We spent Sunday morning until past noon cleaning our bikes. They were so dirty after our Caliraya Lake camping and it’s only now we were able to clean it and properly grease the bike chains and all hinges (since all of them are folding bikes). Then I folded them before storing properly since the southwest monsoon has started to rear its ugly head.

Towards the end our bike cleaning, we got drenched under heavy rain. We enjoyed the shower but the thunder started crashing and it was getting louder so we had to get inside and have hot showers in the bathroom.

It’s lovely staying in bed while the raindrops lull me to sleepiness. I didn’t get enough sleep last night as I was awake until past 5 am this morning for some inexplicable reason. My sleeping pattern has gone out of whack again. Anxiety about work and other work-related issues, I guess.

I just went to Lazada to search for camping cooking sets and then fell asleep (that’s how I make myself sleepy these days). Upon reflection now, it’s too bad that habagat (southwest monsoon) season is already here so I (or I and my girls) can’t go camping again.

The last time I went camping prior to our Caliraya trip was 21 years ago when my two college friends and I climbed Mt. Maculot in my parents’ hometown. The idiotic thing was we didn’t bring cooking gear since it was just a spur-of-the-moment decision. We survived on food sold by vendors along the way, like boiled eggs and cooked rice. Well you know, when you’re 20 yrs old, you’re bound to make idiotic mistakes because YOLO.

Then I went to climb Mt. Pinatubo a few years later, without practice, so I ended up collapsing near the crater lake due to sheer exhaustion. I ate lunch at 3 pm lying down. I don’t know how but I did. Thank God for the Aeta guide. The next trekking was in Morong, Bataan, when I visited the Aeta community there for my article on government’s neglect of indigenous peoples’ basic education. It was not a challenging climb but it was exhausting just the same. We had to cross hanging foot bridges. My guides were a National Scientist and a fulltime UP Pahinungod volunteer and they trekked like it was nothing. We didn’t have to camp though since we stayed in the former refugee center used during the Vietnam War. (Yes, aside from Palawan, the Vietnamese boat people were also brought to Morong and some other parts of Bataan since the American bases Subic and Clark were just near).

I need to get back into shape and climb and go camping regularly so I can do Mt. Pulag. But that would take a while. My short-term goal is to camp in Sagada, if Kiltepan Peak is already open for camping again. They closed it after a fire in 2018. We are populated with a lot of irresponsible campers that’s why Mt. Apo was on fire for days some years ago. The last home of wild Philippine Eagles, take note. If Kiltepan is closed, I can try Marlboro country also in Sagada.

That’s why when I bought my camping gear (tent and sleeping bag), I made sure it would be able to withstand the precipitation and cold in Mt. Pulag. The setup in Decathlon Masinag labeled the tent and sleeping bag (can keep me warm at 15 degrees) as Mt. Pulag-certified.

I will try to go around Rizal first since these are the easy climbs, like Daraitan and Batolusong. Then in Batangas would be Mt. Batulao and Pico de Loro (<< this one can terminate at the beach resort Pico de Loro… OMG now I remember, I trekked here in 1996!). Mt. Gulugod Baboy can be done alongside diving in Anilao (this needs a week-long leave of absence). Once I get the hang of it, I can try Pulag with some friends (and I will be hardpressed to find such friends now) before I become too old to climb mountains.

You know what’s funny? I grew up at the foot of Mt. Makiling. I had been climbing it casually when I was bored or if I wanted to get a away for a while. But I never ventured beyond Mudsprings because of the limatik (blood leeches). Makiling is notorious for those creatures. I was traumatized by the sight of my brother pulling out these leeches off his legs when I was a kid after one of his climbs. Bloody hell.

I don’t think I will ever reach Mt. Makiling’s Peak 2 because of that.