As usual, I had the hard time of my life during assaults. We had to stop several times to give me enough time to catch my breath. This had been the trend whenever the slopes were steep. Thanks to my mountaineer friends for they were very generous to give me the rest I needed and accommodate my pleas for breaks. I was secretly overjoyed, though, whenever they had to stop and figure out if we were taking the correct trail. I had to take advantage of moments like these because I was really panting and gasping for breath.

After an hour and a half, we were still on trek. Some questions were already in our minds: “Why have we not reached the peak yet at this hour?” “Aren’t we headed for the Manabo Peak?” There are actually three destinations to the

mountains and we were thinking we were destined to reach another peak rather than Manabo, the most popular one. We had been on the trail too long but my mountaineer friends kept going, still positive that the camp site wasn’t too far anymore.

After 30 minutes of climbing and shouting in the dark with the hope that some souls would hear and guide our way, eureka! We finally reached the camp site. Welcoming us were other groups of mountaineers who told us that we actually took the easier path. The other trail was much harder to climb and would take us longer to reach the top. “Haay!” I told myself. “Mabuti na lang.” Imagine how much harder that would be for me? (Huh!)

On the other hand, the mountaintop offered a magnificent view and a refreshing feeling. Apart from the clear view of the night sky, overlooking was the Lipa nightscape on the one side and Laguna on the other. Added to these was the stimulating night breeze which gently blew on our perspiring bodies and seemed to invite me to lie down and rest.

The morning sun was up when we got out of our tent. How I envied Elvie who really had a good sleep because I could still hear her silent snore when I got up. What a fine morning it was; our tents were moist with mist and it was the first time we saw everything in daylight. I liked it even better. We partook of our breakfast of instant noodles, some bread, and choco drink. When we were full, we headed toward the summit (the highest point) where a white-painted huge concrete crucifix was mounted. Of course, we had to follow the ‘rituals’ of picture taking here and there.

A few minutes later, we went back to our tents and got everything ready for our descent. “Which way shall we take?” they kept asking one another, “Last night’s trail or the other?” Thanks that they decided to make my life easier—we took the same path when we went up. Otherwise, it would have been a longer and harder way down. It was around 8:30 a. m. when we left the camp site.

Going down was a lot easier for me. Aside from the sight seeing that went with it, I could anticipate my moves because it was daylight and program my brain that I was through with the hard climb up. I already knew, more or less, how much time was left before we reach the foot of the trail. Moreover, we were not pressured anymore because we’ve gone through the trail last night. Actually, the trek was ‘peanuts’ to my mountaineer friends. Only I had the hard time and, for sure, you already know why.

We had three major stops (at my greatest delight) during out trek down—first, by the river, the potable water source. We were resting by the bamboo bench when some mountaineers started coming after us.  Three of them slid down successively on the same spot in a span of 5 minutes. That made me a little proud because I did not experience the same; second, by the halo-halo and buko shack where we had a good treat and were able to bond with the iguanas for sale and the monkey of the shack owner; and third, by the house that we attempted to asked from during the night.  Other mountaineers were also there and allowed themselves to be entertained by the variety of pets around, like the monitor lizards collared like dogs in the yard, the fruit bat in a cage, a midget chicken, and a rabbit.

By 10:30 a.m. we were already at the house where we left our wet clothes. Just after we freshened up, we took the tricycle ride again and parted our ways in Lipa City. Joel and I had our quick lunch and boarded a van bound for Cavite. I was with my family by 2 pm.

Will I still do it? You may ask. Just when I find time. An experience or two is not that bad. Not having to experience mountain climbing is what will make me feel bad.

I’m 43, a hands-on mother of 3 boys, a responsible office worker, a caring wife to a very supportive husband, a good university student on the side, and an active member of a circle of friends that I try to keep until now (which means that I allot some of my time meeting with them once in a while). Many ask me how I manage to involve myself in activities such as mountain climbing amidst the schedule I keep. I cannot do it too often, though, but I’d like to find time whenever there is time.  We can never be what we don’t want to be. It’s my choice to do as much as I can during this lifetime. I must admit that I bloomed late in engaging in such activities. It’s because I focused myself on nurturing my young family then and attending to a budding career. Now that I have gained stability in both, I can afford to do other worthy things. Life is too short to accomplish that much; but at least I tried.

It was after a whole-day company outing in Verde Island in Batangas on the 30th of April when I decided to join (by invitation, of course) my mountaineer friends to go on a trek that night to Mt. Manabo, one of the peaks in Sto. Tomas, Batangas which is 830 meters above sea level. I did not have a hard time deciding on it, even though I was not prepared, because the next day was a Sunday and the day after that was declared a holiday. I would be away from home only for the night and I guess that wouldn’t hurt my family much. After seeking permission from my precious half through a phone call, I was ready to go.

Six of us--Joel, Ricky, Richard, Ruby, Elvie, and I--alighted from the company-hired excursion bus from Batangas pier where we boarded from the ferry ride from Verde Island. We got off right before the bus entered Star Toll in Lipa City at around 6:30 p. m. and we waved goodbye to our officemates headed for Makati. We took a tricycle to a mall in Lipa City where we had dinner and bought some provisions before taking off. Another tricycle ride brought us to the barangay hall where we registered for the trek. The same tricycle allowed us to reach the jump off point—Brgy. Sta Cruz. We met a group of young mountaineers at the jump off. They call themselves Askals. They went ahead of us, leaving us some instructions on going about the trail. 

Since it’s just a short trek (an hour or so according to the Askals), we unloaded our backpacks with the wet swim clothes that we used at the Verde Island and entrusted them to a house that serves as a mountaineers’ station in going to and from Mt. Manabo. Anyway, we will surely be back to this house because here was where we will take our shower before heading home.

HANK GOD I had the second chance to be with the Buhawi Mountaineers in their Mt. Manabo trek (my first was Mt. Pinatubo). I had another chance of partaking of God’s beautiful creation and experience the tranquility that mountaintops offer. I have added another story in my reserves to tell my future grandchildren about.