Painting the town a little brighter: March 2014

I was introduced to serious hiking August of last year. I’ve been up and down the mountains for seven months already and still I hunger for more. A familiar silhouette has always intrigued me. Somewhere in the south resting in its grandeur is the mountain they call Makiling.

view at start of Sipit trail

Rising to 1,090 meter elevation, Makiling or Maquiling is said to be a dormant volcano and classified by PHIVOLCS as a potentially active volcano. Mount Makiling was the first National Park of the Philippines (Proc. No 552), prior to its transfer to the University of Philippines, Los Baños. In 2013, now known as Mount Makiling Forest Reserve, it is now declared an ASEAN Heritage Park. Thank you for the information, Wikipedia! J

It’s been three weeks since my last climb....three weeks!!!! Can you imagine how restless the past weeks have been to me!? For someone who’s been out there almost every week, it’s hell!

With just one goal in mind, I began my week-long posting of one-liners on facebook. See if I could stir some adventurous spirits from my dear friends. Luckily, a reply came in. And came another and another....and the rest was bedlam! Who would have thought that scheduling could be so time-consuming! Grrrr!!!!

After too much persuasion and disagreement, the date was set! Thank God!

the eight virgins of Makiling

Below itinerary is solely based on my personal climb. Explanations on the end part of itinerary. Feel free to comment.

Mt. Makiling Traverse (Sipit Trail)

Entry Point: Brgy. San Felix, Sto. Tomas, Batangas

Exit Point: UP College of Forestry, Los Banos, Laguna

LLA: 14.13°N 121.20°E, 1020 MASL (Peak 3), 1090 MASL (Peak 2)

Hours to Peak 2 / days required: 1-2 days / 8-10 hours

Specs: Major climb, Difficulty 6/9, Trail class 3 with roped segments

0600 Board Lucena via JAC Liner Buendia (Php 82)

0805 ETA San Felix, Sto. Tomas, Batangas (Sea Oil Gas Station) – got stuck in traffic due to Fiesta celebration

0811 Ride tricycle beside 7-11 to Eco-Park in Sitio Jordan (Php 20/each)

0823 ETA Eco-Park (jump-off and registration area). Register (No fee required). Secure guide (Php 70/head)

0835 Start trek to Sipit Trail

0925 ETA Station 2 (Kambingan area – rest station and last water source)

0935 ETD Station 2

0958 ETA Station 6

1012 ETA Station 7 (Junction of Palanggana - left side and Sipit trail - right side)

1135 ETA Station 14. Early lunch.

1210 ETD Station 14

1216 ETA Station 15

1221 ETA Haring Bato. Start of Melkas Ridge.

1310 ETA Peak 3. Photo opt. End of Melkas Ridge. Start of Wildboar trail to Peak 2.

1440 ETA Peak 2 (Mt. Makiling Summit – not much view here L)

1455 Start descent to UPLB Makiling Trail

1503 ETA Station 27

1535 ETA Station 22

1615 ETA Station 14

1640 ETA Agila Base

1700 Rest at nearby store selling variety of refreshments including buko (Php 20). Habal-habal area.

1742 ETA Picnic area

1818 ETA jump-off/registration area of Makiling Trail. Hot shower (free)!

1900 Walk down the road. Wait for jeep ride to Grove (Php 8)

2030 Dinner at Sulyaw sa Grove (Php 58 – my meal)

2110 Ride jeep to Olivarez Plaza (Php 8)

2140 Ride DLTB bus back to Buendia (Php 99)

2250 ETA Buendia

2300 Home!

We left Buendia late as some participants did not make it on time....including me (8 minutes late. Late nevertheless!)

We arrived late (again) in San Felix due to traffic caused by re-routing of vehicles. It was the town’s fiesta! ‘Well, what do you know’! Good thing that the weather was on our side.

Drop off area to San Felix is at Sea Oil Gasoline Station. Beside it is 7-11 convenient store where tricycle terminal is located. Tell the driver to drop you off ‘basurahan’ or Eco-Park. Although they are more accustomed to’basurahan’.

Eco-Park building in Sitio Jordan

After 12 minutes, we arrived at the registration area. We then listened to a brief orientation and secure guide before starting the trek. I must say, the locals there are very polite and the guides are very attentive to us. One guide even gave us soursop (guyabano) that he found along the trail.

the virgins with the guides

Past 10AM when we arrived at the junction of Palanggana and Sipit trail. From there, we paid for the guide fee and bid ourselves goodbye to our guides. Reminders were given by our guides right before we proceed with our trek. Armed with not-so good navigational skills and some mountaineering instincts, ‘us’, the eight virgins of Mount Makiling continue our journey to Santo Tomas trail.

After an hour, we reached Station 14 and decided to take our early lunch. While eating, I tried recalling how many roped segments we've encountered so far. I lost count. I'm too hungry to even think. Cool breeze fanning over us was so inviting that we decided to extend our break from 15 to 30 minutes. During these times, we got to know our 2 new friends (ahem!), Sir Greg (wall climb discount!) and Sir Jorge (loved the camera).

the virgins with Sir Greg(grey polo) and Sir Jorge (orange longsleeve)

By 12:20, we arrived at Haring Bato. This is where we lost track of time (me, personally). The view from here is so vast. You can see the Malipunyo mountain ranges right in front and Mt. Maculot on the right side. Even Peak 3 is smiling proud. The shots are endless! I didn’t mind getting roasted from the burning sun, besides, the wind made a good balance. Thank God for the perfect weather!

Rob at Haring Bato

Malipunyo mountain ranges as seen in Haring Bato

Mt. Maculot perfectly viewed in Haring Bato

We entered the ‘Wildboar Trail’ past 1 in the afternoon. There’s only two things in my mind, leech (limatik) and mud (putik). Guides informed us before the trek that ’limatik’ are nowhere to be found, at least for that week because there hasn’t been any rainfall for the past two weeks already. Hallelujah! But still I can’t help but check myself every 2 minutes. ‘Yeah, I’m that paranoid! It’s also the reason why I slipped four times. I’m caught between avoiding the leeches and protecting my camera, not a good combination! Note to self; bring a compact camera next time I come here.

the virgins in action!

the muddy 'Wildboar trail'

The Wildboar trail seemed eternal! The muddy trail made it more difficult to maneuver but we’re still very thankful that ‘limatik’ are not of our concerns at that time. Inside this wildest trail; we jumped, we ducked, we swung, we bent, we fell and got dirty, we got knocked by the unruly branches, we laughed and we never gave up! Finally, we arrived at Peak 2!

At Peak 2, all I can say is that, ’this is it?!’ Yes, its elevation is past 1000 meters. Small flat ground with bushes covering what might have been a good view. I didn’t even get to see the 3 white crosses up there or is it still there? A little frustrated and tired, we left five minutes after that with no pictures at all. Yeah, we’re that frustrated and disoriented if that really is Peak 2.

And as the old saying goes, what comes up must come down. We pull ourselves together for the last leg of the traverse. We reached Agila Base 20 minutes before 5 and started the nonstop rocky gradual descent to Makiling entry point. By 6:18, I officially finished the traverse.

KC at Agila Base

at the endless road to Makiling entry point

The hot shower was the best reward after that rocky downhill road. 7pm came, I’m squeaky clean and unapologetically hungry! The dinner at ‘Sulyaw sa Grove’ was the second best reward. Haha! For less than 60 pesos, I was filled. After dinner, we indulged in ‘Lety’s Buko Pie’ which was a present from Sir Arnel’s good friend, Ma’am Kathleen.

my dinner. ooops! forgot to take picture of the 'imbudo rice'

Sir Arnel and Ma'am Kathleen with the buko pie!

I’m glad we pushed through with this hike. Some setbacks were ignored but a lot of reminders made this a big success! My sincerest thank you to all who shared their experiences, pitched in their ideas and gave us those friendly reminders.

to more mountains!

I’m more than happy that everyone was safe. My turn to pay the bus fare.....I’m dozing off.

Till then!

After our fulsome meal at Aling Taleng’s, we quickly got up and head on to our next agenda – The Nagcarlan Underground Cemetery.

Just to give you a slight background on this historical landmark in Nagcarlan, the Underground cemetery was built and designed thru the headship of a Franciscan friar Vicente Velloc in 1845. It is actually a chapel with an underground graveyard 15 feet below. Inside of the chapel to the left is the flight of stairs leading to the tombs which housed 36 niches. Buried bodies are that of Franciscan priests, high officials and some elite Catholic families. The underground crypt also served as a safe house for guerrillas around 1896 (Filipino-American war) wherein meetings and battle plans are being devised. It was declared a national historical landmark by the National Historical Institute in 1978.

We were lucky to have been there because the shrine curator was present at that time. After the brief background and some rules while inside the chapel and underground, we began to take pictures of the place (camera flash is not prohibited) including the image of Santo Sepulcro.

the Shrine Curator

image of Santo Sepulcro

the original flooring are still intact

the famous hole on the chapel ground

the original wooden door of the chapel

The eerie and creepy underground crypts were too much for us. So after 5 minutes, we left the underground place and continue of photo opt of the chapel.

the underground crypts

the small arc to the crypt

According to the curator, the reconstruction of the inside chapel was put on-hold because of budget issues. You can also see vandalisms on the walls of the chapel. Too bad considering that this place was declared a historical landmark.

what's left of the original ceiling after the reconstruction

rampant vandalism on the walls of the chapel. tsk! tsk!

At present, the chapel no longer holds regular masses except on the Feast of Christ the King and during Holy Week. The ‘senakulo’ or staged presentation of Christ’s last days during the Lenten Season is also performed here.

No entrance fees are collected and the place is open to public from Tuesdays to Sundays, 8:00 am to 4:00 pm. They also sell delicacies and souvenirs inside the chapel.

souvenirs inside the chapel

We left the place past 4 in the afternoon and made our way to the last leg of our trip, Liliw!

Liliw, Laguna is known to be a haven for shoe aficionados, giving Marikina a run for its money when it comes to shoe industry. The shoes are lined up when we arrived there. They’re like inviting us and who are we to protest! And so, the hunt for the perfect shoe....began!

that's Kufi with my shoes!

After less than an hour, I gave up with just one pair of shoes. Tired but happy, we retreated back to Los Banos....but wait....there’s more!

This is it! The final, final leg of the day - St. Bartholomew Church in Nagcarlan. This magnificent church was first built in 1583. It was renovated in 1752 but was partly destroyed by a fire in 1781. In 1845, it underwent reconstruction adding a choir loft to its original design. This project was headed by Reverend Vicente Velloc, who also built the Nagcarlan Underground Cemetery. Such a visionary, if I may add!

image of St. Batholomew church

In spite of the rain, we rushed to the entrance of the church hoping against hope that the church is still open. Damn! The front door was closed! But we didn’t give up. We went on the right side of the church and talked with the church coordinator. We requested in our most polite manner and our most appealing innocent gaze (Push in Boots eyes) and viola, we’re inside the church!

The lights inside the church are all out except for the altar. We can’t help but marvel at the beautiful altar in front of us. Of course, we did not forget to utter our sincerest prayer and gratefulness for the safe activity we had that day.

St. Bartholomew altar

On our way out, we were accompanied by an altar boy who graciously toured us to the wide choir loft and to the belfry. St. Batholomew’s belfry is known to be one of the favourite locations of movies and television shows included that of ‘Kampanerang Kuba’. The altar boy even told us stories, both educational and eerie while we were inside the bell tower. But that won’t stop us from doing the never-ending.....photo opt!