Welcome to Mt. Pinatubo!
written Nov. 9, 2012
images were self-photographed :)
Panoramic Shot on top of the Crater :)
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An active stratovolcano located on the island of Luzon, near the tripoint of the Philippine provinces of Zambales, Tarlac and Pampanga. We all know what happened during the 1991 eruption that led to the formation of a lake on its crater. I've been so blessed to be able to journey through this historical wonders of nature with friends. Before my hangover fades away, let me write it all down to preserve the intricacies of our journey :)
Our day started last Nov 5, 2012 at 3:30am as our wake-up call. Everyone only had 3hrs of sleep from our previous agenda (church service > funny incident at lunch celebrating Alvin's bday > zoobic safari > dinner celebrating Alvin's bday again > groceries > 1.5hr drive to the villa in clark > panic mode > Jath finally arriving from his joyride). As we departed the villa around 4:45am, the road was still dark and empty. We were pointed to a different direction from someone who's not "tiga-dito" hehe. Few hours later, the sun begins to rise.
We made it to Sta. Juliana at 7am; registered at the local tourism's office, applied sunblock, geared up our things, then off to the 4x4 ride!
My group was lucky enough to have the roofless 4x4. We stood the entire trip on the bumpy road of lahar shouting, clinging on the bars, poking fun on each other, laughing, eating up all the fresh air taking pictures and just being mesmerized by the beauty of the surroundings. We still haven't gotten to the hike part yet!
The other group in their "roof-full 4x4" :p
Toblerone Hills ~ a foreigner naming it such. Obviously why :)
Notice the mountains behind and the hills? The latter are not really hills but are formed out of lahar
An Aeta community living in the middle of Lahar
Trailing up, you'd find more communities and schools
Our "roofless" 4x4 got stuck in this stream of water!
Finally! Jump-off Point
Minutes past 9am, we arrived at the jump-off point. Here comes the challenge! The sun was high up as we trek our way. It was still a smooth one. Everyone was enjoying the sun and the rocks, picture here and there. Imagine a vast open land with high walls on both sides; in the middle is a straight rocky path of around 20 meters (?) wide. Sometimes the terrain will take you through streams of water with current so strong it will push you along it's flow (similar to the one where our 4x4 got stuck). The streams of water we crossed was average of knee height. Hence, im proud to be wearing a Merrell sandals instead of rubber shoes (special mention to puma shoes haha).
And the trek begins!
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And the picture never stops hehe..
Come 10am, we were so drop dead tired, or at least was I! The sun was already scourching my skin and the terrain was sloping higher with bigger rocks and a more narrow unlevelled path! We kept on asking Kuya Arman (our tourguide) how far the crater is. He said: "1/4 na tayo...ng 1/4"... O.o
Bigger rocks ahead
Come 11am, we sighted a rest station where we ate our packed lunch and had CR breaks. There was even a tank full of spring water, not to mention it's cold and free! Guess how much manong was selling a bottle of cold Coke up there? P80! "Kayamanan ang tubig dito!"
*No picture in this stop, I was so hungry!!*
Before 12nn, everyone was quite excited as we reached the signboard. This is it!! Stairs towards what we've been dying for!! But man, those were no ordinary stairs as they were so high reaching knee-height!! Finally minutes after we exhausted all our strength, there I saw the gateway towards Heaven!! (With Jath sitting there as if claiming the first spot haha). Everyone was elated! Exhaustion all drained away instantly!
Not as elated as we look but really, everyone was proud of that moment!! :))
The crater was so much of a majestic view. The green-blue lake was like jewel to the mountains surrounding it. It is shallow on the shore side until there's a complete drop few meters from it. The shore with boats on it gave me a chance to rest there as I absorb every detail of this beauty. The bright sun added light to the colors of Mt. Pinatubo right before my very own eyes. Simply put, im in awe of God's infinite creation..
View from the top of the crater
My topmost fave shot! All-Nature!
Panoramic Shot on the shore inside crater :)
Panoramic Shot :)
Winner Shot! (Wena and Kris missing lang :c )
Time tells us now to get up and start trekking back before night reaches us. It's around 1pm when we started to head back. For me it was a lot easier than trekking up. However, some of us started encountering injuries like slipping down the stream and bumping onto a rock. I myself had toe cramps and both of my Achilles' heels were bleeding due to the scraping of my sandals on the sunburnt skin. It was a long exhausting trek going back plus our longing made it even seemed longer.
Moses with the cane and Joshua :p
Imagine my feet now with the tan-line of that sandals O.o
At last, we reached the jump-off point at 5pm. We already sat on the entire 4x4 ride exchanging stories and painting the nature in our memory bank for the very last time. That was, for me, my 2nd best memory of Mt. Pinatubo with sunset views on the wide mountains.
Picture with Kuya Arman, our ever-ready tourguide :)
P.S. Sabaw na kami lahat during that time hehe..
Everything was amazing. Even the people who lived there were really warm and accomodating, esp Kuya Arman who assisted us the entire trek to the point that he might be risking his own life in that kind of work. He earns P400 on a day-trip aside from his carpentry profession. He told us stories about Mt. Pinatubo, the eruption, the experiences with other trekkers, and many more sentiments. He was fast to aid us of our injuries. The locals there were friendly enough to wave at every stranger they see. The Aeta community we saw have banana trees around their nipa houses as their living. It's really humbling, at least for me, on how they can live with such simplicity in touch with only what nature offers. They also wanted to experience Manila life. As we crossed the middle of lahar with a nice sunset view, Kuya Arman was also in awe of it. I then told him that there's not much of that in Manila. Somehow deep inside of me, I would also like to experience their kind of life where everything is just simple, where you wake up each and every day to the wonderful creations of God surrounding you, where you are reminded almost always that God is the beginning and end of all things. Other than that, almost everything is meaningless already :)
We travel, some of us forever, to seek other states, other lives, other souls.
-Anais Nin (french-cuban writer)
