P I N A T U B O

March 17, 2014

3rd month, 3rd mountain. I can't believe that I actually kept my promise to myself, to have an adventure at least once a month. This is the farthest I have been in terms of keeping a new year's resolution, and I must say that I am immensely proud of myself So far, so good. (I deserve a pat on the back!)

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Heck, enough about me, and more about the trip. This trip, is not just another trek and a walk through the wilderness. This trip is a test of friendship, funny as it may sound, but it's true. I climbed Pinatubo with 8 of my closest friends from high school (if our barkada would've been complete, we would be 13 in all) some of which I haven't seen in ages- when I say ages, it means years. But it seems that we all time travelled back to high school on that particular Saturday, high school with a little hint of "matureness" in everyone. (Quotation marks on matureness, because you know, who is mature when you're with friends? who?) Planning this trip was not as hard as I thought it would be, considering that we haven't been complete in an outing for god knows how long and the only time we had a good number of attendance was during Christmas dinners, so I was pretty amazed that show-ups was more than half of us.

We booked a trip with an organization called Pinaykeypoint and I must say that they did not disappoint us (well, except for the late pick-up) Pinaykeypoint is a non-profit organization that helps the aeta community in Tarlac and Zambales. They do not only provide transportation to and fro Manila via private van, local guides/personal photographers, and 4x4 rentals, but they do also have a short but very comprehensive history talk about Pinatubo. So it was not just all plain fun but also educational. It does not get any more high school vibes than that.

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Comparing this climb to my previous ones, I can say that is by far the easiest. I don't know but I think I had the whole hike levels in reverse. It was supposed to be Pinatubo-Pico-Pulag, not Pulag-Pico-Pinatubo. Needless to say my past experiences were great help. Yes, I did feel tired and my legs felt a little numb in one part of the trek, but it was not that bad. If I could give any advice to anyone who wants to climb, I say you climb Pinatubo first. What made this climb easy was the fact that you ride a 4x4 for about an hour before you set foot and trek 5 kilometers to the crater. The ride does not only save you time, but also energy, though it was an extremely bumpy and dusty ride, it was still better that walking under the scorching heat of the sun. The trek was not that bad either, there was a generous amount of huts in the trail for resting and rehydrating. The trail was pretty much flat all the way until the near end, where there are steep steps down the crater, we've been told that there were 200 steps, we didn't bother to count. Reaching the crater was absolute bliss, the view was just breathtaking, who would have thought that hidden behind those mountains was a lake almost 300 ft deep and yeah, it's also the volcano's crater. Too bad swimming isn't allowed anymore on account of the lake's high Sulphur content. But rumors has it, that keeping yourself afloat in the said water is almost impossible (oohh! what sorcery is that! Science!) We set "camp" by the side of the lake, ate lunch, rested, and had friendly catch-ups. It was nice sitting down and talking with friends, different from where we usually have catch-ups, but definitely one for the books. Though our heart to heart was cut short due to the rain, we had to seek shelter which was 200 steep steps away. The most crucial part of the trek. We hiked down another 5 kilometers and then another hour on the 4x4, by this time, everyone was just exhausted and because we have such good sleeping skills, we managed to steal naps on board the rough roads. We hit the high way back home only a few minutes after reaching base camp, reached Manila, before dusk and had dinner at our holy place, Uncle Moe's, which tasted extra good after a tiring day