Walking beside a sweeper

“I am a novice mountaineer.  I may be the slowest, but indeed, I got the best learnings from my climbs when I walked beside a sweeper.”

Looking back, I never thought that I’m already a mountaineer, and that I’m a bonafide member of SMB (Yipee!!). But all these became possible because of the people behind this group, people who’ll never left you, who will push you to your limits, and bringing out the strength within you. Honestly, I was hesitant to join my first climb because I never been to people whom I really don’t know. Ano bang mawawala? Since my friend was pushing me to join to my ever first climb at Mt. Natib, I thought that maybe these are good people, my good friend would not join this group, if they are not. Since I joined SMB last Sept. 2011, I already climbed 5 mountains (3 major, 2 minor). 

at Mt. Natib

at Mt. Mariveles/Tarak ridge

at Mt. Batulao

at Mt. Pulag

at Mt. Maculot

but still I could say that I’m not a very good climber. I got tired easily, I walked too slow, I hate walking on a slippery muds, I almost give up in the middle of the trail, I’m afraid to be injured, such complaints to myself, blah, blah… 


but I still climb, I want to reach the summit. I learned that every mountain has its own characteristics, so every mountain I climbed is a new experience. That muds, rocks, peaks are part of the trail, and I’m beginning to get used to them (as I encounter them going to Mt. batulao, and lake Yambo).

It makes the trail become more challenging. It tests every climber to proceed and look forward to more climbs, for more challenging and difficult trails, and for more higher peaks. Every climbed I had led me to a euphoric state. It inspires and energizes me in my everyday routine. But let me remind you, this is not about me, this not about my recent climb.


This is about one of the persons who I met to reach the summit, and make it possible. He became my tent buddy, my confidante, and my sweeper.

As I always say, “In life, there are people you will meet along the way, but they will never stay with you always. They will come and go. They come and cross your way to lead you to the right track, to teach you some important lessons in life, or sometimes teaches you to walk alone and not to depend on them.“

He’s a sweeper. For the longest time I had my climbs with him, I noticed that he usually doesn’t want to be the pacer, because he doesn’t want to be walking with someone else on his back. It gave him a lot of pressure. So, he's always at my back, watching every step I make.

I am at comfort when I climbed with him, because I know when I am almost at a point of giving up, I know that he will be the last person who will push and cheer me up. I learned that the goal in climbing every mountain is not just reaching the summit, but also appreciating the scenery, the trees, the flowers, the tiny creatures, the fresh air, the rainshowers, the faunas, and a lot of things along the journey which are most of the time are left unnoticed. That’s what I appreciate when you’re at the last line, when you’re beside a sweeper (of course, it’s a no, no, not to be behind the sweeper). You can see clearly the long trail that you have gone through when looking back.

He’s not only a sweeper, he’s also a trekking pole. Not because he’s thin, but he’s strong, and patient. He’ll assist you and offer his helping hand when you need something to hold on to (pero siyempre bawal ang magpabuhat, di na libre yon! Hehe). The goal of every sweeper is not just to push everyone to reach the summit. But he also builds your strength so that on your future climbs, you learned to stand and walk on your own without his supervision.  Because not all the time, he’ll be there to walk beside you.

"A faithful friend is a sturdy shelter; he who finds one finds a treasure." - Sirach 6:14.

He’s a sturdy shelter. We share the same humor, I guess, or shouId I say, his humor and laugh are really contagious. I never had my own tent, since a member of the group would provide and share his tent with me, I was relieved that I would have a free lodging and accommodation for the overnight climb (Sana sir lagi kang kasama sa climb, para may tutulugan ako, wehehe). One time, I honestly told him, “Sir alam mo nung una kitang nakita akala ko lesbian ka, me nakapagsabi na ba sayo nun?” Actually, he was not surprised when I told him about that. He said, “Marami ng nakapagsabi niyan.” I answered, “Ah ganun ba, so aware ka naman pala.”  

He’s a trail sign. He’ll direct and guide you up to the summit. 

Doing the ninja moves...

 But i think it's time for me to walk alone, not because i don't need him anymore, but because  I'm  a grown up mountaineer now. And mostly, my climbs will be never be the same without him.

" 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. " - From My pilgrimage through zero visibility


Because life is a big adventure, it will take us to a long journey. Each may travel a different path, but all of us will reach the same goal. As like climbing mountains doesn’t end when you reach the peak, but face the harder part, which is going down. 

Urban hike 101: A day of nothing to do

I was thinking of what to do on the following long weekend. Thank God I’m off; it was such a blessing to have a one day off because of the Chinese new year. Thank God, that our president is a Chinese that it became a non-working holiday, hehe ;) I already had a chat with arisse a few days before the coming Sunday. I would be from duty that time, and I was thinking to have at least a social life once a week. We decided to have a long walk at intramuros. I couldn’t remember where that place was because I had been there if I could remember it right, was when I had a field trip in elementary. Whew! I met arisse at SM manila. She had a new haircut, curly no more... been thinking also to have a new one. Maybe next month, and i'm sure of it. We rode a jeepney with a PIER signboard, though we didn't know where we would go down after. We walked a bit and found the manila cathedral. It was a huge church, the last time i went there was when I attended a wedding in highschool. She was my neighbor, happily married with his husband for about 10 years, presently with three kids. We went inside and prayed for a few minutes... I'm not a religious person, maybe i'm more of spiritual. I'm not lucky but I believe that what i have today is because of blessings. What we pray will be given but if is not given, it is because we will be given more than what we pray for. I remember my mom that day, like me she's not also religious, but she likes going to churches in different places. 

We took some pictures in front of it, and proceeded our walk.  It felt like i was placed on a time machine where i went back to the year 1800's, seen the preserved buildings and even the guardia sibils. It was past lunch time, when we decided to eat at chowking, back to the year 21st century. We talked a lot of things, crushes, the future, people, common friends, being impatient of you know that already... and some more. And after we ate our lunch, we went to St. Agustine church, and we witnessed two weddings. I was amazed that arisse haven't been witnessed a wedding yet, me, i have been to countless weddings already, and all i can say was I've always been a bridesmaid. But I haven't been experienced to witness a wedding to a person whom i never knew. So we went inside the church, the first wedding had a purple and apple green motif. The bride looks like a chinese, with roses fixed on her hair, while the groom looks like an arab. The two were left at the front of the altar still happily taking their moments and pictures while their guests were already outside. The second wedding had a black, white and gray motif, though uncommon, everyone looked elegant in each of their dresses. The participants started to have their own  walk when at the end, the huge door of the church opened, where the bride was seen standing and started to have her a walk to remember. The entrance was very dramatic, everyone's eyes were on the bride, and everyone was taking some pictures, including me. 

Our next stop was a reception hall beside the church, he he. We just went inside not knowing if it was allowed or not. Then at the top of it, looking downwards, we saw a non-catholic wedding leaded by a pastor. Well, since we're not allowed to go down, i took some pictures from above (yup, it became my background), and also with the guardia sibils. Our long walk did not end at the intramuros, we further went to walk further until we reached the front of The phil. red cross, manila then, at the PLM. I remembered that there's a huge garden of orchids near the Luneta park, the orchidarium. I remembered the last time when I went there was, when I was taking my botany class in my pre-med years. We were required to go there to see the different species of orchids existing. And during that time, I was really mesmerized with that garden. It was like a paradise, with orchids of different colors, and kinds, name it!!! with fountains and falls. I told and described it vividly to arisse, where both of us became excited about going there. So I invited her to go there, we crossed the street, and walked around, and asked some people where to find that big gate. But when i found the place, I was surprised that the gate was opened, and we went inside not knowing if it is allowed or not. It was gloomy, the vines were already dry, and there were no orchids to be found, that the place was already closed for almost a year due to some renovations.

but we continued walking along the Luneta park, i never thought that there were a lot of people just like me, nothing to do that day that they just roamed around. Some placed their own blankets and slept, children were playing, some martial arts buffs were having their practice, some are dancing, and anything else. I thought, for me, I was spending time for myself. Yes... have you ever too done it to yourself? After a whole week of working for other people, taking care of them, giving your time, then you also need to have it some for yourself. A time to reflect, a time to reminisce, that everyday is always a day of learning new things which could also be done by just having a stop, look, and observe the things happening around you.  It was already 5pm, it was another day had passed.

" I should be doing this more often!"

Behind the beauty of Lake Yambo

“A patient doesn’t care what you know, but a patient wants to know if you care.” – anonymous

I was from duty the day before the ocular, I got home late afternoon, tired and sleepy. I had my late lunch and slept at 3pm. I spontaneously woke up at 10pm, though I had set the alarm clock at 8pm, and thought it was already dawn. I panicked because I hadn’t prepared yet my paraphernalias for the ocular.  I have been to medical missions a lot of times, assessing hundreds of patients the whole day. Patients who woke up early just to be the first one to be seen on line, and even persistently waiting under the scorching heat of the sun just to take advantage of the opportunity to be assessed and had free medications and other freebies. However this time, my mission was going to be different. Why??? Because assessing an individual is different from assessing a family. I think the upcoming SMILE is going to be really different at a certain level that we will be helping two families to have a more decent shelter, give stuffs that could help the mother in her household chores, and the father in providing for their everyday living, and medical kits for their basic health needs since drugstores and hospitals are a long walk from their place. The two families were first met by s’jim with s’takumi, s’JR, m’connie and m’arisse last October in their road trip to the seven lakes in San Pablo, Laguna. After they reached Lake Yambo, It was a blessing in disguise that they walked further behind the lake, they saw the two families and seen their condition. I have learned what SMILE really means when I encountered and talked to these families. As the name implies, SMB in live experience, entails involvement, getting in touch, sparing some of our time and sharing our excessive blessings to the needy.

It was a rainy Sunday morning, when I met my SMBerks, s‘jim, s’takumi, s’JR and m’odhie at Alabang and rode s’jim’s pick-up. Along the way, I was looking outside where the clouds were dim with rainshowers, but amidst of it I saw some glimpse of sunlight which gave me hope that the weather would be better later on. It was about a 3-hour travel from Manila going to San Pablo, Laguna. We parked and left s’jim’s pick-up at the jump-off and started our trek. Honestly, my outfit was not really prepared that time. I was just wearing my casual pink capri pants, red polo shirt, and rubber doll shoes just like when I go for malling. It was still raining but this time since I was not prepared, I didn’t have my poncho, I put out my pink hello kitty umbrella, and started my walk in the park under the coconut trees. I climbed mount batulao last weekend where I had a hard time trekking on a melted chocolate-like muddy, slippery trail. I was very careful that time not to dip my shoes on it, but that was another story. I thought that it would be the last time that I would have struggle with Mr. Muddy because I cursed him already but I was wrong… I was challenged to reach Lake Yambo literally barefooted. It was useless to wear my rubber dollshoes because the mud reached until below my knees. It seeped through and glued my shoes on it, when one time, my foot left my shoe when it stepped up. Everytime I slipped, I shouted and laughed out loud because I really looked funny and dugyutin. I gave up my shoes, took sir jim’s trekking pole, and walked barefoot, ar-yahhh!!! (My SMBerks were surprised when I put out my trekking sandals, ok fine! I brought one but I just wore it when we went back to the jump-off  he he, masyado ata akong naaliw sa pagtampisaw sa putikan at nakalimutan kong may sandals pala akong dala). But it didn’t matter to me, my goal was to reach my destination in any ways.

We reached Lake Pandin (Lake Yambo’s twin sister) at its peaceful scenery after about an hour, had pictures, and proceeded for a few meters, until we reached Lake Yambo. It has an area of 28.5 hectares, 8 hectares bigger than Lake Pandin. Like Lake Pandin, this lake is considered to be oligotropic, and is suitable for swimming, outings and picnics. But viewing these majestic lakes was only an extra bonus for my trip, I didn’t go there for a sightseeing, but to go further from Lake Yambo until we reached the two families living behind its beauty.

We reached the first house where we saw Anthony, 33 y/o, head of the family, who was preparing and counting rootcrops he harvested that day. He would sell it in the market for about 9 pesos per kilo. He also sells charcoals, and does construction works. His wife Lilibeth, 28 y/o, is the one that is left at home to do the household chores, and takes care of their six children,  Ryan (12 y/o), John Lloyd (9y/o), E-Jay (7 y/o), Judy Ann (5y/o), Nicole (2 y/o), and Jasper (3 mos/o). The couple has been living together for 13 years. They lived in a house with one small room with a 1mx2m dining area, which are made up of bamboos, plastics, some woods, and dried coconut leaves. Their water supply is still being fetched from a bukal, about 30 minutes away from their house. So when I came with my hands and feet dirt with mud, I was hesitant to wash up because I knew that the water I would be using was still fetched from afar. There is no electricity, so only gas lamps are being used at night. There was neither radio nor television, but I was somehow surprised that ate Lilibeth has a cellphone (naks!), and they cooked their food on top of fired woods. The eldest among the children of the couple, also helps in selling charcoals. Ryan and John Lloyd are only both in the second grade, where the two usually walks wearing their slippers when going to school located in the other barangay.“Paano yun ate, kapag maputik?” I asked, “Ayun lulublob tapos magbabanlaw sa may sapa.” The six children walked around barefooted, some are topless, or underless, but still seemed grateful and contented, and I think giving them little things such as toys, old clothes, school supplies, or food (Jollibee o Mcdo?) may already give simple joy to a kid’s heart. And I’m glad enough that my findings during my medical assessment were all unremarkable.  Though they don’t have any food preferences, and free from illnesses, I still commend to give them supplements for nutritional build-up.

The second family was composed of Bernardo, 34 y/o and Criselda, 30 y/o who also have six children, Christian (12 y/o), Jomaper (6 y/o), Joel (5 y/o), John allen (4 y/o), Jessa Mae (1y5mos) and John Lloyd (11 months). Bernardo is a caretaker of raised goats, where he is being paid 700 pesos a week, on the other hand, Criselda is a housewife. They lived in a house which consists of one room and a small kitchen that made up of coconut leaves as the roof, woods and plastics for the walls. The toilet was about 10 meters away from their house, and water is also being fetched from a bukal. Only Christian goes to school and also Jomaper, who doesn’t live with his parents. Jomaper lives with her maternal grandmother, who was the one that provides his needs, and schooling. I wonder how they are during rainy days, however Ate Criselda said, “Di naman tumutulo kaso malamig, madalas silang magkasipon at ubo.” My medical assessment also was unremarkable, except for Kuya Christian who had a toothache that time.

It was already past 3pm when we finished the ocular, and realized that we hadn't lunch yet. We went back to the jump-off guided by Kuya Anthony and avoided the muddy trail. Our stomachs were satisfied by tapsilog and angel's burger. Looking back, I saw that each person lives with a purpose. I may never knew mine at first, but somehow i hope i'm already doing and learning it gradually. I'm glad that i'm blessed to become a blessing through my presence and using my God-given skills. I hope i have inspired and touched their lives in some way I can. Hope to see all of you soon in our upcoming SMILE on January 14-15, 2011! ;)

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.

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!”