Marge, Jandy and I at the summit

The others woke up by 8 AM and we all had breakfast at Mang Ed’s place.  We soon prepared to climb the mountain’s peak.  Jandy and I were joined by Rainy and Marge.  Lulu, still under the weather, decided to remain and Vi stayed with her.  We left by 9 AM, bringing along our cameras and mineral water bottles and entered the trail blazed along the tall and sharp cogon grass. It was getting hot as we arrived after 30 mins. at the edge of the light forest.  We had a last look at the campsite on the mountain’s shoulder, its tents but pinpricks to our eyes.  The forest cover was a welcome relief from the sweltering heat of the sun but the trail was extremely muddy as this forest is frequently cloud shrouded.  We literally had to crawl our way up, clinging to tree trunks and hanging vines for support.  Rest stops were frequent and we soon exhausted our water.  After what seemed another eternity, we soon reached the clearing at the peak, tired but exhilarated. 

View at the summit

Eureka! We made it!.  Jandy and I finally conquered our first mountain, the highest in Batangas for that matter.  I sent text messages on my mobile phone to Grace and Cheska and got a congratulatory call in return.  After the all-important photo session for posterity’s sake, we made our way back down the mountain, crawling in reverse this time, arriving at the campsite in time for lunch at Mang Ed’s store.   After lunch, we decided to leave early and make our way down the mountain. After dismantling our tents and packing our stuff in our backpacks, we thanked Mang Ed and hired Eduardo, Jr., Mang Ed’s son, to carry some of the ladies’ backpacks.  I, for once, decided to carry my own pack. The descent was faster, with fewer rest stops, but harder on the joints and toes.   We arrived at the Mountaineer’s Stop-over Store after an hour’s hike, drained a huge bottle of Sprite and changed into dry clothes.  We were soon on our way back to Manila, taking the more scenic Lemery/Tagaytay City route.  We had stopovers for a photo session at the Disneyland-like Fantasy World residential resort in Lemery and a short visit to my almost finished residence project at Southridge.  We were back in Manila by nightfall.  I had a dead toenail when I took off my shoes at home.