NO OTHER WAY BUT UP: THE UGO EXPERIENCE 2/3

STRONG WINDS

Battered by strong winds, the tents stood their ground

From the time we reached the campsite, we were already battered with super strong winds. The tents were difficult to assemble because we could not stabilize it. There should be two or three persons erecting the tent. From inside the tents, we tried to sleep the night away. Waking up more often in the night and at dawn, the wind did not stop but it made the clouds disappear. Just days after the full moon, I got to witness the beautiful lunar brightness that enlightened the whole campsite. I went out of the tent and there was the roar of the mighty wind but the tents stood silently. Everyone was fast asleep. I made my way through the bushes and relieved myself from the burden.

BREAKFAST ABOVE 2K MASL

All smiles as the ladies had their first meal at the campsite

Wake up call was around 630am. I rounded everyone up to see if they are alright. Thank God, everyone was ready for another day. We started unpacking our provisions, looking for a place to assemble our stoves and we prepared our breakfast. Some of us are busy trying to answer the call of nature. The chill was around 14degrees C. I was busy looking for small parts of logs that we may use as benches. I collected broken branches to cover our cooking area from the wind. Hot water was shared and coffee aroma filled the air. We then prepared the tarp and the ground sheet for our meals. Pegs were collected to stabilize our small mess hall and we also stabilized our tents. Breakfast is ready. We hopped in, recited our grace before meal and we feasted on the variety of food that we have prepared. We talked about the experience yesterday and how we survived the climb and the weather.

ALONE AT THE CAMPSITE

By 10am, the group that came ahead of us, broke camp and hiked towards the summit and towards their traverse course to Mt. Pulag. Only then, the group was left alone at the campsite. We took the liberty to make the whole campsite our own. We took pictures and selfies and chanced upon the clear skies that we saw the surrounding view. Everyone enjoyed the breathtaking view. Jump shot, climb shot, low shot, high shot, selfie shot, dangerous shot, and all kinds of shots were executed.

INTRUDERS

Checking up on the visitors

Not for long, cows started to arrive at the campsite. We were warned by the guide and porters to secure our wet clothing because cows usually nibble on them like food because they like the salty content of the human sweat in the clothing. They also will rummage into our food supply. So, we were shooing them away with just about anything we can pick from the ground. Unfortunately, we could not find stones so we use their own dried wastes to hit back on them. But in vain, they come around and we could not let them leave us. We just tried to keep them away from the tents and from the mess hall. I guess we are in their habitation. We are the intruders.

THANKSGIVING MASS

Celebrating the Holy Eucharist at 2,000MASL

At around 1130hrs when we were all tired from all the picture ops, we rested and we thanked the Lord for the strength to bear all the hardships and for the wonderful creation that he has kept from those who are not brave enough to climb the heights. Under our makeshift mess hall, we prepared for the Holy Eucharist. The Saturday before the first Sunday of Advent we were encouraged to prepare for the coming of the Lord. We partake in the holy communion and we spent moments of silence for our personal intentions. It was wonderful to celebrate the Lord’s mysteries on top of the mountain that we can call heaven on earth.

LUNCH TIME

Still the rice was half-cooked. Who cares, we are hungry.

After the Misa is Lamesa. We are now busy with preparing the lunch. I made sure that everyone is involved in food preparation by assigning two climbers for each meal but unfortunately, the notes were left in the van. So, everyone just helped in every way they could. I can see that they really like the setup. It’s reminiscent of the bahay-bahayan that as children we usually play. Some are washing the dishes, some are cooking, some are preparing the drinks, while some are taking pictures. Documentation is also necessary. Food was ready in a matter of an hour and we squatted back again in our mess hall to enjoy share the food. But as of lunch time, our cooks found it hard to cook the rice well. They always end up with half-cooked rice.

ASSAULT TOWARDS THE SUMMIT

As we near the summit

The plan was to go by batch since we could not leave the campsite with cows roaming around ready to eat our provisions. Good thing that after lunch, a group of mountaineers arrived and started to camp. Our porters also came with them with a 20-liter potable water brought from the nearest water source. We paid P300 for the service.

So that we can all go climb together the summit, I requested one of their leaders of the other group to look after our campsite and our provisions from the cows. Thus, at 1500hrs, we commenced our assault to the summit. The summit is just a 15-30min trek from the campsite. The weather started to be windy and foggy again and we don’t have any vision of what lies beneath us and what lies ahead. After a breath-catching hike, we arrived as what appeared to be the summit. But no! I was looking for the marker. There was none. We tried to look for it but we could not find anything. Are we on top???

What's left as the summit marker. We made it to the top!

Almost frustrated in looking for the marker, I called barangay Tinongdan. It was then brought to our attention that the summit marker was stolen by bandits. Oh, poor thing. Oh, what a pity. We wouldn’t have any photographical evidence of our reaching the summit. But anyway, we found a piece of marker at the summit, a piece of concrete marker with “PROVINCE” engraved on it. We touched it with our fingers and then took our picture with it. Then we commenced the partying on top of Mt. Ugo but we never forgot to pray for the success of the climb and pray also for the souls of those who perished from the Philippine Airlines crash victims.

Wacky!

Summit pose

DINNER PREPARATION

"What do we have for dinner girls? Half-cooked rice again?"

After an hour on the summit, we commenced our descent to the campsite. When we reached the place, we were astonished by the multitude of mountaineers who arrived. There were already tents sprouting around. We got to meet other climbers, greet them and welcome them.

Fire dance and fire pose

For fear that the same wind will batter us this evening; we started to prepare our meals earlier. We prepared also our breakfast and lunch for the following day since our wake up call time is at 0500hrs and our ETD is at 0700hrs. Hence, we won’t have much time to cook for our meals during the descent. I started to collect firewood so that I can start with a little campfire always being cautious that a large fire might cause forest fire because of the wind. While they were busy cooking, I was lighting already the campfire.

Bad news again: Rice was half-cooked. So, we need to fry it after cooking so that we can still eat it. Breakfast was ready as well as lunch for tomorrow. We secured it inside the sack. Dinner was ready and as the night started to descend, we were already taking our dinner. The campfire burned steadily and it helped us warm ourselves. It started to get colder and colder by the hour. Good thing that the wind was not so strong. We spent longer times outside of our tent. The cooks were busy frying the half-cooked rice while we were waiting for the others so that we can continue with our socials. But when, they were already suffering from the cold, one by one, crawled back into their tents and dozed off. We were not able to pursue with our socials this evening.

Alas! Gotcha Moony-moony!

IN PURSUIT OF THE MOON

As we went deeper into the night, other group of mountaineers busied themselves with their socials over a glass of wine. This will help warm the human body but I read somewhere that this is not and advisable practice. We don’t have that provision. We only have the fire to warm our bodies.

We were watching in patience when the moon will show itself again so that we can take pictures. The longer we waited; the dimmer was our chances to see the moon. It showed just for a few seconds then it is covered by the clouds. We really did not have a good chance. When it started to drizzle, we called it a night and we took off inside our tents. Oh, moon, we know you are there just above the skies. If you are shy, then we will sleep.

SCAVENGER

We were awakened in our deep sleep when one of our mountaineers called to us. She said that there is a dog rummaging around our provision. What came to mind was the breakfast and lunch that we are going to take with us today. I was really alarmed. When I peeked from the tent, I saw a black…puppy. It was not even a dog yet. I run the light of my penlight and saw that only the trash bag was disturbed. Our sack of provision was still untouched. Good thing that we were spared. 

... TO BE CONTINUED.