OFF WE GO...
We went to sleep at 11pm, woke up strictly at 3am. One of the coldest showers in my life. (And to my surprise, many more to come...)
At 4am we were at the Partas bus station in San Fernando La Union waiting for a Baguio-bound. Bus arrived at around 4:30am, the bus employees stepped out of the bus for a short break, as did so many passengers. We couldn't tell if there were spots for us. My partner in crime was excited much, decided to speak loud at one of the employees, but the man only looked at him like he's asking a weird question. We were puzzled. I observed the man and he was walking cockily along the side of the station fluffing his collar. What a weirdo!
Finally, the conductor noticed us and told us to wait so he can see if we still have a spot...and we did. Our bags loaded, I sat down at the center seat on the back of the bus, and in front of me, my partner sat on a broken bus seat. I couldn't help it, I fell asleep, but poor Keken didn't. He was up all the way to Baguio. He said our bus nearly crashed with another bus along Naguilian road. Yikes! 6:30am we arrive at Baguio City at the bus station near Session road and grabbed bfast at the Jollibee nearby to decide what's next.
THE SLAUGHTERHOUSE
7:45am we were off to the "slaughterhouse", which sounds weird but it's the nickname of the bus stop at Slaughterhouse road in Baguio. We opted to take our chances with the bus because no way in hell are we paying 8k pesos for a jeepney to Mount Pulag, and we had our doubts on hitching a ride with other hikers enroute. While waiting for the bus, an older man took notice of us and our packs and asked if we were headed to Mount Pulag. It turns out he is a guide from Kabayan Benguet, one of the few who guide hikers through the steep Akiki Trail or through the mystical Fire Mummies. His name is Mr. Timmy Camso, and we talked about Mount Pulag and the hike and the trails. We told him about our plans to visit Kabayan also and the mummies, and asked him if he can be our guide. He told us to just ask for him at the municipal office in Kabayan.The NA Liner bus to Kabayan arrives just before 9am. A lot of people are boarding the bus with all their goods. Some people in this world would not ride buses that look like the buses that go to the mountain provinces, but personally I think other buses would not stand a chance. Buses that look rusty, rickety, run-down crawl through those mountains, they will get you to where you want to go...and the drivers are just...I applaud their driving skills. 9:30am the bus leaves because it is already full. The further the bus travels away from Baguio, the scenery changes to the better. The mountains are enough to take your breath away.
BOKOD, BENGUET
Honestly, the ride is not that bad. I tolerated it, no motion sickness at all. There was only one part that was damaged by a recent landslide. The highway has hairpin turns, paved all the way to Bokod, Benguet. Along the way I was shooting my camera away because of the scenery...mountains, rivers, lakes..1130am the bus stops at a roadside eatery for lunch. I noticed that everyone was eating crazy fast, and we noticed that the food servers could not understand Keken talking in Tagalog, so i had to do all the talking in Ilocano. Off the bus went again. We were thinking our destination is yet far, and was surprised that we got to Bokod, Benguet at 1215pm. So we got there just over 2 hrs. We started walking up to the DENR station, and my partner noticed some bikers in front of a sari-sari store along the ways so he asked if they take hikers up to the Ranger's Station. They said YES so in my mind I said "YES!", because that saves us 3hrs worth of hike up to the Ranger's Station. At the DENR office we registered, watched the video, and found out that we're the only ones to hike up that day (geez! we're really having the peak by ourselves.) 2922 MASL up, up, and away, the playground of the gods awaits us. Highest peak in the island of Luzon, 3rd highest peak in the Philippines, 106th prominence in the world. And I am going up there. I'm not a mountaineer, just a dreamer. Crazy indeed.THE MOST INSANE MOTORCYCLE RIDE OF MY LIFETIME
'Insane' is an understatement. As we hopped onto the motorcycles, we had no idea of the horrid road conditions that await us. I don't have a picture of the road. It was that bad. For fear of being immodest I didn't wanna hold on tight to the motorcycle driver, but on the other hand, my fear of being flung from the bike was stronger. How the bikes managed to stay balanced on the rocky earth is beyond me. Then there was that shortcut that literally had me closing my eyes because it was just maybe 5inches away from sheer cliff. Many times my butt experienced airtime. It was a miracle that I did not pee myself, and we got to the ranger station in one piece. Sheesh!
We got to the ranger station maybe it was 1:45pm..maybe 2pm...I don't know anymore...my knees were trembling, and I was laughing out loud in my head. We met with a guy who gave us a guide and two porters. I was going to carry my stuff, but then decided that I wanna do this executively. If I were a mountaineer then maybe I would carry my stuff. But I am not a mountaineer, I am stupid. Hahaha. No formalities, no pre-hike speech. Off we went.
WALKING, TALKING WEIRD
As soon as we started walking, I started having altitude sickness. The air was thin and I could not get enough of it. In my mind I was like 'shit!' because it just didn't occur to me that it's a possibility. But everyone else is walking coolly so I walked...I huffed and puffed but I walked. Then it started sprinkling. Thinking it would rain heavy Keken handed me a raincoat. So i had a jacket on and the raincoat and it was like HOT. I seriously thought it was going to be cool up in the mountains, but I was just hot. I was thinking of my light gore-tex jacket that I left at home, I was thinking of just bathing under the rain. Then I looked at the guys and they were all wearing jackets and I am thinking, "are they seriously cold? or am I the only person here with a weird thermoregulation?!"
1st quarter of the hike was uphill. I felt like dying. I wanted to quit, but I looked at Keken and he had that face. The 'I wanna get there bitch!' face. So I stopped the foolishness, took frequent breaks, and pulled up my hiker panties. I was wearing layers and I shed like 3 layers of clothing. And I wasn't even carrying anything but my camera bag (that has a few lbs of lenses). I barely took any pictures because everyone was walking and I didn't wanna hold up the porters. I was relieved when we got to camp 1. And all that drama was just before camp 1. Sheesh! It wasn't helping that our guide was not the chatty type. Thank goodness one of the porters had an mp3/fone and was playing music. The trail was alright, not too muddy, well-maintained. Every now and then we take rests and have snacks. I loved the humid mossy forest. I wish we were doing a royal walk in the forest so i can take my time and take pictures. Instead we were doing the executive walk. Esp. me since I am not carrying my own pack. Porters are hulog ng langit!!!3/4 of the way towards camp 2, my body has acclimated. But I noticed Keken started talking weird to me about hypoxia, hypoxemia, and he was walking weird, kinda swaying. And I looked at him and I knew he just needed to stop and rest. Dude, I have never been so scared for him. He looked blue to me; altitude sickness must have crept up on him too. After that we continued on, until we got to a water source...cool mountain spring water spilling on the side of the trail. I thought we were still far, but to my surprise we made it to camp 2 after a few steps! YES!! I think it was around 4pm or 5pm...I didn't have a watch, but keken said we only walked a little over 2 hrs.
Camp 2 was empty. We were the only hikers up there that day. Because we were the only ones there, our guide wanted us to be close by so he told us to just set up our tent under their kubo. We didn't hesitate, after all it was freaky that come darkness we will be the only people on Mount Pulag. The porters decided they were going back to the village.
