clothes, I got tired from time to time that I ate chocolates and sipped some water, I still felt some coldness on the peripheral parts of my body, but I walked continuously as I could. I endured everything above, but what’s in my mind  was it is best to simply enjoy what I’m seeing rather than run to get out of that place, because no matter how bad the storm was, I knew it would eventually pass. I arrived at the ranger station at around 11 am, and took a bath. It was a quick freezing bath, in which I only took about six tabos of water he he (Ligo pa ba ang tawag don?).

Then we were again fetched by the rented jeepney to have lunch at ate Gina’s place, where we had an eat-all-you-can pinikpikang manok with brown rice, and get-all-you-can lemons.  

We proceeded to go back to the DENR station, and again went through the rough roads for about two hours.  Due to the missed socials the night before, leaded by sir Jovy, we had socials and drinking session inside the jeepney where we looked like being mixed in a blender. The socials were sssooooo……HHHHOOOOOTTTTT!!! That it outdid the coldness outside. It was another story which I would leave to Arisse, because she was the one on the “HOT” seat haha. At 7:45 pm, we went back to Victory liner at baguio, and while going up the bus, I looked back and thankful…

- That I didn’t chill and went to hypothermia

- Our tent was dry the whole night

- I slipped through that muddy trail but I didn’t have a sprain ankle

- My trekking shoes did not give up too

- I and all my SMberks went home safe

- Though I didn’t eat dinner at the camp, we ate an eat-all-you can pinikpikang manok at lunch, ate Andok’s chicken at dinner (kulang na lang tubuan ako ng pakpak…) and took home a get-all-you-can lemons.

I have witnessed a lot of storms in my life but despite everything that happened, I won’t still give up to pursue my dreams to stand above the clouds, “I shall return!”

Climb + Alcohol = Climbaholics (Please avoid or at least drink moderately)

The article below intends to inform the readers on the risks of excessive alcohol intake during climbs and at high altitudes. Recommendations posted serves as a practical guide, which are based on the author’s readings and researches.

Social gathering at the summit has been a part of mountain climbing, which can also be a way of celebrating a good climb. The quality good time includes exchanging of point of views to certain subjects, soundtrips, eat-all-you-can, and drink-till-you-knock-out sessions. Though it has been a practice to drink alcohol during socials, and has become a popular belief of serving it as a so-called “warmer” (Kung ako sa inyo, dapat lagi nating kasama si sir albert, mas safe pa), people are still unaware of the risks of drinking and the side effects of alcohol during climbs.

The alcohol content of beverages typically ranges from 4% to 6% (volume/volume) for beer, 10% to 15% for wine, and 40% and higher for distilled spirits such as whisky, gin, or vodka (the "proof" of an alcoholic beverage is twice its percentage of alcohol; e.g., 40% alcohol is 80 proof). The standard drinks such as 12 oz of beer, 4 oz of nonfortified wine, and 1.5 oz (a shot) of 80-proof beverage each contain ~10–15 g of ethanol; 0.5 L (1 pint) of 80-proof beverage contains ~160 g (about 16 standard drinks), and 1 L of wine contains ~80 g of ethanol.

The level of alcohol in the blood is expressed as milligrams or grams of ethanol per deciliter (e.g., 100 mg/dL or 0.10 g/dL), with blood values of about 0.02 g/dL resulting from the ingestion of one standard drink. Legally allowed Blood alcohol levels (BAL) typically are set at or below 80 mg% (80 mg ethanol per 100 ml blood). The consumption of one of these beverages by a 70-kg person would produce a BAL of approximately 30 mg%. However, it is important to note that this is approximate because the BAL is determined by a number of factors, including the rate of drinking, sex, body weight and water percentage, and the rates of metabolism and stomach emptying. Peak blood levels of alcohol occur about 30 minutes after ingestion when the stomach is empty, and rapidly when taken with carbonated beverages. On the other hand, delay in the digestion of alcohol owes to the presence of food which slows its absorption in the body (the essence of having a “pulutan”).

FACTS ABOUT ALCOHOL  

1. It is primarily a sedative. Depressed mental function becomes evident when the concentration of ethanol in the blood is 20 to 30 mg/dl (that is after one to two drinks). More than 50% of persons are grossly intoxicated by a concentration of 150 mg/dl. In fatal cases, the average concentration is about 400 mg/dl, although alcohol-tolerant individuals often can withstand comparable blood alcohol levels. Individual signs of intoxication show uncontrolled mood swings and emotional outbursts that may have violent components.

2. It can have anti-anxiety actions and produce behavioral disinhibition at a wide range of dosages. Approximately 35% of drinkers (and a much higher proportion of alcoholics) experience a blackout, an episode of temporary anterograde amnesia, in which the person forgets all or part of what occurred during a drinking evening. Another common problem, one seen after as few as several drinks, is disturbed sleep.

3. It causes a feeling of warmth initially because alcohol enhances skin and stomach blood flow. Increased sweating may also occur so heat, therefore, is lost more rapidly, and the internal body temperature falls leading to hypothermia. After consumption of large amounts of alcohol, the central temperature-regulating mechanism itself becomes depressed, and the fall in body temperature may become pronounced. The action of alcohol in lowering body temperature is greater and more dangerous when the ambient environmental temperature is low as occurs at higher altitudes.

4. It inhibits the release of antidiuretic hormone, the water-conserving substance in the body, resulting in enhanced urination which may lead to dehydration. Heavy drinking can also be associated with headache, thirst, nausea, vomiting, and fatigue, a so-called “hangover syndrome,” which could affect the climber’s performance the following day.

5. An alcohol load in a fasting, healthy individual is likely to produce transient decrease in blood sugar within 6–36 hours, which can also contribute on the decline of mental and body alertness.

6. An immediate digestion, which occurs when taken on an empty stomach, or with carbonated beverages, may diminish fine motor control, increase impulsivity, impair judgment and body coordination.

RECOMMENDATIONS

1. Keep hydrated all the time. Increase water, or electrolyte replacement fluids intake before, during

    and after drinking, and also during the period of increased urination to replace water loss. Drink

    alcohol with food to slow its absorption.

2. Refrain from drinking 48 hours prior to the climb.

3. If possible, avoid drinking during climbs, or at least drink in moderate amounts. There is no published articles in the Philippines with regards to the recommended alcohol intake a day a person must drink. Moderate drinking is but a general term used to describe a lower-risk pattern of drinking. According to the Dietary Guidelines for Americans, drinking in moderation is defined as having no more than 1 drink per day for women and no more than 2 drinks per day for men. This definition is referring to the amount consumed on any single day and is not intended as an average over several days.

4. Alcohol is considered a drug. People who have allergies to alcohol should absolutely avoid drinking,

    and also, who are presently taking any form of medications to prevent drug interactions.

REFERENCES

1. Harisson’s principle of internal medicine. 17th ed. 2008

2. Goodman and Gilman’s The pharmacological basis of therapeutics. 11th ed. 2006

3. http://www.sanmiguelexports.com/alcoholic.php

4. http://www.cdc.gov/alcohol/faqs.htm

Outside my four walls (At Mt. Mariveles/Tarak ridge)

“What is a personal calling? It is God’s blessing, it is the path that God chose for you here on earth. Whenever we do something that fills us with enthusiasm, we are following our legend.”

- The Alchemist by Paulo Coehlo

I didn’t ask permission when I went to this climb. Oops! I know what you’re thinking, what I meant was, I didn’t ask permission but I informed them where I would be going.  I had a hard time convincing them that I’ll be alright. I didn’t know what kind of assurance I would give to persuade them that I could take care of myself. I just wanted to have a time to reflect on things and stabilized my thoughts so I could think more efficiently the succeeding days (Nababaliw na ata ako mwahaha). No one knew that I was already packing my things one week ahead of time; I was neither really prepared nor excited, as what you think. I was still trying how to pack lighter than my first climb but I failed to do so. But unlike before, I already had my new backpack, which was more comfortable. I had a hydration pack, which I would need the most since I feared dehydration, and talked about acute renal failure which I think is still far to happen. I brought my knitted cardigan than my previous batch jacket because it was lighter though, I didn’t know how windy and cold would be at the tarak ridge as what I read.  I never thought that I would be doing this again, I’m still looking for reasons and I’m eager to discover that there must be something out there. Sometimes I do things without asking for reasons, maybe it is called instincts. Dami ko sinabi, pero nangangati lang talaga ang paa ko, yun lang... And then, I went out and told them that I would return soon (Ako ay magbabalik mula sa nawalang sarili).

Friday night, at 7:30pm, I met Arisse at Pasay rotonda, and we decided to ride a van going to Cavite. While on the line at the terminal, rain started to pour in. I was hoping that the rain would not continue until the following day because I hate walking in a muddy and slippery trail. We arrived at our destination, met sir Jim with our newbie, Jenny (This will be her first climb with us) and slept at his house. We had a hard time to sleep because of the neighbor’s party happening at the front of the house from dusk ‘till dawn. That time, I wanted to shout and tell them, “magpattttuuullllooooogggg kayo!!!”  I only slept for an hour and woke up at 4am, took a bath, fixed my things, then rode sir Jim’s pick-up and met another two friends, sir takumi and sir JR.

During the ride, I felt my mind was floating, my head was empty, my brain was filled with air, descriptions as such. I still couldn’t sleep during the ride, even if I wanted too, maybe because I was being amused by the view outside. We travel on a lengthy bridge for about 30 minutes, saw the road sign going to Mt. Samat, and also, to Mt. Natib (reminiscing my first climb). We also saw a statue of guerillas with rifles and bombs. A friend noticed while looking at the statue, “Kaya pala tayo nasakop ng mga hapon noon, baluktot yung rifle nung isang guerrilla oh?!.”   While on the road trip going to Brgy. Alas-asin, we saw a school named, “Alangan elementary school.” Out of this world name but it really exists.

Friend 1: “Makakagraduate kaya ako kung diyan ako mag-aaral?”

Friend 2: “Alangan! “Kaso mukhang alanganin kung mag-aaral ka diyan” “meron pa nga

              akong nakita, ang pangalan nung school, Inuman elementary school.”

Travelling in the province is a long journey, free from hassles such as traffics, stoplights, and intersections. We met another four new friends (sir Jojo with his friends, sir Topher, mam Feresa, and mam Ruby) at Brgy. Alas-asin, and travelled by vehicle from the jump-off up to the DENR site where we were welcomed by an old couple.  Our trek started at the site after signing our names.

It was a fair weather, me and my sisteret were undeniably lucky charms. Some trails were already damaged by the previous landslides but it became more challenging to me in performing some of my wall climbing skills (kung meron man), did hopping on falled trees, and hugging huge rocks. I also met some creatures I barely seen or even not at all in the city, such as different variety of butterflies, earthworms, centipedes, a cloud rat and an almost 12 inches long, yellow orange-colored, hammerhead worm. I was thankful that no limatiks ruined my day. Though it was my first time to climb the tarak ridge, I was more confident to walk on the trail, but still, my thought about the succeeding trails was daunting.

Around 1:30 p.m, we arrived and had a stopover at the papaya river. I still don’t know why it is called as such, though I hadn’t seen any papaya tree around the river nor it was shaped like a papaya. But what I observed was the river was surrounded with rocks, and even underneath the water was filled with rocks, which resembles the countless seeds inside the papaya (okey, gawa-gawa ko lang yan, sa tingin ko lang naman). 

We took our lunch, had some rest for about two hours, and watched some topless virile bodies bathing at the river. What a nice view! Our newbie’s shoes were also fixed by thesapatero boys (sir Takumi with sir JR), who were zealous in applying their BMC kills. Because when she arrived at the site, her shoes were literally smiling. I think her new shoes, though speechless, were overflowing with joy for his first climb.   

At 3:30 p.m, we continued our trek from the papaya river up to the campsite of tarak ridge. The struggle going up already started, elevation was continuous from 45 to 80 degrees, while continuously telling myself, “Diyos ko! Wala na bang patag?!” But what amazed me during the ascent was the trail was naturally made like a stairway. I love ascents than going down, because I could hold the big roots, rocks and grasses when going up. It was like the trees were lending their roots and helping you going up, unlike when you’re pushing by the gravity when going down. I was the third to the last one that arrived at the campsite around 6pm. 

Night began to fall, when I already felt the plane surface of the ridge, so I experienced about a 10-minute night trek up to the campsite.  The surroundings were complete darkness. All I could see were lights from their headlamps. We ate our dinner together with ripe mangoes topped with bagoong as our appetizer, then we had our socials without the pampainit(alcohol), kaya tubig na lang ang  tinungga namin. It ended when the cold wind started to disturb us, which was measured at 17-18 degree Celsius, and further went down.

I was hesitant to pee that night when they talked about cloud rats running around the campsite, but though it was an open field, I walked just a few meters away and turned off my handed light. I needed to empty my bladder or else I would have a hard time to sleep holding it. But I still couldn’t sleep immediately. I didn’t know if I would blame it to the freezing cold or it was because of the wind that was whipping our tent. I feared to be hypothermic that time. I told myself that if my mouth began to stutter and my throat became contracted, “tapos kaming lahat dito.” But I observed that my body was warm so maybe it was just the wind that was disturbing me. The pole of our tent began to bend that we needed to hold it, and moved our bodies on the side to let the tent stand the whole night, but I just got tired. What else could i do with the wind? Nothing but to sleep, and stop bothering myself.

I woke up at 5 am, when I heard voices from the outside. The wind was still blowing hard, but I wanted to go out to see the sunrise. I was like singing, “I don’t wanna miss a thing..” I popped out my head from the tent and looked around. It was only windy, and it was warmth already. I went out and woah! I was overwhelmed. The sunrise with the 270-degree view of bataan surprised me that morning. I felt that I was being pleased by mother nature.

I could see myself standing taller than the buildings in metro manila, and I felt that I could still go higher than this. So, we had our breakfast, then, we started to go up from the tarak ridge up to the el saco peak at around 8 am.

 It started with a steep, grassy, trail, then going through some bushes of plants, walking on bended knees, and sliding our butts down, woooh! Kulang na lang siguro mag-egg roll hay…  Reaching the peak was about two hours at an ample pace. We were welcomed by a huge rock, and had some group pics.