Beautiful Kibungan... (Part II)

mornig after..alvin woke us up..i slept so deeply (once again stuck back to back with aries..his face already kissing one wall of his tent!!).. aries had to shake me up and i still wanted ot curl up.. it wasn't that cold compared to Ugo but still it was cold!

lorie and i cooked breakfast..and james helped out as well.. Menu for the day was bangus, yang chow fried rice with ham and mixed veggies.. we also cooked bacon and eggs.. food trip!! the four guides ate with us as well, so cooking was like cooking for an army..

going to Mt. Ooten... (such a funny name) apparently, ooten is some sort of a wild berry - as our guide told me..several years back there were so many of them on this particular summit that the locals used it merely as a reference.. yet again, before we could reach this summit we had to climb up on a very steep incline.. the face of the mountain which was rocky was already carved froming stairs. the guide told me that this was the only way for the locals since there are no roads in the area.. oftentimes, the new teachers assigned to this particular village will give up due to the fact that they had to hike up and down these mountains to go to the school and to go home..

some households will contend themselves with salt and fish sauce and onions for condiments.. nothing else, since bringing groceries up and down is quite hard.. but i saw some locals bringing rice and vegetables up.. i can't imagine this kind of lifestyle.. what if you forgot to buy an ingredient down where the town is.. does it mean you have to go down again? or go without for a week? there are no sari-sari stores up here..

the land is ruggedly beautiful.. but it can be harsh as well..

we were blessed with good weather with only a few short drizzles here and there.. several times we took long rests.. lunch area was just a kubo with a couple and four kids living there.. we unloaded our books and notebooks and proceeded to eat long lunch.. they served us local coffee and i had three cups! talk about energy booster..

there were so many hanging bridges in the area and going to the second camp site we passed a very long one with another steep incline.. we took our time since we could still see some trainees and members along the bridge taking photos.. you really couldn't help but take a lot of photos.. from walls filled with flowers or walls that are so narrow only one person could pass and filled with ferns on both sides..

magical.. that is what i thought of this mountain..

second night was fun as usual..kuya mar slept early but alman was there to keep the party and alcohol flowing.. i drank wine, brandy vodka and gin.. (in different order) sitting in the middle was not a good idea, every now and then a shot glass would come my way coming from two different directions, i ended up holding two shot glasses with two different drinks..

the air was punctuated with our laughter and shrieks from people who had leeches attached to them.. aries almost went crazy rubbing off lotion, dragon balm (whatever that was) and any other stuff he could rub.. he even put salt around our tent and in our clothes just to keep those bloodsuckers out!!

i was quite inebrated really.. went inside our tent without closing the fly and i woke aries up telling him that i brought along my kermantle rope.. that he SHOULD teach me how to do knots! NOW! hahaha as if i would be able to do any knots, as clumsy as i was.. the good thing there was that i slept like a baby despite the fact that our tent was pitched on an inclined ground.

after breakfast, we slowly made our way down.. going back once more to reality.. another mountain.. another weekend filled with adventure..

exhausting.. yet very very fulfilling..

Kibungan... a place i will revisit without any hesitation...