The majestic Mt.Pinatubo

"Love conquers all..."

As we conquered the majestic Mt.Pinatubo during the valentines day of 2016. The experience was extraordinary for me and my husband Nuel. It was our first time to go out together in this kind of adventure after seven years of being a couple.

Selfie at Mt.Pinatubo crater lake. 

Mt.Pinatubo renewed our relationship. 

Being married for four years our relationship seems just a typical husband and wife. We live to earn for our daily expenses. We go out in the mall with our kids, buy the stuffs that we need, then go home. We seldom date each other after our wedding. It seems boring, right? But don't get me wrong...we have a happy family, we just forget dating for a while and concentrate in our responsibilities as parents to our children.

Until such time that he went home from his three years contract in Taiwan. Before his homecoming, we been talking to go in Palawan with the kids. But because of practicality (again!) we decided to just buy a car for our family. Case settled, we cancelled the Palawan trip. And I honestly feel bad.

My husband know how outgoing I am. I know that he missed me so much. So in exchange to Palawan trip I decided to book Mt.Pinatubo trek for the two of us since it is more affordable and it will only require us one whole day.

Celebration of life,  love and success. 

Our Mt.Pinatubo adventure was celebration of life, love and success as I finished my Certificate in Teaching last February 12. I inquired the available slots of Mt.Pinatubo Adventure Phils. and their only available was February 14 (yehey instant valentines date for us!) And since my birthday is approaching (Febraury 17) our trip became triple celebration.

Knowing how much he loves me and with the "celebrations" that I mentioned above...I knew it, he said "YES" to me when I asked him to go with me in this adventure.

And so our adventure begins...

From Zaragoza, Nueva Ecija (his hometown) we rode a jeepney going to Capas, Tarlac.

Selfie at the jeepney. We are "selfie"couple you know :)

Since we are both first timer in Capas, we first looked for the meeting place that our coordinator told us, the Mcdo Capas Junction. Took quick snacks and looked  for nearest inn, hotel or resort that we can stay for the night of February 13. Luckily, few meters away from Mcdo, there is the VES Garden Resort...so instant "staycation" for us! Yipeee!

Our "love ko 'to" moment. 

How can we forget the villa number 5 of VES Garden Resort #love

We enjoyed the night of February 13 in the said resort. My husband had a quick gym routine in the VES Fitnes Center and right after he accompanied me in the pool area for night swimming. 

My hubby during his gym routine. 

Me at the poolside. 

We highly recommend the place for short stay before your Pinatubo adventure. 

The adventure

We're ready at 3am of February 14 for our Mt.Pinatubo crater lake adventure. From VES we walked going to the Mcdo  Capas Junction and waited for our service going to Sta.Juliana, Capas Tarlac. Since we are only joiners, we joined the team and registered at 4am in DENR station at Sta.Juliana. 

We were grouped by five in Kuya Danny's home, signed necessary permit and documents. And there you go, we experienced the bumpy ride in 4x4 from DENR station to the Mt.Pinatubo. 

The 2 hours 4x4 bumpy ride was really fun. It's like a racing of 4x4, everyone wants to go first. And since we have the "most astig driver" all the water splashes to us as we traverse the way going to Mt.Pinatubo crater lake. I can't stop my self to said "wow! astig mo kuya!" every time our service go down and up in the road. 

Since we left the DENR office at 5am, we did not see the view going to the crater, but when the sun shines...wow, the place was really amazing! Parang wala ako sa Pilipinas. 

Our service.

The amazing view going up to the crater. 

From the point where the 4x4 need to wait for us, we traverse the rocky way going to the first rest station for one hour. Don't ask me how many time I fell because of the slippery rocks...hahaha many times dear since there are waters flowing all the way. And it became really funny when you saw your husband laughing at you and counting how many times you fall. Ohhh so ungentle-man hubby! I almost ruined my note 3! hahaha But still enjoyed it. 

On our way, we met Aetas and have some "selfie" with them. The aeta kids greeted us with their cute smiles. We gave them food as reward...I wish I was able to bring books and clothes for them, but I will next time. Please bring some when you visit.

The aeta kids are so cute when they said "selfie!"

Hmmm...when I saw this sign, I screamed and said "What? our trek will just start here? One hour na tayong naglalakad kuya." So, our guide explained that before all the 4x4 was able to reach this point but because of soil erosion, the way going up here was ruined. And that explain why the sign seems wrong. 

Sign in the rest station. 

From the rest station we trek, 20 minutes, because we're senior citizen (as the sign said), going up to the majestic crater lake of Mt.Pinatubo. The way up is easy...although you have to be careful and watch your step because of  slippery rocks. 

The trek from the 4x4 station up to the crater lake was literally leg breaking but it was easier compared to my Mt.Pico de Loro experienced. 

With our co-passenger in the 4x4, we actually don't know them personally but we took this as our remembrance as a team. 

Us in the welcome signage od Mt.Pinatubo Crater Lake. 

Since our teammates were all extremist we were able to come first (among the other group/tourist) in the crater lake. We have this opportunity to take photos without any photo bomber in the background. The other guest was not able get clear photos from the welcome signage because many groups had arrived and busy taking photos in the background. 

There you go...finally we arrived in the majestic, amazing, beautiful crater lake of Mt.Pinatubo. The place was really "beautiful disaster" as mentioned in the movie of KatNiel, Crazy Beautiful You. 

All the weary was gone just by looking at the beautiful scenery of Mt.Pinatubo crater lake. This valentines date was the best so far. This advance birthday celebration is really amazing. This graduation gift is really wow...thank you G!

Even the Mt.Pinatubo crater lake is in hearth shape. 

Few of our pictures in the crater lake. 

If you would ask me the activities that you can do while at the crater lake...hmmm, you can have sort of "kulitan' with your partner (the usual us) or the gang (if your with barkada). But the things that we really did are, have some picnic in the side of the crater and afterwards, think how lucky we are to witness this paint like scenery and imagine how it exploded years back. Imagine, all the beauty that we saw was a product of that volcanic eruption years back. Tragedy that resulted to this beautiful scenery. Indeed a beautiful disaster!

Our picnic kind of date in the Mt.Pinatubo crater lake. 

Experiencing Mt.Pinatubo together was an amazing experience for us. It marks another chapter of our relationship as husband and wife. During that very moment, we already planned our next adventure, this time his birthday climb. May God permits that to happen. 

That moment together will always be cherished as we conquers another page of our married life. He will be forever my partner...'till our next adventure hon! Thanks God for this wonderful experience. 

If you want to experience the Mt.Pinatubo, look for Mt.Pinatubo Adventure Phils. for hassle free booking of your adventure. 

'till my next climb! 

My "YOLO" pose at the Mt.Pinatubo crater lake.

Mt.Pico de Loro

Hindi ko maipaliwanag ang kagalakan sa aking puso sa tuwing aakyat ako sa isang bundok. Hindi ko rin alam kung saan ako kumukuha ng lakas ng loob upang akyatin ang pinakamataas ng parte nito. Daig ko pa ang naka-high sapagkat hindi ako nakakaramdam ng anumang pagod habang ang mga kasama ko ay nangangapos na ng hininga at tila ba nais ng sumuko.

Isa ang Mt.Pico de Loro sa pinaka-challenging na bundok na aking na-akyat. Bago pa lamang ang araw ng aming pag-akyat, ako at aking mga kaibigan ay nagbasa na ng mga blog post tungkol sa bundok na ito. Sa mga larawan pa lamang na aming nakikita alam namin na hindi ganon kadali ang magiging pag-akyat namin lalo na sa "monolith" o ang tinaguriang "parrot's peak." 

Nagsimula ang aming grupo na umakyat alas-6 ng umaga. Madalim pa ang paligid at panaka-naka ang pagpatak ng ulan, sa tuwing tatanungin namin ang aming guide, ang sagot niya sa amin, hamog lamang at hindi ulan ang pumapatak sa aming mga ulo.

Mahamog pa ng narating ng aming grupo ang campsite ng Mt.Pico de Loro

Ang Mt.Pico de Loro ay mayroong walong istasyon bago makarating sa campsite. Sa campsite makikita mo ng kabuuan ang "summit" at ang "monolith" ng Mt.Pico de Loro. Dito rin nagtatayo ng tent ang mga mountaineers na nag-o-overnight sa bundok. Mayroong mga tindahan sa campsite kung saan makakabili ng mga inumin at pagkain na maaring makapawi ng iyong uhaw at gutom matapos mong lakarin at akyatin ang walong istasyon ng Mt. Pico de Loro.

Ang aking "You only live once (YOLO) pose" sa Mt.Pico de Loro. Nasa aking harapan ang "summit" at monolith ng bundok. 

Mula sa campsite iniwan na namin ang mga gamit sa mga kasamahang hindi na nagnais na umakyat sa summit. Ang pag-akyat sa summit ang pinakamahirap na parte ng pag-akyat sa bundok na ito. Karamihan sa amin ay halos gumapang na upang makarating sa pinakamataas na bahagi ng Mt.Pico de Loro. 

Paakyat ng summit. 

"Thumbs-up" matapos maakyat ang summit. 

Labis ang kaligayan ng aming grupo ng marami pa sa amin ang kinayang umakyat sa summit. 

Ang summit ang pinakamataas na parte ng Mt.Pico de Loro, ng marating ito ng aming grupo ay ni hindi namin makita ang tanawin sa ibaba dahil sa kapal ng hamog. Ang ilan sa aming mga kasamahan ay hindi rin makatayo sapagkat malakas ang hangin na tila ba kaya kaming tangayin. 

Mula sampo, lima lamang sa aming grupo ang nagpasyang umakyat ng monolith. Ang parte kasing ito ng bundok ay para lamang sa mga "extremist", mga taong may sa sapat na lakas ng loob na akyatin ang mapanganib na parte ng bundok. 

Isa ako sa limang umakyat ng "monolith." Hindi ko rin alam kung saan ako kumuha ng sapat na tapang, ng mga oras na iyon, naisip ko na hindi makukumpleto ang pag-akyat ko sa Mt.Pico de Loro kung hindi ako sasamang umakyat sa Monolith. Kasama ang aking Ninang Bezt, at mga katrabaho at kaibigan na sina Joram, Jett at Modz, buong tapang naming inakyat ang monolith ng Mt.Pico de Loro. 

Kuha bago umakyat ng monolith. 

Nakakanginig tuhod na pose maakbayan lang ang tinaguriang "parrot's peak."

Limang matatapang na tumanggap ng hamon na akyatin ang Mt.Pico de Loro's monolith. 

Ang "final challenge" ay ang pag-akyat sa "parrot's peak." Paikot naming inakyat ang mataas na batong ito. Dumaan sa makitid at paikot na daan sa monolith kung saan tila ba tanaw mo na ang iyong kamatayan oras na magkamali ang iyong paghakbang. Gumamit din kami ng lubid pababa at paakyat sa bahaging ito ng Mt.Pico de Loro. 

Labis ang kasiyahan na aming nadama ng marating namin ang tuktok ng parrot's peak. Mula sa taas ay tuwang-tuwa naming nasilayan ang ganda ng tanawin ng Cavite at Batangas. Tuwing mahahawi ang mga hamog at ulap, napapasigaw namin tinatawag ang mga kasamahang iniwan namin sa summit. 

Ngiti ng tagumpay ng marating namin ang tuktok ng monolith ng Mt.Pico de Loro. 

Ang pag-akyat sa Mt.Pico de Loro ay isang magandang karanasan na aking ikukwento sa lahat ng mga taong katulad kong nagmamahal sa kabundukan. Mga taong kinakapos ng tapang na harapin ang hamon sa pag-akyat ng bundok at mga taong may sapat na tapang ngunit walang sapat na panahon upang makaniig ang magandang bahaging ito ng kalikasan. Nais kong malaman ng lahat kung ano ang maari nilang makita at maranasan sa bawat pag-akyat. Kung gaano kapayapa at kagaan sa puso ang paminsang malayo ka sa magulong mundo na ating ginagalawan. Kung gaano kasarap sa pakiramdam na mag-slow down, upang makalanghap ng sariwang hangin na papayapa sa iyong puso at isipan. Kung paanong ang takot ay mapapalitan ng lakas at kaligayahan sa tuwing mapagtatagumpayan mo ang bawat pag-akyat. 

Umakyat ka ng bundok hindi para magyabang sa mga kaibigan mo sa social media. Masarap sa pakiramdam na makakuha ng maraming "likes" ang mga larawan mo sa bawat bundok na iyong inakyat ngunit mas masarap sa pakiramdam ang makaramdam ka na abu't langit na kapayapaan habang nasa pinakatuktok ka ng bundok na iyong inakyat. 

Subukan mong magmuni-muni sa tuktok ng mga bundok...mararamdaman mo kung gaano kadakila ang Diyos na lumikha ng bawat kabundukan. Mararamdaman mo kung gaano ka kamahal ng Diyos upang bigyan ka ng maayos at masayang buhay. 

Masayang pagkakataon. Ang swerte ko mahal ako ng Panginoon na lumikha ng lahat ng bagay. Hinayaan niya akong maakyat ang bundok upang pahalagahan ang lahat ng buhay. Mula sa maliit na langgam na aking nadaanan paakyat sa Mt.Pico de Loro, sa malamig na dampi ng bawat hamog, mabining huni ng mga ibon sa kagubatan at kaluskos ng mga hayop na aking kinakatakutan labis-labis ang pasasalamat ko Panginoong Jesus...hanggang sa aking muling pag-akayat! 

PS. Nakababa kami ng Mt.Pico de Loro ng 1:30pm.Sa mga nais umakyat sa Mt.Pico de Loro maari ninyong tawagan ang aming guide na si Kuya Etong sa 0921-624-2284. 

#climb02042016