mount pulag expedition 2006 special!

Friday, December 8, 2006.

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a few minutes before 8 pm

Belots and I met at Philcoa to talk about the dinner we will be preparing for the trip. I also met Teki because she is kind enough to lend us her video camera for documentation. As soon as I arrived at the meeting place, I went back to school to buy mini dv’s for our trip documentary. To my surprise, florofoto closed quite early. SO I rushed to Katipunan to get the things I need from National Bookstore.

830 pm.

Got back from Katipunan. Manong Taxi driver is very kind indeed to talk to me while he is driving. I am actually stressed out with the thought that I won’t find tapes that we will use for documentation.

9 pm.

Have to eat while going to 711 branch near Victory Liner. We decided to take a cab fore us to get there.

930 pm.

We are just waiting for Sir DEo, Jeff and Kriska. We decided that we will just wait for them inside the bus terminal. We took pictures inside the terminal,a nd exchanged cellphone numbers, in preparation for the hiking that we’ll undergo in Benguet.

1045 pm

Sir Deo and Jeff came just in time for us to board the bus. I never thought that I’ll be silent the whole trip. Since we are thirteen in the group, I am the odd one out who took a seat beside an old woman. Well, she is nice, but I can’t sleep during the trip because she moves very frequently, getting things from her bag every so often!

4am

We already arrived at Victory Liner Baguio station. It’s freezing cold (not to mention that I was only wearing maong shorts and slip on sneakers)! There are many taho vendors who approached us. We bought taho to beat the cold climate! To our dismay, the taho cools up rapidly! Our first sip didn’t even burn our tongue!

5am

WE went down Burnham park to buy the things that we will be cooking in the campsites. To maximize the time, we had two groups who did the marketing. Toni, Deane and I bought food for dinner and breakfast. The others dwelled on Lunch and miscellaneous items.

6am

I contacted cherish to confirm if she bought rice already. Good thing, I asked. If not, we won’t have rice for 2 days! haha.

630am.

We passed by DILG to get the cameras and cellphones that we left for charging. Then, off we went to BEnguet!

930am

After series of talks and laughing and shooting for the trip documentary, we stopped by to have photo ops at Ambuklao Dam! It really is gorgeous.

11:30am

A few kilometers more, we stopped by JangJang’s eatery for lunch and stopover thing.
There are a lot of Benguet Dogs here, which smells really good, I must say!

WE also had our yosi break, and yes, cared enough not to throw the butts just to ruin nature. Well, Belots’ bonnet is a nice place to put the butts in.

130pm

SOP calls for all hikers to stop by DENR to register and have an orientation. They told us to rush now. They heard that it is already drizzling up there in the mountains.

200pm

WE are on our way up Mount Pulag’s Ranger Camp. There are people who hitched a ride on our jeepney. They’re on the roof, hanging on.

230pm

We started preparing for the big hike. I dressed up in 4 layers of dry clothes, plus my raincoat and bonnet. I also placed plastic in between my socks and shoes to prevent my feet from getting wet. Take a look at the pic now. This will be the last time you’ll see me dry for two days! haha.

3:30 pm

I barely noticed that an hour has passed. It’s freezing cold when it started raining. I can feel the cold wind on my face and hands. I saw my hands transform its colors. From pink, It became white, then reddish, then purplish, then bluish! Grrrrrrr……

530 pm

We arrived at the campsite after hours of hiking, and slipping! (slipped twice) Cherish, Belots and I started preparing the things needed for dinner. The others helped out in fixing the tents. It’s getting darker every minute, (and colder too)!

830 pm

It took a while before dinner became ready for consumption. It was just too cold for the water to heat up and boil. Hay!!!! Sinigang really is the best, especially in this kind of weather!

9pm

it is sleeping time already. I am having a hard time not to shiver. I have changed my shirts. They are all wet by this time. Now, I only have a single layer of dry shirt to keep me warm. My pants are wet too, but my extra pants fell and got wet too! Belots, alex, leanne, Karen and I decided not to sleep in the tents and just stay at the shed. We cannot afford to have our clothes wet again. Good thing, our trek guides allowed us to stay with them at their sleeping space.

930 pm

I thought I slept for hours already. But it has only been 30 minutes. I am shivering. They all panicked. I am at the verge of having hypothermia, I guess. The group helped me to warm up. Then, we all came back to sleeping, except Belots who are too much preoccupied with drying up his clothes using his portable burner.

5am

After series of changing positions, we kinda got our sleep. WE are just expecting the sun to shine sooner. WE weren’t able to go up the highest peak of Mount Pulag because it still is raining hard. And the cold weather is really unbearable. Just imagine that even our warmers are wet!

930 am

After a hearty (but cold) meal, we started to break camp and prepared to take the route back to the Ranger’s camp. It was easier to go down.

12 pm

We saw the biggest earthworm ever in our entire life!!! It was more than a foot long and it is as thick as the fat pencil kindergarten kids use!!!! Belots tried to touch it, but he was warned that the worm was dangerous. It can cause blindness if its blood squirted and hit your eyes.

1pm

Cherish, Belots, Sir Deo and I arrived first at the Ranger Camp. God! Any room with doors and walls can be a great refuge at this kind of weather!!!!!

2 pm

We headed back to DENR to log off. We have some company to join us. They are the four mountaineers, who like us failed to reach the peak of the mountain because of the weather.

245 pm.

WE started buying our “We survived Mount Pulag” shirts at DENR!!!! Then, off we went to hit the road on our way to Baguio!!!!

7:45 pm

HAd to go on a rush pasalubong spree. The ticket that we got was for 9 pm. So, kriska, karen, leanne, tonie and I got on a taxi to go to the market place and get some goodies! Boy, we're sp good! We finished it and we arrived back at the bus station at 8:35pm. Haha!!!!