The day I fell in love… (at Mt. Batulao)

“There are some people who meet that somebody that they can never stop loving, no matter how hard they try. I wouldn’t expect you to understand that, or even believe it, but trust me, there are some love that don’t go away. And maybe that makes them crazy, but we should all be lucky to end up with that somebody who has a little of that insanity. Somebody who never let go. Somebody who cherishes you forever.”   - Ally Mc Beal 

I started my residency training this month, and I knew that I need to focus on my priorities. So goodbye social life, goodbye weekend off, goodbye mountaineering??? But I couldn’t give it up. I will miss my friends, I will miss mother nature, and mostly, my feet will miss stepping on the trail. Mountaineering became one of my love life, the day when I started to climb Mt. Natib, but the scenery at the Tarak ridge, that moment I woke up, when i was pursued and pleased by the sunrise to look forward to my future climbs.  But I never thought that climbing could still be possible for me, because I had a Sunday off every three weeks. He he. There are some mountains that can be climbed for about 2-3 hours, so it is still amenable for me to have some dayhikes. So I had my first dayhike at Mt. Batulao last last December 11, 2011. “Gora na neng!” as shouted by the group consisted of Takumi, Arisse, Jen, Billy, Rex, Albert, Ad, JM, and Paul

It was a rainy Saturday night, though there was a threat that the trail would be muddy, everyone was still on the go whether it rained or shined. But there was something new about this climb, sir takumi, sir billy, and sir albert had their new pairs of trekking shoes, and Jenny had her new pairs of trekking sandals. We met at the Genesis bus terminal at Pasay rotonda, and rode the bus on standing ovation, while taking pics and having some talks. We arrived at the jump-off at around 9:30am. Wow patag! We walked through a cemented surface for about 30 minutes, but it was just an appetizer.

My misery started when we trekked on the trail which became muddy because of the rain the day prior to our climb. Though I was warned about it,  walking through it was harder than I thought. Every step I made would deeply soak my trekking shoes, ewww!!! I was left behind, but not by the sweeper of course! He would hit my butt maybe. I didn’t know where to step my feet on, I almost slipped, and gave up. The sweeper held my hand and lifted me on a higher part at the side of the trail. I admitted I was not conforming to the rule, I was avoiding the trail at that time, because I didn’t want to get slip and hurt. But I remembered, I once said, “Every goal you want to achieve entails hardwork.” The trail is made spontaneously to be muddy, and getting an injury might be part of it. 

I didn’t know that there was no water source. I only brought 1 liter of water, and hoped that it would survived me up to the peak. Most of the trail was an open field, so I really felt the burning heat of the sun. It was a long trek, and it felt like it would never end. I was tired, felt dehydrated but thanks for the mountain dews that sufficed my thirst. 

I was not mentally prepared maybe due to some unfulfilled expectations, and I felt I was hoping for nothing. I didn’t know if it was still worth to proceed, or if I would ever have the plans to come back after I reached peak.

The trail became a continuous ascent. No trees but all grasslands, I also saw a white, charming cat on my way climbing to a rocky, steep trail. It puzzled me how he got there. I’m not a rock climber, but I climbed at a 70-80 degree trail on a scrambling moves (just like the good old days when I did the spidermonkey move at Mt. Natib, and at the Tarak ridge). 

And we reached the summit eventually after 4 hours…

That thing, that moment, I saw a clearer view what was above it, where I saw the blue sky with the clouds, the whole batangas from above, other mountains such as Mt. Maculot and Talamitam. It was a mixed emotions I guessed, I was fascinated and fell in love at Mt. Batulao. It captivated my heart and embraced me as I looked around, and see the greenery view at 360-degrees.

 I never been pleased like this before, but I thought I was experiencing it at that moment.  That feeling may happened to me once, and I prayed that it would not fade away. And all I could say was it’s worth the hardwork of getting to the top, that it was worth climbing for. The mountains beside it, the clouds, the fields downward were so photogenic. I remembered a friend once said, “Kung pwede lang magpakasal sa kalikasan, ginawa ko na.” There was this rock that I sat on and made it like a couch, and then, I stepped on it and did my poses, which seemed that I became an instant model at that moment. 

And lastly, I got a bottle dose of mountain dew at the top, sa'n ka pa? From the old trail then getting to the top, we went down by the new trail with a big smile on my heart.