pissing in the woods

I climbed Mt. Pico de Loro the other day, and it was my first time to climb a mountain of that magnitude. To put this into context, my previous experiences with mountains solely involved driving a car up there and then walking around.

Oh don't worry, this isn't going to be one of those lame, self-gratifying "It was so difficult but in the end I made it" posts. This is going to be one of those "I just climbed a mountain and check out the pictures I took" posts. Hopefully.

Backtracking a little: This climb is a series of many open climbs organized by the Loyola Mountaineers (LM for short). If organizations were people, this one would probably be Rap's other girlfriend. Or boyfriend, depending on whether it's a girl org or a boy org. Anyway, bottom line is that Rap super freaking loves mountains, and he loves this org. (You can check out his blog and see that most of what he posts is mountains and LM [which actually is not saying much, because he doesn't post a lot anyway]).

And for the longest time, I've wondered why. Because mountains are... Well they're nice to look at, but beyond that, I don't understand why people would willingly subject themselves to the tortures of hiking for days just to see some greenery at a higher altitude than usual.

So when the sign-ups for the open climb to Pico de Loro came out, I was pretty interested. I saw it as my chance to get to know this thing, Rap's other significant other, and maybe come to love it myself.

As with all of my other out-of-town posts, I am not going to go into a narration of events. Narrations bore me. I like pictures. So here are pictures.

Unloading our packs at a DENR station at the base of the mountain in Ternate, Cavite.
(This is Rap's malong. I bought it for him when he came to visit CDO!)

Okay I know what I said about disliking narrations, but I hate to skip to the next picture without some introduction:

The trek was four hours long. We got a couple of rest stops (and one lunch stop) along the way, but even then, I felt tired as hell. Like my heart was going to pop, my lungs were going to collapse, and my knees were going to give up on me. 

And I really hate admitting this out loud, because I like to think that I'm a pretty strong person. But I'm also damn stubborn. When he saw that I was getting really tired, Rap (who was my group leader) kept on asking if I wanted to take a break. I always did, but in my head I screamed NEVER!!! Because to do so would mean admitting defeat, and worse, admitting that I was a baby. I may suck at mountain climbing, but I will never ever admit to being a baby. 

View from the campsite.

This is what the campsite looked like the next day. Lots of other people camping along with us.

When finally we reached the campsite, I wasn't as relieved or happy as I thought I would be. I was just... Really tired. At this point I just wanted to stay in the tent in the stifling noontime heat and go to sleep, but we didn't come all the way to the mountains to just lounge around. So just when I had recovered some of my strength, it was time once again for more climbing, up to the summit of the mountain. Oh joy. 

That's the peak of the mountain. The Peak O' de Loro. 

The trek to the peak took "twenty minutes," although it felt like another eternity.

The view of my butt. It's amazing how Bel was able to take this shot when I was so busy trying not to slip and die. 

When we reached the peak, there was an incredible 360-degree view of the world. And the wind was crazy strong, like it was enough to send a small child flying into the air like a kite. (I'm probably exaggerating now but it did feel like that.) At the peak, you also get a view of this phallic protrusion, which I think is called Parrot's Peak: 

(c) Bel

Rap and Bel asked me if I wanted to climb up there to join some other people, but I knew I had reached my limits. So I stayed put on the first peak and just enjoyed the view. But I'll definitely go up there next time (I'm kidding).

The view of the first peak (where I was) from Parrot's Peak (where the braver souls were). I'm one of those little dots at the top. 

Me, Rap, and Bel when they returned to the first peak. 

After some picture-taking, it was time to return to the campsite to prepare dinner. The climb back down from the peak was actually fast and not terrible. Maybe it was because I kept sliding on my butt. 

Back at the campsite:

There's something very Neil Gaiman-y about this picture.

Dinner was chicken curry that Zech improvised. He surprised us all with his culinary genius. Did you know that if you cut off the bud in a clove of garlic, you won't get that lasting bad breath stink? Rap cooked us up "his" special recipe after that: chocolate fondue with marshmallows! So yummy. Tristan and I fought over the rights to lick the pan clean. 

Then the five of us in the group squished into a tent to get to sleep. It was pretty cozy, but in the early hours of the morning, it was deathly cold. I wished I had brought some real insulation for my legs instead of just thin leggings and shorts.

The next morning, it was still freezing, even though the sun was already up. We drank hot Milo. So delicious. And Bel (and Zech) cooked us some breakfast burrito. It was made of whole wheat tortilla bread, cheese, egg, peppers, cucumbers, and chicken with "Mexican spices." 

We were given the option to go back to the peak to say goodbye, but I really wasn't up for another hike. So Bel and I stayed at the campsite. She checked out the cliff, I lounged around in the grass. The sun was starting to warm up my legs.

 That dark patch in the woods, where my feet are pointing at, is actually the entrance to the "restrooms." Really, it's just more forest in there. No toilets or sinks. I think that second to the climb going up, the part I hate most about the climb was peeing without privacy. Basically, how it works is that you go into the restroom, wander around til you find a place where you're hidden from view, and then go do your business on the ground. Going is a lot more complicated for girls than it is for guys, because girls can't just unzip their jeans, aim, and then piss. It's really scary too, the possibility of somebody seeing you with your pants down. And on the two occasions that I peed in the woods, there was a nearby dog who barked and growled at me while I was peeing. OH MY GOD.

Anyway. After breakfast, we took some group photos (I'd estimate there were about 30 of us on the climb) and then proceeded to trek back down. Going down was actually fun. It's much less of a hassle than going up is, presumably because you're carrying less stuff in your pack. And because gravity is on your side. 

Going down took about 3 hours, I think. We stopped to cook lunch at the base camp, a delicious tuna pasta, which Zech orchestrated once more. Where would we be without this man!

At the end of it all, sweaty and smelling like dirty gym socks, I was happy. It was a great climb, and I'm glad to have spent some time with my group mates! I made a couple of new friends too, which is great. I'm probably not going on another open climb any time soon, but who knows, maybe I'll surprise myself. 

If you'd like to sign up for an open climb too, check out LM's Facebook album for details! :)

(c) Joey Torres