Climb 032: YearEnd Blast

DESTINATION: Mt. Manalmon 196 MASL

JUMP-OFF POINT: Sitio Madlum, Brgy. Sibul, San Miguel

SPECS: Minor climb, Difficulty 2/9, Trail class 1-2

CLIMB DATES: December 29-30, 2012

What better way to end the year than to go outdoors with the person closest to my heart? We had a fight the night before. I had gone crazy, I slept sobbing in one of his plastic boxes piled downstairs. He woke me up, telling me that if his left ankle could only allow him, he would carry me up to our bed.

It was such a moving scene...

The following day, it was raining hard in San Pedro, but we were advised by the advance party that it was all sunny in Bulacan. We packed our stuff around 3pm. We were to meet up other peeps who were joining us at 7pm in Cubao. At 5pm, we were tidying up. We left San Pedro at 6pm. We arrived at Ayala, Makati around 7pm and instantaneously, he decided to have me take a taste of the street food, Pares. What better way to do something new than do it with the most special man in the world? Time seemed to have stopped as we enjoyed the ox brain soup seasoned with soy sauce.

We took the taxi to get on time in Cubao. We had to wait for the others, of course. We had to wait for the bus going to our destination as well. We arrived at the jump-off point around midnight and we decided to pitch our tents there. We had our socials--the balut edition until 3am.

We woke up early the following day. We could not decide whether to climb to the summit of Mt. Manalmon or wait for the advance party to climb down first so that Marc will have company. I decided to wait for them who camped at the summit. So we had breakfast first. The way up took only an hour and a half. The way down took less than an hour. 

Jon and I took the harder route back to the jump-off point. We had to swim and rock scramble. Now, swimming is one of the skills that I have that I am not very confident at. I can swim perfectly well at shallow waters. But in those deeper than my neck, I tend to panic. Marc was watching me swim through the shallow parts of the Madlum River, and when I got to the deeper side, I had some difficulties. He stood in panic and showed me a worried look. I knew that even though how much he wanted, he wouldn't be able to save me from drowning because of his injury. It was enough to keep me going--I swam hard and got myself to a safe part. I saw relief in his eyes, I saw love in mine... Whew!

We let the time pass by having videoke and balut session at the jump-off point. It was some relaxed weekender and a yearender with a big bang!

Extreme Adventure 005: BREV

Bridge Rappeling with Elle Viajera

Venue: Bitbit Bridge, Norzagaray, Bulacan

Trip Date: November 17, 2012

I was having some hesitations. I knew for a fact that some TEAZone intimates do not like me that much. A bigger part of it is obviously caused by Marc's ex-girlfriend, SC, who is a TEAZone intimate herself. Marc assured me that it wasn't at all true and that everything's going to go perfectly fine. Still, I was worried sick...

But the date had been set, people had already registered, my friends are coming, and Marc had to stay home because of his injury. And I had to go as the lead facilitator in his place.

The event went surprisingly well. The TEAZone intimates had been accommodating and friendly. I didn't feel any awkwardness. Marc had been right. Sometimes, I just have to trust his words and live by it. I need to trust him fully.

It was the first time for them as well to facilitate an event without Marc, and everyone needed some encouragement, which Marc had been been sending through text messages.

The event ended well. Some had to leave early. As for us who were left together until we reached Cubao, we had dinner together to celebrate its success.

One of the Events for a Cause I organized for the injured man who resides in my heart.

Climb 031: Climb for the Master's Cause

DESTINATION 1: Mt. Batulao 811 MASL

JUMP-OFF POINT: Evercrest Golf Course, Nasugbu, Batangas

SPECS: Minor climb, Difficulty 4/9, Trail class 3

SIDE TRIP: Chateau Royale

CLIMB DATE: November 11, 2012

With Marc being in a house arrest due to his injury, I took the initiative to organize events for his cause to raise funds for his upcoming surgery. It was pretty difficult to get people to respond to it because the people in TEAZone group page didn't know me and had not met me in person yet.

Still, I diligently sent out invites and even sent them a private message in FB. Most of these invites and messages ended up ignored. The people whom I had sent the invites and messages were probably had this in mind, "Why her?"

Marc was silently listening to my updates regarding pledges that some had placed. I asked the help of other TEAZone intimates such as Allan Ostrea, Jefferson Aligato, and Lei Inciong. And they have actively helped me out. Some wanted to be anonymous because of the fact that there was an obvious tension between Marc's ex-gf, who is closely associated with TEAZone intimates and participants as she is an active facilitator herself. marc didn't want to entertain the negativity and was merely focusing on the positive side and was asking me to do the same. I heeded his advice.

The day came and I was able to gather 5 people (namely: Lorna, Joseph, Jill, Meggy and Pauline) to climb with me. We were to do a dayhike and were to end the event at a man-made rock for some rock-climbing adventure. It would depict Marc a lot.

We were behind the schedule but were luckily able to squeeze the rock-climbing activity in the event, thanks to my connections in the mountaineering society.

We had some bulalo dinner in Tagaytay before heading back to Manila. I went straight to Marc's house and was surprised that he had his college friends as visitors. He introduced me to them and I only shared a thought or two before heading towards the bed as I so tired from the climb.

Extreme Adventure 004: BFF

Bridge Rappeling and Freefalling with Elle Viajera

Venue: Bitbit Bridge, Norzagaray, Bulacan

Trip Date: October 21, 2012

It was supposed-to-be our last event together, Marc and I agreed to part ways and disassociate ourselves from each other right after this weekend. But the cosmos that a different plan all along...

I was trying not to get affected by the worsening fights between Marc and I. I didn't like the fact that he was hiding stuff from me. I didn't like the idea that some of his groupies didn't like me and were saying stuff about me. I didn't like the idea that his ex-gf was there in his birthday celebration with this group, even though he had explained that it was a TEAZone event and his ex-gf, who is a TEAZone facilitator, was expected to be there as well. Marc wanted me to understand that. I just couldn't. And so, we reached a mutual agreement.

I focused my attention on the fact that I will be with my friends during the bridge-rappeling event, and that should get me going and keep me sane. It did. I was genuinely happy most of the time, except when the idea of losing him forever crept in. and then, I would again reach out to my jolly friends.

I was supposed to learn belaying and Marc was supposed to teach me the  basics. But you see, I was half-distracted...

There were 15 jumpers in all. I was the 16th. We all learned and got to experience Swiss and Aussie types of rappel. Some had a taste of the heart-racing free-fall.

Just after lunch, a turn of events got me to be indefinitely glued on Marc's life in the manner I haven't imagined. We were too proud to admit to each other that there was something special between us.  Even a rival said she felt that what Marc and I have was something they didn't. I couldn't tell, we had some funny ways to show that to each other.

That turn of events landed us in an ER and that night, I was forced by the cosmos to embrace a life that I didn't know I was ready for.

Extreme Adventure 003: RSS

Rock Scrambling and Spelunking with Elle Viajera

Venue: Norzagaray, Bulacan

Trip Date: October 20, 2012

PRELOGUE:  A dangerous exploit made safe for the kids by the roxmaster...

Marc and I had been talking about the rocks in Garay and I had asked him if I could have an event organized to scramble it with friends. He agreed. And so we planned it on the same weekend that we were going to have the bridge rappelling adventure in Bitbit Bridge, which is in the same area.

I posted the event and have invited people in FB. I got positive responses from them, especially the one that had to call me over the phone, Lakwatserong Kusinero. Cheffy is an FB acquaintance whom I haven't met in person yet. We would like each other's photos and would interact on each other's walls as if we knew each other. I would drool over his posted gourmet photos.

When he posted his itinerary for the next month on his wall, a few people inquired about this event. I gladly answered their queries. One of them is a Poi Coach and a Science teacher to gradeschool students. Her name is Mich/Fiammata Mic. She asked a lot of questions which in turn made me ask Marc for answers. At one point he thought that she was not really interested and asked me to ignore some of her queries, but the idea that we would have kids in our event got me hooked up.

In the end, we had four kids joining us, a parent, and Lady Fiammata herself. We also had Apple Boticario and Gary Bernard join us. Cheffy brought a friend, Jan Palermo, a flight steward.  Jill Amparo, Dingdong Reyes of DPM, and Dino Dangpaliw completed the 13 participants. If to include Marc and I, there are 15 of us in all.

The activity at the rock got us all sweaty and a strategic cool-down activity would be spelunking in a water-filled cave. The kids didn't want to wear helmets at first but when one of them started hitting his head on the walls of the rocks and the cave, they expressed gratitude that they were given helmets to wear.

The event ended around 6pm and we were to camp out near the cave. Marc chanced upon the caretaker of the house of his close friend, Mark Arnido, and so we were invited in to spend the night in one of their huts. The complex looked like some resting resort to me. We had socials before dozing off to sleep. 

Extreme Adventure 002: A Saturday in Garay

Spelunking Grey Caves with Elle Viajera

Venue: Norzagaray, Bulacan
Trip Date: October 6, 2012

I got surprised to get invited. "Come to the spelunking event with me," he said.

I didn't know who were going, and I got nervous. But the moment I got to the meeting place, getting from a sleepless night at work, I got at ease with the group.

Marc bought me breakfast. I ate it at the bus. My first time to be in Garay, the place he talks about over and over. True enough, the place was such a peaceful one, no wonder it offered him solace.

I easily got myself talking to the bunchies, especially Kris. She's as talkative as I am. On our way to the first cave, we went past a rock face. I asked Marc if I could climb it. I wanted to wow him with my climbing prowess. The group was impressed at my speed to get to the top. I hope he got impressed, too. But I didn't get to know, he was silent about it the whole time. He took pictures of me and the rest, so I couldn't really gauge what his eyes were telling me.

The first wet and watery cave I have ever gone to. It was fun to rock scramble in it. There were some dark areas and headlamps came in handy. The bats scared me a little bit, but Marc made them appear so friendly, my fear that gone dry after a while.

We took our lunch before heading for the next stop: the Pinagrealan Cave. The cave has a shorter route than the Grey Cave. Pinagrealan will always have that special spot in my heart and only Marc and I know why...

We were washing up by 5pm. And we headed back for Manila by 7pm. Marc was quite sweet at the bus. And I thought he stays professional in front of the participants. I was moved that when I fell asleep on my backpack, he took my head, put it on his shoulder and hugged me like he never wanted to let go. All who bade goodbye as they got off the bus saw us in that position--me all locked up in his sweet arms. I never wanted to wake up nor get off the bus...

Extreme Adventure 001: Rock Climbing 102

Love on the Rocks (Uling Edition) with Elle Viajera

Venue: Uling Wall, Wawa Dam

Brgy. Wawa, Rodriguez, Rizal

Trip Date: September 8, 2012

PRELOGUE: Yes, I am a dysgeographicoid. I have mild directional dyslexia. I can't read maps, I am having a hard time following verbal instructions, I don't remember where to go even though I had been to that place for more than 10 times already. It takes me a while to determine which is my left and which is my right. Under relaxed situation, it takes me half to a minute to figure it out. However, when in panic, my mind seems to play tricks on me, it just doesn't even try to.  And so, I thank the great Marc Gana for being so patient and for being creative in making me know which extremity to move next.

The Main Attraction

I had tried the walls twice before getting myself to climb in the outdoors. The outdoor walls that I was to climb was for intermediate climbers, so I wasn't expecting to finish any of the routes. There were two routes, whose names I actually forgot. What I remember is that I was able to finish the first route, with a few falls on the rope, of course. On the second route, I was able to finish halfway, which was perfectly okay. I shouldn't be too hard on myself.

The Uling walls actually leave chalk-like traces, so why it was dubbed uling still remains a mystery to me.

The Drama: Meeting the Ex-girlfriend

Marc thought it was too soon to have me join a TEAZone event. I insisted, telling him that a friend of mine was joining. He agreed. Just before I got to the meeting place, Marc sent me a message warning me that his ex-girlfriend, who is a TEAZone facilitator/belayer, was joining and had learned that Marc had invited the "girl that he was currently dating." The ex-gf got furious for I-don't-know-what reason. Nevertheless, Marc told me to relax and be calm and he will take care of everything for me. I trusted his words.

The moment we mounted the fx taxi that Marc hired to get us to Wawa Dam, I knew that it was going to be a hard time for me. The ex-gf insisted that Marc and she were seated next to each other. Ayos! I had to keep my composure. Marc didn't want to create a commotion as there were other participants joining us.

The ex-gf continued to assume the role of the current gf, buying Marc his lunch, collecting money from the participants, and demanding that Marc do not go near me and threatened that she would make a scene if he did. Marc remained calm the whole time. I couldn't. During lunch time, I brought out the food that I prepared for Marc the night before, didn't eat and was waiting for him to approach me and eat lunch with me. But the ex-gf hindered him from doing so. At that time, my patience was wearing thin, I called out on Marc and threatened that I would throw away the food if he didn't eat it. He motioned to me, and was pleading that I go with the flow. I was near to tears, so he ate part of the viand even though he was done eating the lunch that the ex-gf bought for him and insisted that he eat. Marc asked me to eat as well, but I was just too angry that I lost my appetite.

When it was time to pack and wash up, the ex-gf gathered the girls in the group, probably to gang up on me. Great, just great! Marc told me not to get affected. On our way back to Cubao, Marc got seated next to Lorna, instead, to my relief. The ex-gf had been put in her place, or so I thought. Marc and I were sending text messages to each other while in transit. He asked me to join them for dinner. I hesitated at first, but agreed in the end.

When we got off the cab, the ex-gf took one of Marc's heavy bags and again assumed the role of the current gf. She motioned Marc to stay by her side. I found it pretty hard to get myself to walk that Marc took my hand and guided me to the place where we were going to have dinner--that got the ex-gf angrier. At the doorstep of the restaurant, I stopped. Marc stopped, too and waited for me to go inside. The ex-gf stopped too, pressuring Marc to leave me outside. I asked the ex-gf, "Can you please leave us alone to talk?" She ignored my plead and continued to motion Marc to get inside. Marc didn't budge, much to her dismay. She started making a scene. So Marc asked me to go inside. I could see that he was having a hard time and I was making it harder for him, so I obliged. The ex-gf made it a point that Marc was seated next to her. I looked away and pretended not to get bothered, but deep inside me, my whole system was in havoc.

There were times that Marc would send me text messages to check if I was okay as I was not touching my food. I looked at him, sending him the message through my eyes. the ex-gf saw that and motioned Marc to go outside so they could "talk." Marc obliged himself.

When dinner was done, Marc explained that he was going to escort me on my way to the bus and that he and the ex-gf were going home to together since she will be carrying one of the heavy bags for him. That's when I started hyperventilating that led Marc to panic. He motioned the rest to leave us, including the ex-gf. But the ex-gf would not heed and insisted herself to be around us. When I got myself back, I heard them argue in front of me. The ex-gf was calling me ugly names. She claimed that I was flirting with her guy while they were trying to fix things. That did it. I butted in, "Marc, will you please tell us both if you were trying to fix things with her?" Marc denied it and she got even angrier and she threatened to hurt me. We were making an ugly scene, alright. Marc made himself a human shield to protect me from an impending attack from SC.

I was moved. SC agreed to leave the scene after realizing that she was making an idiot out of herself. And Marc led me to the bus stop, even offered to take me home. But I already got pacified, so moved by his actions that I got so confident that even though they went home together, I knew that he had chosen me over her. He kissed me goodnight on my lips in front of the ex-gf and the rest of the crew who were waiting at the other side of the road.

That special day made me conquer three challenges: the rocks, my handicap, and the drama.