CLIMBED A MOUNTAIN. This is how I jumpstarted by 2015, crossing out the 23rd item from my bucket list for this year. The idea of climbing a mountain is a bit scary, specially for a first timer like me. But the excitement is more overwhelming than fear.
We were set to climb the mountain on the morning of Sunday, January 11. The night before I had a dinner with friends and had a couple of beer before heading home. I still had to pack my things when I got home. So I had at least 3 hours of sleep before our call time which was at 4:00am. Yeah, I know! That wasn't the perfect way to prepare myself for mountain climbing, considering I'm a beginner to start with. But heck, YOLO!
A little bit past 4:00am, I was already at Mcdo, Buendia. My friends and I agreed to meet there. But since, we are practitioners of the "Filipino Time' policy, we ended up leaving an hour after. We headed for the DLTB terminal scheduled to leave for Batangas - Lemery. The bus fare will cost you P150.00. My friend had to pay for me first because the moment I had my back against the seat, I doze off. The travel time is about 2-3 hours depending on the traffic and your bus driver's mood. We arrived at EverCrest Golf Course, Nasugbu, the jump off, around 7:30 am.
There's a small canteen there for those who want to take their breakfast and some houses which offers their bathrooms for those who wants to relieve themselves. Be prepared to pay for the following:
Ihi (No.1) - P5
Erna (No.2) - P10
Ligo (Shower + No. 1&2) - P20
We decided to hire a tour guide for P400 since most of us were first time climbers and unfamiliar to the place. We took a tricycle going to the trail costing us P25.00 per person. If you're on a budget, you can start walking from Evercrest. This will take you around 30-45 minutes depending on your legs.
We started our climb around 8:00 in the morning. As per our guide, the climb will take us around 2-3 hours to ascend and another 2 hours to descend. But with our phasing... Selfie here, selfie there...group shot here and there. It took us more than 8 hours to climb and get down from Mt. Batulao!
If you are on budget, I suggest you bring your own food and water. Also make sure to wear protection, the wind may be strong but if you start you start your ascend mid morning, the sun's rays might hurt. In our case, we didn't forgot to bathe ourselves with sunblock before the climb. Also, you can bring along some caps but be sure to remove them once the wind gets strong, you might end up losing it.
The climb wasn't easy. It was challenging! You have to battle with the strong wind, dusty trail, slippery rubbles. There are a lot of things I learned as I was trying to catch my breath while enjoying the scenic view is the word.
TRUST. I need to trust my own grip, trust the rope that I'm holding on and trust the hands of the people helping me out.
DETERMINATION. Boy it was tiring! My legs were shaking, my heartbeat was furious and my lungs felt it was about to burst anytime soon. But I wanted to reach the peak, I had to find my second wind and rally on.
APPRECIATION. Life is moving too fast that we seldom, take the time to appreciate what we have and the things around us. Going up, I saw this girl about 12 years old, struggling to carry a box on top of the mountain. I asked what was inside the box. "Ice po, ate pare sa Halo-halo." Imagine what she needs to go through everyday to earn a decent living. While most of us fail to appreciate the things that we have, this girl at her young age had to endure the long walk everyday to make a living. "Reserve mo kami, pagdating kakain kami ng Halo-Halo niyo," I shouted as she went on her way up.
After hours of walking under the sun and seeing how beautiful Batangas was, we finally reached the peak! We were all beaming with pride as we reached the mountain top. Of course we had to take the customary group pictures and TONS of selfies and group pics while finishing our Halo-halos. It's very rare that you get your Halo-Halo prepared at the top of the mountain, so when you reach the peak, be sure to have one.
After having lunch, we decided to start our descend, it felt that this was more challenging going up. I slipped a couple of times My butt hurts. It was a relief when we were finally at the bottom of the mountain. Spontaneous as we are, we decided to have a sidetrip to the nearest beach. We hired a jeep costing us P110 each to get us to the town proper where they had to wait for us to get some food and then drive us to the nearest beach. We ended up here at Brgy. Wawa, we only had to pay P50 for the entrance fee and then end up enjoying the waves and this picturesque sunset. We left before 7pm and headed to the terminal at the town proper. We paid P40 each for the tricycle and P165 for the busfare back to Pasay terminal.
Braving this mountain and overcoming these waves are my welcome salvo for 2015! I look forward for more adventures!
