We waited for our van in McDonald's for over 2 hours. Some were cranky already. Is it here yet? Is it here yet? Is it here yet? Haha. Anyway, we packed our belongings in one van, where the A/C was not working, and saved ourselves seats on the other van. Then we trudged on.
En route to SLEX via C5, Tish mandated Kuya Driver make a U-turn along Shaw since the traffic was quite heavy. Kuya, without having any second thoughts, obliged. Traffic was pretty bad from Makati to Nichols, thus we opted to take the skyway. We finally arrived in SLEX after two grueling hours.
We picked up Celine in San Pablo and got on. Sleeping heavily aboard the van, we were surprised the driver made an abrupt stop at 4 AM. Turned out there was a family waving for help, their car traveled onto a ditch along a curved road. We saw the driver with blood splattered shirt, and upon realization that I was a trained First Aider, I decided to check the scene. But being a First Aider is not enough, one should also have been a Girl Scout. I did not have any bandage with me. Good thing Kate has with her a first aid kit, albeit without a bandage. The driver had a terrible gash on his forehead. It was where all the blood came from. (I still cringe at the thought.) They have a baby with them, and I volunteered to hold him/her for a while since every body was a bit panicky. Our other van driver called for the Barangay help. After an hour, the local helped arrived, and our organizer, Sir Jovi of Adventurista, called on us to carry on.
We were a bit shell shocked, to say the least. And for a few minutes more, we were not able to get a wink. But the heavy eyelids were beckoning for sleep. We had breakfast. Quaint little carinderia just along the National Road. We carried on. Saw Mayon Volcano after about another three hours.
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| Magayon na Mayon |
We stopped over for a couple of photo shots. No matter how many times I've seen it, Mayon is still and will remain majestic. At every other angle, it is shaped in a perfect cone.
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| Troop |
We were already late as per our itinerary. We decided to have late lunch at Irosin. But apparently, it was farther than anticipated. We had to stop somewhere in Legazpi to have lunch in another fastfood chain. Then tread on to Bulusan. Most roads were under maintenance, and only one-way. Sometimes, we had to wait for the other lane to pass by before the road can accommodate us. Our vehicle was steadfast at keeping a pace of under 80 kph.
After approximately 17 hours, we finally arrived. We were happy that the weather was cooperative.
We were already late, so we were not allowed to trek to the camping site at Lake Aguingan. We have our orientation with Sir Philipp.
We decided to stay the night at Lake Bulusan. Kayaked a bit. Supposedly you can also do some fishing, as there are fishing nets scattered all over the lake.
We had to take health checkup. But it's only simple BP and Oxygen level. Apparently I have low O2 count, only 91% compared to the average of 95%.
We are the 11th group to trek Bulusan after it was opened again sometime this year. I'm the 115th climber.
We made camp. Changed for the night. And snoozed off.
This is day 1. I will make another post for the Major-Climb-turned-Day-Hike. Haha. :) Tweet
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