Mount Maculot

I made plans before the start of the Holy week and this is what I did. I gathered Niel, Enan, Egay and Tonio and invited them to climb Mt. Maculot for the 2nd time around. When they agreed I open up that we could also go to an island just under Anilao of Batangas. I told them that we have a place to sleep on and the beach are more likely beautiful and beyond that the place is known for thirty (30) dive spots to explore and a mountain to hike. Well, that's how I convinced them to join my adventure for the whole Holy week.

Our schedule is to depart Manila to Batangas on Wednesday (April 8, 2009) as early as 5:00 am. All five of us are all in complete gear and ready to roll that day. We can feel the excitement in the air as we all know that this can be more fruitful than our first climb as a group of Sanyapak.

As we are on the bus we are all inform that we have to take a jeep at Tambo becasue the bridge that Cuenca has is under repair or maintenance. As we jump off the bus and ride a jeep going to Cuenca the jeep pull over to pick up another two passengers. A filipino and a eaurupian young lady (well that was my first impression on her and I will telll more about her later), anyway, as we travel the road we need to get off at the bridge and cross it at the right side of it. Planks of coco lumber was made by the carpenters as our foot bridge to cross to the other side and as we crossed the bridge we need to ride another jeep to our destination in Cuenca.

We arived at B. Laqui Street exactly as we planned and immediately ride a tricycle that will take us to the jump off of Mt. Maculot. When we arrived at the jump off we noticed more and more people are going to the mountain. Maybe since it's Holy wednesday they also decided to climb it as to explore. As we ascend the mountain we noticed a store that sell a ice cold buko (coconut) juice. They told us that there are five more stores that we can see as we climb up to the summit. As we walk again we stop over at the second store and ask her somehting. Her name is Aling Mercy and she's the only one that sells buko juice at PhP 5.00 and PhP 15.00 for the halo-halo. She inform us that as long as we climb higher the price will do so. Well, why? Carrying a bulk of ice and two water jugs (filled with water of course :P) is no joke. It is very strenous especially if she's the one doing it all. Anyway we also met his son at the fourth station or the fourth store that sell buko juice as well but the price is PhP 7.00.

From left: Aling Mercy with his son in green shirt, Me, Niel, Egay, Tonio and Enan (red bonet)

On the climb we also met a drunk guy whose telling us that it is more easier for him to descend the mountain when his all drunk. Huh? well if you see it for your self you'll be amazed how he do or did it.

When we depart the last store we knew that it's gonna be hot on the next minute as we will pass the "kugon" of thatch field. There, you can now see the Taal lake and some part of the Batangas region. We met four young men there and asked us to take their picture using their Canon camera and they did the favor to us by using Enan's camera to take our group picture. Then after that I decided to climb the kugon as fast as I can because I know I or we need to be fast that minute because more mountaineers are hiking now and we need a cooler place to pitch our tents.

As I arrived the summit or camp site of Mt. Maculot a store on my left side surprises me. Why? The store has instant coffees, instant noodles, nuts, Coke, Sprite, Royal and they also have a halo-halo :D. As the rest of my team arrived we then look for a place for our tents. After pitching the tents Niel decided to cook us our lunch and I ordered five halo-halo for us to cool off the heat and that time is very, very hot at twelve noon.

After we eat our lunch we decided to hang a bit at the first store we saw. The owner of the store is Richard and it was 24/5. Well, 24 hours in 5 days only, for the Holy week :P. Anyway, there are also two stores that you can see there but they all sell the same stuff but Richard's store is much mor cooler to stay. We also met Sir Ed an environmentalist. A cool guy too but not as funny as Richard, :D

Richard's Store

When more and more moutanineers come to the summit we decided to move to another place so that they can also be refreshed or rejuvinated at the store. We explore the summit and saw more people on their tents. We laso saw the two mountaineers that I have mentioned before. Then Tonio show as the water source of the mountain. We ascend at the back of one of the stores. As we descend we saw more young men on their back singing and some are just day dreaming. As we arrived at the water source we saw three people taking a bath. The water source is a "bukal" or spring. The bukal is not that big but enough to refresh you.

As we climb again to the summit, we stop at the bottom of it to escape the heat. We talk there about our plans for the next day. At late afternoon we ascend the summit and check our belongings or tents. As we do so, we return to Richard store. We noticed the female foreign mountaineer taking pictures. When she took ours I asked her if she's gonna post it in her blog or something. She gave me her flickr account to view her pictures that she take. Her name is Sarah, the sweet lady from Canada. I asked her where's her other companion and she replied that Tomas (name of the pinoy mountaineer) is taking a nap on his tent. Then there started our conversation with our gang. To tell you the truth, I'm not that well in speaking english continuously, I could feel my nose bleed slowly, hahahahaha.

As the dawn approaches, Niel decided to prepare our dinner and Tonio and Egay will help him on it. Enan and I decided to go to the rockies to take some pictures. As we go there the thatch is much more higher than ours and as we descend again we decided to take some pictures at the ridge. Then came the whole family of mountaineers with their nine year old kid and they assault the rockies with excitement. As we saw them rejoicing at the rockies Sara and Tomas came and also wnet to the rockies. As the day goes to night we agreed to return to our camp and eat dinner. After we ate and cleaned our place we then go to Richard's store and talk there about our next trip on the following day. Then, it's lights out for us.

We wake up as early as 4:00 am and pack our bags then after it we all go to the rockies for the picture taking. We noticed that some are still sleeping as we pass by their tents and some are cooking their breakfast but when we arrived at the ridge we all then descend it to go to the rockies. As we then ascend now for it I accidentally bump my head on the rock and Tonio told me to watch for the big rock that could hit me but it was too little too late 'coz I just did, :P. When all of us are all on top of the rockies we saw the majestic view of the Taal lake and the Batanagas and on top of that the sun is rising as beautiful as it was. What a wonderful world we have....

After we took some pictures we all then descend the mountain and went on to our next destination. Next stop, Tingloy Island.