That one time in the year where we are allowed to be contemplative is here again: the coming of the New Year. For those who are still into making New Year resolutions, I say, “good for you”. For those who, like me, have stopped, and just relied on hoping for the best (haha!), I say, “yaaay for us!” But no, really, if you’re going to make plans for change, this is the best time for it. For me, personally, though, I’m just glad to be able to look forward to 2016. And continuing this series of posts on the Tacadang Travel Challenge.
(Check out Part 1 of the Tacadang Travel Challenge here.)
Disclaimer: All photos are taken by me, unless otherwise indicated in the photos themselves.
I ended the last post with the rather lengthy rest stop that we had at the Buga Camp Site’s water source. If we hoped to be able to reach the Tacadang proper while it is still light, we had to scram and push it.
3:45 PM, we started off again. The sun finally decided to hide itself, and it turns out that the sun sets earlier in this place. So we were seeing fog settling in early.
Here’s Yvie trying to point out where we’re headed, which is Mt. Tagpaya and… well, as you can see, you… can’t see it.
At this point, we were winging it. Haha! Trying to rely on what little outdoors skills and instincts some of us had, figuring that this is the way to go since it looked like someone walked through here, and look, there are small signs pointing in that direction, like a twig or some branches or something. 🙂
4:15 PM, we rested for a bit, and got mesmerized by being enveloped with fog. Fog, I tell ya, not smog. 🙂
Here’s Flor, having an “A Walk In The Clouds” moment.
4:35 PM, I first laid eyes on one of the rocky walls, up close. I was shamelessly ooh-ing and aah-ing. 🙂 I’m thankful that, despite the fog, I was still able to see some of it.
There were a couple of water sources along the way so, unless you don’t know how to pace your chugging, then you’ll be fine.
5:00 PM, we came upon this huuuuuuge rock that had a small alcove under it. Kinda reminded me of a scene from The Fellowship of the Ring, only that was more on a precipice, and there was snow and sleet whipping over the people, and they had Aragorn.
As you can see, the fog was already so thick, so there was no view down there. So we just enjoyed the view up here!
It was here that we realized we won’t be able to get a glimpse of the sunset. D’aaaaaaw~ The groups before us were able to see it, though. Double d’aaaaaaw~ We made do with checking out the photos they took later on.
I think this is where the dangerous part of the trail mostly was, because we were starting to scale rocky cliff faces, with a foot trail that was carved just enough to accommodate one foot. There were some iron rails and pipes in strategic areas, but I suspect they are mostly there to break your fall in case you slipped, instead of serving as a guide, haha!
I’m afraid to think what’d happen if you’re dead drunk and you’re trying to navigate these paths. It’s an accident waiting to happen. I admit that, in some parts, I had to pause, because my knees were knocking together. No joke.
5:35 PM, we finally arrived at the crossroads, aka Mt. Tagpaya Summit. Yes, there are a couple of campsites there but, what did I tell you? We weren’t to camp there; we’re supposed to go to the Tacadang town proper.
We’re still 2 kilometers away from where we’re supposed to stop for the night. And it was already getting dark. So from that point on, we pocketed our cameras and held on to our flashlights instead. As much as I love taking photos (surely you can tell that by now) I was not about to risk life and limb taking photos in the dark!
Needless to say, we hiked for more than an hour until we arrived at the Primary School where we’re to spend the night. There was quite an episode of going round and round, because we didn’t have a guide with us (he hung back to wait for the last ones in our group) and there were no signs. But we came across several locals who led us to the School.
6:45 PM, we arrived at the School, where the first ones in our group have already settled in, and the community has started preparing for our welcome dinner. After resting for a bit, some of us took a bath in their (very) cold water, then hit the sack.
Now this is the part where I have to apologize to the locals and the organizers. They went out of their way to prepare stuff for us, and there were some fun activities and a program, but around half of us were struck dead when it was barely 9PM. For my part, I blame it on the late onset of my migraine hitting me. We ate what was left of our packed lunch and just curled up in our sleeping bags. 🙂
We didn’t bring tents because we were told the school will be used. It’s a good thing, I think, because I can’t imagine lugging tents through… all that.
In the middle of the night, I remembered coming to several times and hearing the sound of gongs and solibao, and sounds of merriment… but I was too dead to care.
Again, our apologies.
Oh! At around 3am, the ground shook. I was shaken awake, and some of us even went “that was an earthquake, wasn’t it….” and the one though that entered my head was, “ohdeargawd, the rocky mountains shook”…. then fell right back to sleep.
Day 2
RISE AND SHINE! I remember waking up at around 4:30 because of my bladder… but it was too cold to go outside, haha! So yeah, it became a real test of patience and endurance. Until some of us started coming to at around 6:00am, then we all rose.
6:25 AM, this was the first proper look I had at the school that took us in for the night. It’s Tacadang Elementary School, now known as Es-esa S. Alodos Elementary School. We occupied two classrooms, one for the males and another for the females. The grounds served as the venue for the program and dinner the night before.
We grabbed some of the local brewed coffee and headed towards this area that served as a viewdeck. Perfect view, I must say. What we’re looking at is yet another part of Tacadang. Yes, it’s a huuuuuge barangay. We’re at the Elementary School. On that other mountain is where the High School is located. I’m sure you can figure out what that implies. *shudder*
It was quite chilly, and the morning breeze was a breath of fresh air – literally and figuratively. So to warm up, some photo-taking session, while making quick work of the brewed coffee because dayyyyummm, the morning air just cooled it right up!
Let the tomfoolery begin!
I can tell the locals were just indulgently looking on, and they were all nice about it. Some even gave us a taste of their local basi, or fermented sugar cane wine, mixed with natural honey. I LOVED IT. We just had to buy some to bring back home. There’s a funny and frustrating anecdote about that, which I will talk about later… when I get around to it.
These kids were probably going, “what’re these city slickers doing?”
We then went back to the School and had breakfast, also prepared by the locals. 🙂 What’s the best match for a hearty breakfast? Loud and wild conversation!! And I gotta say this crowd was waaaaay loud!
We started packing up and cleaning up. With last minute photos inside the classroom, and outside.
We were even able to take photos with the Barangay Captain…who turned out to be one of the kind souls who led us to the School last night! Thank you, sir! Salute!
Breakfast went for a loooong time. Phew.
9:10 AM, we set off for another day of walking and hiking. 🙂 This time, from Tacadang Proper, we are going back to Poblacion, where the Town Hall of Kibungan is. In short, we’re going full circle.
Earlier, while chatting with the organizers, we were told that, while the previous day was all uphill, this morning would be all downhill… then the last leg would be a continuous climb. Downhill hikes always worry me, because they usually take the most toll on my legs. And you know what downhill means, right? It basically means the uphill climb later is that much steeper.
9:30 AM, we arrived at Bagiw, where we spent a few minutes viewing Mt. Amanayao and the Badeo Mountain Ranges.
Basically, you’re surrounded by rocks. I think that’s what added to the heat of the day. And it was barely 10 AM!
This was just the easy part. Next, we’re heading to the Pacda Community. I’ll see you next post for that!
