The Great Outdoors (Part II)

Maybe it was just me, always over-imagining things or a little over-assuming. I had been told that we were going to walk 1 hour to reach the rock-climbing area. Walking one hour is fine with me. It’s part of the adventure! But I didn’t imagine that walk = mountain climb! I thought we were just going to walk to some flat muddy/grassy PLAINS.

When I woke up after one++ hour drive to the place, I was surprised to see a familiar site. I thought about UPLB (my university). It looked like we’re driving up to Makiling. 😀 Then we halted, and parked the car. Right then when we stopped, I knew. We were going to climb the mountain. It somehow freaked me out because as I’ve said, I imagined plains and grass and flowers.. not a mountain. But of course I had to oblige. After a few stretches and some snacks, we took off.

I had to take photos discreetly (hence, the ugly shot)… I was so shy taking photos because, since my companions are way too used to these kinds of stuffs, they probably aren’t interested on taking photos and milestones anymore. But being the first-timer in the group, of course I would love to capture every moment. But it might slow the group’s pace. And they might think I’m such a… err… cam-whore!

I didn’t eat too much, nor drink a lot of water the whole time. Besides, I didn’t feel any hunger or thirst the whole time we were going up, rock-climbing, and going down. Maybe because of my ultra-heavy breakfast. There were no toilets up there, so I didn’t want to ruin my day by having a terrible kind of stomachache or worst, diarrhea, or I don’t want to pee anywhere in the woods neither. Some small creature from the kingdom animalia might bite my *beep*beep*.

I never felt tired the whole time we’re climbing. Maybe because it was a perfect day, no sun (because of the trees), no rain, and we were just starting. I ate a lot of rice for breakfast, for non-stop energy. There were plenty of pictures and scenes going on in my mind though. Like scary animals appearing in front of our eyes… like what should I do when that happens… if that would happen, we had no one else but only the four of us.. and oh, maybe superman might be there if I shout for help (though I would prefer Edward Cullen saving me 😎 )  And just when I was thinking about Jennifer Lopez and her anaconda, a small snake appeared and crawled really really fast towards us! I really froze out there! And again, my same panicky self thought about that small snake calling its friends sending messages of *hot fresh humans for food* alert. I was a bit scared. But good thing nothing bigger than that small snake appeared. But some bees never left us! Maybe those bees thought I was some kind of big flower because I was wearing a bright hot pink shirt! The bandana became useful because it covered my ears the whole time. Lesson Learned: NEVER WEAR ANYTHING BRIGHT IN THE WOODS. Scary or annoying animals found these bright flashy stuffs attractive.

They were right about 1 hour walk. We reached the top around 8 am I think… We rested for a while and then there they were, busy preparing their gears and all.

Photo-talks: (1) that was me taking my own photo again *discreetly* after we arrived to the climb spot; (2) Our climbing master’s bling blings; (3) The path where we came from; and (4) Me, in full battle gear and ready to climb! My boss somehow noticed me taking photos discreetly (hehehe), so he volunteered to take this photo 😀

 

After they setup the ropes and all, my boss climbed first. Seeing him climb amazed me and it looked so easy. I volunteered to be the next one because I was way over confident about it being easy but when I was starting, it was difficult. I managed to reach the top part though. I knew that falling (or going down) would be the easiest part because you just have to let go, hold on to the rope, hang while going down. But I just couldn’t let go because seeing the rocks below scared me!! So I went down the same way I climbed up. I never hung. Maybe after three rounds of climbing, I finally let go and found it easy going down. You just have to trust them. Hehe.

 

Firsts: The first stage, and my first set of scratches (fortunately, nothing else followed)

And boy I was so glad that the climbing master thought about bringing a camera and taking a photo of me climbing! Yeah!

 

(1) Weee; (2) Dreaming of becoming spiderman’s better half.

 

And then my competitive self suddenly unleashes. But hehe, I did enjoy climbing 🙂

The second stage was higher. Way way higher. I was feeling sooo sad because I didn’t get to reach the top because I twisted my ankle badly 🙁 Now I knew the importance of wearing the appropriate shoes for a specific ocassion/activity. The rubber shoes won’t be that effective. You need extra effort because it would be sometimes slippery. And that was the reason why I twisted my ankle. I stopped at one spot because there were no more grips… I couldn’t find any! I wanted badly to go up but I twisted my ankle instead. So I had to go down 🙁 While the last person climbed his way on top, I was left below crying inside. Then these girls beside us, also climbers, probably regulars there, noticed that I was holding my ankle, they offered their help and wrapped my foot with some tape. I made friends! 😀

 

(1) That was the spot where I stopped and eventually twisted my ankle; (2) That girl in orange (it’s so tiny in the picture) is one of the two girls who helped wrapped my foot;

 

(1) Those were not scratches! They’re supposed to be cushions for my next climb, bandaids are perfect; (2) My poor poor sad foot

I managed to climb again after a few minutes of rest. I didn’t want to sit there and cry because of my sprained ankle (it’s always sprained anyway). One of our mates lend me his shoes since we were of the same size. Next time… climbing shoes for my oh so dear foot.

It was tiring, exhausting, difficult and all related words. But the best part of it all, was the fun and experience. It was fun! I enjoyed! I wasn’t a pro-climber but my boss told me I was too good for a first-timer (hehehe, I hope he’s serious). At the end of the day, since I was so tired and since I deprived myself from eating too much or drinking too much, I had to eat a lot – in the car and in the station – few sandwiches, cheesecakes, one liter of water then after some hour, one big ramen bowl and rice = great great day and a satisfied stomach 😀