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...