Hiking in Batangas - Environmentallica, lots of waiting and Neil up to his old tricks

Last weekend Neil and I, along with two other AYADs here, Natalie and Sally decided to join a Pilipino hiking group called 'Evironmentallica Pilipinas' (http://www.environmentallica.org/home.htm) for some hiking in a region south of Manila called Batangas. Our aim was to climb a picturesque peak called Manabo Peak on Mt. Malipunyo.

We woke up at 4.30 am on Saturday morning to catch a taxi down to the bus station to make the 6am bus. After waiting about a half hour at the bus stop for the 6 Pilipino Environmentallica members (how could we forgot about Pilipino time!) we caught the bus down south to Lipa City. After arriving two and a half hours later, we again waited around for about half an hour while we organised a jeepney to take us to the 'jump-off point' (the start of the climb) and for the Pilipinos to order some lunch from the local turo turo store (point point store - basically someone cooking meals out of their house for you to buy). We arrived at the jump off at about 9am where we again waited around while deciding whether we should have lunch now and then start the climb up the mountain, or 3 hours later at noon. After a prayer to start the walk – the group finally decided that we would hike up half way to a rest spot and have lunch there.

Neil with our leader, Ace

Earlier we had thought we would be doing some serious hiking with this group, but later discovered that it would only take 2 hours to get to the summit! While initially we were a bit disappointed that we weren't doing a bit more of a challenging hike, it is still really hot here and after 5 minutes we were all hot and sweating and happy to be doing a smaller warm-up hike in the Philippines. Plus it was fantastic just to be out of Manila and in the real countryside of the Philippines.

Em half way up

We hiked along a small dirt track surrounded by coconut trees and lush jungly forest. Along the first part of the hike we would occasionally come across local houses with their families and give a wave or stop and chat. After about an hour we reached the water source and had lunch while cooling down under the ‘fresh’ water coming from the local stream. Next to the water stream were two Christian alters near the water source as well as a small hut and some bamboo benches. We rested there for a while as it was still quite hot, and got to know the Pilipinos a little better. I tried some melhado (liver) and 30 day old aborted chicken egg – not balut – which is aborted duck egg which is semi formed – this was more like small little round balls which tasted pretty plain and chewy. (Is everyone impressed with this funky food that I have been willing to try? I am!) After ‘making chikka’ (chatting), resting and eating, we then departed for the summit which was only about 45 minutes away.

A large white crucifix marked the summit which showed picturesque 360 degree views of the surrounding landscape – from Laguna (where we were last weekend) south to Taal Volcano. It was beautiful.

We then went down to the campsite which was pretty close to the summit and rested before putting up the tents. Fortunately we got them up before the weather started moving in and the rain started coming down. It rained for about 2 hours and we were pretty much stuck inside our tents (although the Pilipinos were happy to be outside in the rain in their shorts starting to prepare dinner and drinking the local cheap spirit tuba - a sugar cane alcoholic spirit!). Once the rain started to subside we joined them in preparing the meal and sharing the tuba. Neil had already started on his cheap 18 peso (AUD$0.20) 375 mL bottle of rum while it was raining so he heartily joined the Pilipinos in their drinking antics.

The rain coming in

Once dinner was prepared we all sat down in front of the tents to enjoy the meal of rice, chicken adobo, tuna with vegetables, and spam. Afterwards Neil led everyone in conversation and in singing popular songs common to both the Philippines and Australia. He was funny . . . for a while until the shots of tub, whisky, gin and brandy got larger and larger!

After a while we went to bed while Neil continued to extend his ‘diplomatic’ topic conversation pieces with the Pilipinos (such as “I will shoot Marcos” – response = “he’s already 6 feet under”, and “if you see any old white men with pretty Pilipino women, call the Australian Embassy line” answer = slightly confused nods of the heads!).
The next morning, unsurprisingly, Neil was very hung over and stayed in bed while we were cooked a nice breakfast. We headed down from the summit pretty early because by 7.30 is was already getting hot. Half way down we bought some buko (young coconuts) from some local boys who cracked them open with their machetes for us to drink the juice and eat the flesh. We reached the jump off point at about 10.00 then waited for another 2 hours while lunch was cooked (so the food wouldn’t spoil?) before catching a jeepney and bus back to Manila.

So while all in all we only did a little bit of walking, a lot of waiting and a lot of sweating, it was a great weekend. The Philipinos (Ace, Nads, Nivram, Leo, Joma and one other whose name I can’t remember) were so friendly and hospitable (they cooked all our food and carried all the supplies) and it was great to get to know them a little. The surrounding countryside and view from the summit was beautiful. And it was great just to get outdoors and see how local Pilipinos live outside of Manila and the cities.

posted by batik billy @ 10:27 am