When my officemates asked me to join their Pico de Loro climb, I immediately agreed. I didn’t even think of my physical unfitness (???) and my inexperience in climbing mountains. I think my mountain climbing adventures back in high school do not count. I was so excited to join the Pico de Loro climb. What I didn’t know was that it would be the scariest thing I’d ever do in my life. I’m still not sure whether I want to do it again. I don’t know. Maybe once every ten years.
We did a lot of preparation for our climb. Des was the leader of the group since she has been to Pico de Loro a couple of times (and she calls it her backyard!) and she’s the most experienced. Do not ask who’s the least experienced. Anyway, we held a couple of meetings and planned everything! But the planning still didn’t prepare me from the hardship I would go through.
The day of the PIco climb (May 26!) came, and I arrived late at our meeting place. Hehehe. But I was only 15 minutes late, okay! We agreed to meet at the 7-Eleven near the bus terminal for Tanza, Cavite. The bus ride took about an hour or so. But it wasn’t boring since we talked a lot and I was talking on the phone. I actually planned to sleep since I barely got any the previous night.
We didn’t go straight to Ternatte (where Pico is), though. We had to go first to Des’s house in Cavite to eat lunch. Heh. (For some reason, it’s so hard for me to narrate everything that happened that day! This will take forever…) Once we arrived, I was forever awestruck at Ate Des’s mansion. It was BIG! It has a basketball court! It has three kitchens! Hehehe. Before eating, Des told the people who hadn’t pitched a tent before to practice. So that’s me, Jinky and Eunise. I didn’t know pitching a tent isn’t that difficult? Well, we practiced on a marble floor so maybe it was easy that time!
After eating lunch, Ate Karen and I went to the nearest Puregold to buy some more things for the climb. We waited for the rest of the gang over there since the bus to Tanza would also pass that way. We went on another bus ride that took about 45 minutes. From the bus terminal, we had to ride a tricycle to get to the DENR for registration. Apparently, it’s mandatory to register first when planning to go up a mountain.
Before starting our hike, we had some warm-up first. Hehehehe.
How to Embarrass Yourself 101
We were told that there were so many people hiking and camping that day. I panicked a little because I didn’t really want so many people to see me struggling. We hadn’t even started but I was also feeling the burden of my heave baggage.
And so one of the hardest challenges I’ll ever face began. Ate Karen, Jinky, Eunise and I were virgin climbers, and Kimpee climbed once already. We put a lot of faith and trust on our team leader, Des, and she didn’t fail us. It’s thanks to her that I’m still alive now. Haha!
