Pico De Loro Birthday Climb

24 January 2013

After my historic first-time climb at Mt. Maculot in Cuenca, Batangas earlier this month, Pico De Loro (lit. Parrot’s Peak) at Ternate, Cavite happened to be my next destination hike.

This perverse mountain-climbing desire is largely growing on me these past few weeks―that reverie of me wishing to go high and wishing to go high and wishing to go high, and then I was there and then wondering why the hell do I want to be high, literally, given that I’m afraid of heights.  I wasn't even done with my second mountain yet my mind's looking forward to the next already.

Blessed with pleasing weather and sweet-dispositioned climbmates, the hike commenced safely. Photoshoot sessions are inevitable along the way; photographing those otherworldly scenes, surreally captured on those lenses. After two to three hours of racing against gravity, I reached the peak, but had no particular desire to stay there longer than necessary as my intestines were already trying to escape from my body. Wished I had stronger nerves, really.

The adventure didn’t end there though. There was another peak we had to climb, which was a matter of life and death to me. I had to scramble up that slightly polished lump using my both hands gripping those few growing weeds along it to avoid a tragic fall. The wind was hardly blowing but I still managed to do some sightseeing, overlooking the grandiose view of yet another wondrous creation. Right in front of my eyes was what seemed to be a caricature of ferocious nature. I liked the feeling during that moment; the great outdoors felt not a foreign thing to me.

The end of lunchtime signaled the start for the descent. We drove our way back to Los Baños and wrapped the day with a long, good sleep. A good 22nd birthday present for myself indeed.