Friday, August 20, 2010

Mt. Pinatubo trekking!!

July 24, 2010

This activity was long planned by my me and my colleagues, finally we have set the date, but still were praying that it won't rain even on just that day since it's already a rainy season. Our meeting time in greenhills was 430am, and dang Noah and I woke up past 4am, so we had to prepare the fastest! We arrived at our meeting place to pick them up a quarter after 5. We had to be in Capas, Tarlac at 6:30am, that was our meeting time with our tour guide from Pinaykeypoint. While on the road, the sun had risen but it was quite foggy, we planned on taking SCTEX for shortcut (It was my first time to pass through that road), after a few minutes, voila!.. A signage of Concepcion Tarlac greeted us. =)

We arrived just on time at Capas, we were greeted by Marilyn and Robin. Robin discussed the summary of our trip and Marilyn was our guide throughout the trek. We first went to the start point to register and transfer to a 4x4 jeep. It was bumpy- lahar-ish ride with inclined mountain road trail (adventure it is!) which took us approximately 1 hour or so until we reached the jump-off point. From there we started the trek, we went up and down the mountain of  lahar (it's not good to walk along the edges at some areas since it's not a hard soil so it has a tendency to break-up), crossed the stream and and even with snake (marilyn said that was the common area with snakes, so she always check first before they pass by) for almost 1.5 hours.

Few steps before we reached the crater.. lo and behold... the beauty of nature welcomed us.

It was heavenly.

Our trek was really tiring that my heartbeat was about to explode, it was like doing cardio for 5 hours! But as I saw the majestic crater, it was all worth it, the hours of bumpy ride and trekking paid off!

Marilyn built  the tent near the crater. We had an early lunch and decided to go for crater boating which will take us on the other side of the crater. While in the boat, it gave me goosebumps that we are actually in the crater of a volcano! As we approached the other side, I can see the light smoke coming out from the sand. Noah and Ryan decided to go for a swim, they said that water temperature was weird, there was a part that the water is cold then when you move even for a little bit it gets hot. It was past 1pm and we decided to go back to our tent, fix ourselves and get ready for another trekking and ride adventure going back. Before we returned to our tent, the boatman took a stop on the other part of the crater and showed us the bubbling water, first  I thought it was because of the boiling effect but when I touched the water it was cold.. amazing!

After trekking back to the jump off point, and headed to the jeep, it rained. We saw some water falls as the effect of the rain. We passed  by 2 aeta walking with a gun as they are going hunting according to Marilyn, we also saw 2 men riding their horses and some children playing. As we arrived in the dispatching site, we then took a shower and had an early dinner which was also included in pinaykeypoint's service. Then we headed back to Manila at around 6pm. It was a memorable trip, and made me realize that I want more of it! =)

Marilyn took our pictures during the activity as part of their documentation service:
Pictures from Pinaykeypoint

Photos below taken from our cam:

 On our way to Tarlac at SCTEX


@ the dispatching point with our 4x4 ride

my colleagues Ryan and Mardie

laharish ride =)

splashing water! woohoo!!

Stop-over and picture taking with our guide Marilyn

bumpy road.. i salute 4x4 jeepneys.. now I know they were built to last!

The jump off site.. start of trekking

me and Naoh-->bender-breakers!

My shoes.. slowly disassembling :S

Alas! We conquered Mt. Pinatubo!

The Majestic crater

Off to the other side of the crater

View from the other side

Returned to the dispatching site
Chow time!


I promised myself that I'm going back to Mt. Pinatubo before the year ends. =)

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