First official minor climb under President GRACE ANN AGON (A.K.A. Ma’am Grexa)
September 10-11 2011
by Erika Joy 'EJ' Soriano
This was actually my
first official minor climb, but I was a little bit undecided if i will go or
not but at the end of the day i definitely decided to go. I supposedly be
climbing with the night trek but i decided to be in the regular trek because I
want to see the mountain while it’s still sunny. And then everything happens. J But
before all of those stories let me begin this article, by saying what happened
to me starting that Saturday morning.
It’s a normal day with
a normal weather (I thought), and I’m so hoping that it will be like that all
throughout the day. I left home at
exactly 7am that morning because I and my co-climbers who’s in the cooking team
decided to meet in Farmers, Cubao so we
could have a final talk about what we’re going to cook. We’re supposed to meet
at 8:30 but I was early by 30minutes, while waiting I fixed my things and
checked everything if I’m all set, and then 30minutes later, they’re still not there
and I’m getting more and more frustrated because we don’t have anything to cook
yet for dinner and our plan is still pretty messy then Bryan who’s the head of
the cooking team is not there yet, so I was like WTH?! As of that moment ma’am grace called and said
that we should just buy processed food, and that what we did, I mean he and
Ma’am Grexa ended up buying some tocino and sisig and some other recipes. In
our itinerary we’re supposed to leave manila at exactly 9:00am but Bryan and
Ma’am Grexa were not there yet, me, princess, dessa, ella and sir ken were
waiting for them at HMLINER (cubao). By 11am at last they arrived we took a bus
going trough Sta. Cruz Laguna Duck junction (P115.00).We arrived at Duck Junction (Sta. Cruz bound) by 1:00pm
and took our lunch at “kainan sa kamalig” it was a great lunch, it was actually my first time
eating duck and it was tasty. And then the rain started to pour really hard, we
waited for a few minutes hoping that the rain would stop but it didn’t so after
eating and waiting We hired a tricycle going to Brgy. Lamot (25 each) I, Sir
Ken, Ella and Ecks were at the first one and Ma’am Grexa, Bryan, Princess and
Dessa at the second tricycle and then at 2pm we arrived at Brgy. Hall (still
raining) we registered/donated and then here comes the real thing. We started
by means of praying and then Ma’am Grexa organized our formation so we can
start our trek. Its 2:15pm already and still raining harder and harder.
It was a long walk before we reach the real trail, and there’s a lot of path. The rain continuously pours and we continuously trek, every path is muddy and slippery but of course the trail has never been dead boring because there’s a lot of “tawanan”, “asaran”, “pick-up lines” and “kwentuhan” along the trail. We keep on walking till we reach this 2nd house and stop for a while to ask directions, the owner of the house talked with Ma’am Grexa and Sir Ken, after a few minutes we started to walk again, the trail is still gradual and muddy and slippery and there’s a lot of misleading trail, because there’s no trail signs but we met a lot of locals along the way one of them told us to go left always, and straight ahead till we could see this damp thingy. So we did what was told, but still Ma’am Grexa and Sir Ken scout the way to make sure it’s the right track, it’s been almost 2hours and we’re still walking, trying to figure the right way, the rain stopped for a few minutes and then it will rain again and not, until it really stops by 4:00pm (I guess) we’re already losing our way when we met this local who told us that we’re on the right track so we continued walking till we reach this hut(kubo/ulingan) by 5:00pm and there’s no way up there so we went down again and tried the other way until we reach this dalandan station by 6:00pm we stayed there for a while to take a rest because we’re all exhausted, but “asaran and tawanan” is always been there, we joked about getting lost and everything and then laugh i almost forgot to say this “GRABE ANDAMENG LAMOK AT LANGGAM” haha. While Sir Ken and Ma’am Grexa were talking to the Baranggay Secretary to ask for help and a guide for us to continue our trek, but we tried our best to explain where we are but Baranggay Secretary don’t know where we are too, we tried opening our flashlights so they could see it but they didn’t, and even said that were in front of Mt. Makiling but nothing happens that’s why by 7:20pm we ended up deciding to go down again till the 2nd house we passed trough that afternoon, so they could find us easily and we could go with the night trek group. But then again WE LOST, we’re all so dirty already, and it’s so slippery some of us actually tried to dive in the mud (LOL) some did some exhibitions and our SHOES/SANDALS well they got to love the muddy way. J It was a “MUD CLIMB” J haha. We’ll getting back to the trail, Sir Ken tried to find the right way and Ecks try to scout some trails too, but it’s not that easy because it’s so dark already. And then Ma’am Grexa said that we need to go back to the dalandan plantation and announced that we’re going to have an Emergency camp there, so we started to trek again, and we lost a little bit again ,haha. J We’re like singing and everything just to make our exhaustion go away, and saying “KEEP THE FAITH” well, we got to. Haha, at last we found the right track (YEY! J) we’re in the dalandan plantation again by 8:50pm and instead of preparing to cook for dinner we’re like “PAHINGA MUNA”.
And after a few minutes of rest we started pitching our
tent and clean ourselves up. After that we started cooking our food, we cooked
sisig for dinner and the adobo of (mommy ni ecks) which is so yummy (THANK
YOU!) and the ITIK that Sir Ken bought that afternoon (di nga lang nagalaw,nakaplastik
pa kasi ee. J) as the rain started
pouring again, we took our dinner inside the PEAK one tent wherein me, princess
and ma’am grexa is assigned to sleep,it was a little bit tight but it was a
great evening with great people and a great dinner and dish J after eating, we’re supposed to have our socials but the
rain is getting stronger combined with the wind blowing, so we decided to
postponed it and do it the next morning and went to our respective tents, I’m
so sleepy and tired, and I want to sleep already but, our tent was freaking WET
and I couldn’t find a right spot to sleep, and then that’s it, drowsiness and
tiredness win me, that it doesn’t matter already if I’m wet or not. Well,
Princess and Dessa make me as their pillow (thanks to you guys, haha). The day
is already done, and i can’t wait for tomorrow.
GOOD MORNING SUNSHINE it’s not raining already thanks to
god. I woke up, hearing that our
bags has a lot of ants on it, and it really does, (whoa c’mon ants?) While Ella’s shoes has a hole on it, because
of ants too (they said that there is a kamote on it that’s why) haha. We
started preparing breakfast at the same time looking at our things if it has
hole as well, thanks mine don’t have one.
Ma’am Grexa cooked sinigang(favourite. J) and Sir Ken has bread for breakfast stuffed with century
tuna. J The SOCIALS started, while
waiting for our food to be cooked, Ecks started the “TAGAYAN” and we finished
one bottle that morning.
TENT DOWN, FIX THINGS, and checked our campsite if we
left something else, and when it’s all good we started descending by 11:15am
and arrived at Baranggay Hall by 11:45am. J We did it.
We and the other group met
each other at baranggay’s secretary’s house, and as of that moment it was like
“palengke” out there because everyone has their own stories and experiences,
while I’m talking with my co-climbers our seniors are fixing the guide’s fee including
the fee for the bath. And it all cost us P1000.00 well, we in regular-night
trek shared 50 each. We’re a group so it’s just right for us to share, right?
It was a long walk before we reach the real trail, and there’s a lot of path. The rain continuously pours and we continuously trek, every path is muddy and slippery but of course the trail has never been dead boring because there’s a lot of “tawanan”, “asaran”, “pick-up lines” and “kwentuhan” along the trail. We keep on walking till we reach this 2nd house and stop for a while to ask directions, the owner of the house talked with Ma’am Grexa and Sir Ken, after a few minutes we started to walk again, the trail is still gradual and muddy and slippery and there’s a lot of misleading trail, because there’s no trail signs but we met a lot of locals along the way one of them told us to go left always, and straight ahead till we could see this damp thingy. So we did what was told, but still Ma’am Grexa and Sir Ken scout the way to make sure it’s the right track, it’s been almost 2hours and we’re still walking, trying to figure the right way, the rain stopped for a few minutes and then it will rain again and not, until it really stops by 4:00pm (I guess) we’re already losing our way when we met this local who told us that we’re on the right track so we continued walking till we reach this hut(kubo/ulingan) by 5:00pm and there’s no way up there so we went down again and tried the other way until we reach this dalandan station by 6:00pm we stayed there for a while to take a rest because we’re all exhausted, but “asaran and tawanan” is always been there, we joked about getting lost and everything and then laugh i almost forgot to say this “GRABE ANDAMENG LAMOK AT LANGGAM” haha. While Sir Ken and Ma’am Grexa were talking to the Baranggay Secretary to ask for help and a guide for us to continue our trek, but we tried our best to explain where we are but Baranggay Secretary don’t know where we are too, we tried opening our flashlights so they could see it but they didn’t, and even said that were in front of Mt. Makiling but nothing happens that’s why by 7:20pm we ended up deciding to go down again till the 2nd house we passed trough that afternoon, so they could find us easily and we could go with the night trek group. But then again WE LOST, we’re all so dirty already, and it’s so slippery some of us actually tried to dive in the mud (LOL) some did some exhibitions and our SHOES/SANDALS well they got to love the muddy way. J It was a “MUD CLIMB” J haha. We’ll getting back to the trail, Sir Ken tried to find the right way and Ecks try to scout some trails too, but it’s not that easy because it’s so dark already. And then Ma’am Grexa said that we need to go back to the dalandan plantation and announced that we’re going to have an Emergency camp there, so we started to trek again, and we lost a little bit again ,haha. J We’re like singing and everything just to make our exhaustion go away, and saying “KEEP THE FAITH” well, we got to. Haha, at last we found the right track (YEY! J) we’re in the dalandan plantation again by 8:50pm and instead of preparing to cook for dinner we’re like “PAHINGA MUNA”.
The climb is over but there’s this one thing that this climb made me realized ‘it’s not only the climb and the view that makes a climb a better climb, but of course it includes those people you are with that makes it the best climb.’ We in the day-night trek may not finish it all the way but at least we’re successful in terms of new learnings and a lot of remarkable and new EXPERIENCES. Thanks to Ma’am Grexa, Sir Ken, Ella, Desssa, Princess, Ecks and Bryan for the once in a blue moon climb ever. J And THANK YOU SO MUCH to UEM for everything, more climb and more power to us. J I<3 UEM 4ever 4life.
P.S. it actually doesn’t end there yet because we had this SIDETRIP at Sun City and it was fun. J Just look at the pictures for justification.
Why no UEM Logo sa mismong blogspot site? :)
ReplyDeletemuch better to get back kesa magbutas ng trail.
ReplyDelete