i hate malepunyo.

i took me a while to think for a title for this entry. got an idea from a fellow groupmate's blog. anyway, it was a hellish experience for me. from the time i went down to nampucha peak, and until we reached the wash area, i have decided to quit bmc.

we were nine in our group, five trainees and four members. my groupmates were cecil pops, mawi, jomen and ryan. our group leader was bossing, the amci president, assistant gl was loree, in our trail head was rico, and the last member was jb (my personal sweeper :D). i have to admit, i had the best group. they never left me. and i think im one of the luckiest trainees in that climb --- i have the president of amci and my bf as my sweepers. :)

we arrived at pse around 2:30 am. we had no sleep. crammed packing. then wala pang sausage mcMuffin sa mcdo! sa lahat naman ng araw. grrrr. anyway, we snoozed the whole bus ride to our jump-off at talisay batangas. at the start of the trek at ilog de lobo, i was at the middle of the group. but as the trail got harder i found myself slipping at the end of our group. the first major obstacle we faced was climbing tebebes creek falls where we used ropes to pull our own weight with our backpacks, on slippery and mossy rocks as footholds. but it wasn't that scary. there's a rope anyway, and rico was at the top of the wall ready pull us up. so before lunchtime, we are all soaking wet.

after the river, next hurdle was the nampucha trail. nampucha talaga. i can't beleive they call it a trail. was really glad i brought a trekking pole. but my knees got a real beating. my knee support was useless. and i thought that was hard. the nampucha down hill was 3x harder. it was there when i started to question myself.. bakit ko nga ba ginagagawa ito? bossing knew that i was having a hard time. at that point, he asked jb to transfer some of my load to him.

the trek was extra difficult for me. first, i am shorter than the average person. a simple step for average guy woule be a leap for me. at ang tatangkad ng kasama ko! i think pops and bossing is beyond 6 feet. jb is 5'11''. jomen is one of the tallest girls in our batch. and because of my existing knee condition, my knee angle range is limited. i cannot do squats. to make it worse, i misplaced my stabilized knee brace. so i just wore my nike basic support, na super luwag na. and of course, my phobia, my fear of heights and falling. first i hyperventilate, then i my legs freezes, then most of the time, i cry. i had countless episodes. and all of my groupmates witnessed it. kahiya. the trail seemed endless. despite of it all, we reached the campsite as a group at 4pm, 2hrs ahead of the i.t. . :) the last group with the sweepers arrived at 6-7pm.

was very tired when we reached the campsite. good thing bossing insisted on bringing good food. we had seafoods for apetizers (c/o bossing) - shrimp, crab sticks and smoked salmon. and for dinner, we had corn soup, sweet and sour pork and chicken curry. yum. i was so tired, i had no intention of joining the socials and participate in the presentation. buti na lang hindi natuloy yung presentation.. every move i make triggers muscle cramps. before 9pm, i locked myself inside the tent.

day2. wake up call was 430am. everybody was up fast. 5am, we were just about to start cooking, then it started to rain.. hard. but we just continued on, super basa nga lang. but im proud to say we had a decent breakfast. we had longganisa (pre-cooked), scrambled eggs, knorr chicken noodle soup and rice. (dapat talaga laging pre-cooked :) ).

we have no choice to break camp in the rain. basang basa lahat, and did i say it was freaking cold?!? i was shivering the whole time. anemia makes it hard for me to control my body temperature. and so much for bringing extra (dry) socks. around 7am, the group was good to go, but unfortunately the lead pack was still cleaning up. bossing instructed us to go to the lead packs' camp (para daw ma-pressure). on the way to their camp, i met some of my fellow trainees. some of them are just starting to cook breakfast. then i saw susan, she told me her shoes gave in, and she would have wear sandals for the rest of the trek. i felt sorry for her.

bossing really wants us to be in schedule and follow the i.t.. around 730am, with our raincoats on, we started the muddy and scary trek down the slippery slopes of malipunyo. according to rico this would be 20% mud trek and 80% river trek.

in about an hour of trekking, i found myself falling behind the group again. so its me, bossing and jb again. some of the trail are too vertical, slippery, and scary for me. bangin talaga. there was one time that bossing set up a support rope just for me. i was a little grumpy at that time. i was already thinking if i would still attend the basic life support training next week, -- so at least i'll be a certified "first-aider". the hell with mounteneering! but i havn't told anybody that i would quit bmc, even jb. i was also thinking on how much would i get in selling my backpack, and if there's anybody willing to buy my trekking shoes. or maybee i'll just keep them all and just organize our own "fun" climbs,, probably with frisbee friends.

the mud trek lasted for almost 3 hours (i think). and then i heard the sound of the river. i was relieved. at least we are getting closer to home. the river trek was a different challenge. no more ravines, buts lots of water and mossy rocks. water levels ranging from my ankles, to as high as 5 feet (siguro). on some parts of the river, my backpack just kept me afloat. most of the members like jb, jumps from rock to rock and avoid getting wet. as for me, i usually sit on rocks and slide myself down with the water.

after countless falls and shin bumps later, the exhaustion and pain is slowly eating my sanity. by that time i told jb that i will be quitting. syempre major support pa rin. he said im just saying that because of the situation.

the lead pack and 1st and 2nd groups were waiting for us in the first lagoon. "ang tagal nyo naman bossing, kanina pa kami dito". well that's primarily my fault. i've heard that there was a shortcut in that lagoon, and it only 2 hours away from our wash area. but we have 7 more hours of treking accourding to i.t.. i was already thinking of an excuse to use the shortcut. but i don’t think bossing will let me. i was unusually quiet at lunchtime. i was hungry but really i dont want to stop because that means prolonging my agony.

so we were one group again after the the first lagoon. i was behind ryan and jomen then. i was observing how they step so at least i have an idea on how deep the water is. i was able to keep pace with the rest of the group for some time, and then we let a small pack of members o.t.. then i started to pull away from my group again. i (that means with bossing and jb) was able to catch up with the them at the lagoon slide. it was a little scary, but i did it with little fuzz.

hours later we reached the backdive lagoon. while waiting in the queue, i though i would not have problems with it. i know how to swim anyway. i was hesitant to backdive because i wont be continuing bmc anyway. but sige fine, tumatagal pa lalo, so i agreed. i had a hard time positioning myself in that huge slippery rock. and when im on the ledge, i cant seem to move my feet. i started crying.. again.. kakahiya!! jb was actually doing a great job giving me moral support. so after a couple or so minutes,, nagawa ko din. the whole group cheered.

from the backdive lagoon, bossing said that we were only 1.5 hrs away from the wash area. it was around 4pm then. sakto lang before it gets dark. ayokong mag-night trek. so i gave my all. i slowly drifted away from the group again. i dragged my knees up every rock and cried the pain away, but still without stopping, i pushed on.

6pm, we're still in the !#*$#*@! river. it's getting dark. bossing instructed me and jb to get our headlamps. unfortunately, i didnt expect a night trek. i took jb's and my headlamp when we were packing earlier that morning and put in at the bottom of my pack. :( so kalkal. jb let me use his petzel headlamp coz my cheepo headlamp was very faint. thanks again j! 30 min had passed, i saw 2 headlamps in front of us. it was bajay and a fellow sweeper, bearers of good news. "hi claire!" he greeted me. "konti na lang..kaya mo yan". i smiled back. was really glad to see them but smile lang kaya kong gawin. i was wishing bajay would carry my backpack upto the wash area. haha. but i know im not really the one they’re waiting for. i felt sorry for the rest of the team behind us.

after 30 min, dry ground! but its not over yet. it was too dark. the trail was again too muddy, slippery and steep. adrenalin maybe, but i rarely bother bossing and jb for assistance :) it was around 7pm, i heard my groupmates cheering at the end of the trail. they said they were only 10 minutes ahead of me. bossing gave me a high five. ang bilis ko naman daw pala. :)

at the wash area, i felt all my bumps and bruises again. can barely walk. but was just happy that its over. we had arrozcaldo for dinner. the lead pack was there at 4pm. the last group with the sweepers came in around 11pm.

bajay's pics here.