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Mt. Maquiling Laguna |
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Joining
the University of Santo Tomas Mountaineering Club wasn't my
idea. I wasn't impressed with the hiking photos of my
elder brother, who was one of the pioneers of USTMC.
But Joey Uy, a friend from the same school tried his best
convincing me to
join the club with him. He paid for my application fee
and even signed my signature. I am so grateful he did
that, for joining the club opened the door to a different
understanding of adventure. Mt. Maquiling is a dormant volcano located in Laguna, a province relatively close to Manila. We got there by a rented bus that took us all the way up to the Boy Scout Camp site. The whole trek was exciting, for it was almost everyone's first time, except for the members of the club. Trekking through this rainforest reminded me of the unimpressive photographs my brother showed me. Right there and then I said to my self that photographs can't really justify the the whole experience of the journey and the destination. Even if you look at my photos, even if you read my journal, you will never really know how I felt that day (unless you try it yourself, but then again, every person have different experiences and expectations). Even if you visualize, you can never feel the wetness, the coldness of the climate created by the rainforest. The relief a mountain stream brings to a tired and swollen feet. The taste of a fresh mountain spring to a gasping throat. The pleasure of pulling out the blood sucking leeches that attacks silently by the hundreds. Try hard, you might just feel the trembling of my legs due to exhaustion and excitement and the weirdness of seeing your socks soaked in your own blood, yet you feel nothing. I am now a full pledged mountaineer. All because of Mt. Maquiling. |
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