Derek and I packed our things up in 2 separate backpacks (Jansport and DKNY gray bag)..armed with some toiletries to managed us through, (with 4 sachets of Head and Shoulders, 2 sachets of Close Up, 1 toothbrush, 4 sachets of OFF overnight lotion, 1 Babyflo Petroleum Jelly, and 1 Kitkat chocolate comfort food for Derek, 2 1.5 liters of Absolute, 1 blue gatorade, 1bot. 500 ml of Wilkins distilled water, 1 cola flavored mentos, 1 can of Century Tuna hot and spicy flavor, 1 bottle of Nivea 30 spf sunblock, cash on hand P1400.00, a messenger green bag and a blue extra ecobag.)
We hailed a taxi from Tondo to Manulife which had costs us p132 and a long sunny walk from gate 2 Technohub because the damn driver stopped at Gate 2. We decided to eat up at KFC and ordered 2 pcs chicken and 1 extra rice while I settled for one chix and a half rice, with ice cold regular Pepsi.
We hailed a bus going to Coastal and met Matet and Robbi from there..then the adventure continues from Coastal to Ternate..we dropped by at DENR to register..looked for the slope leading to Camp 1..the trails were damped, it was really hard to walk on through, my Reebok trainer gave up on me on Camp one, after 3 hours of walking going to Camp 2. Robbie offered his slippers, and then gave up again because of the sticky mud leaving me no choice but to walk barefooted along the 6 hours of sheer guts and glory. I have prayed along the way, armed with strong determination. We didnt make it in Camp 2 but we did not surrender, we looked for a little campsite and built 3 little fragile tents from there..We still managed to joke around and ate chicken adobo and cooked rice from Job’s mini kalan..We slept and reminded ourselves that we’ll get through Pico the following morning..I slept 3 hours from 10pm to 1am..from there I was wide awake thinking everyone from home. Everybody were up at 4am, we ate some hot noodles and crackers. We packed our things from 9am and looked for Pico's monolith, after 30 mins, we found it.
To the forest, trees, bamboo sprouts, tree branches, Makahiya leaves, spider webs, deep ravine, chocolate colored sands, trails, those I have clinged on for dear life..Thank you ..Distilled water, Frozen sprite, crackers, the MSG laden cup noodles, thanks for filling up my body..To mountaineer Ken and companion Irish thanks for wrap..to Hana for Flanax and her love for me. .For everyone who has a chutzpah as big as a truck. You will always be remembered. For my derek, thanks for experiencing this all with me..For Pico, thanks for letting us experienced our first climb.
