If I were to choose malling or hiking, i'd chosen the latter. Malling for me and the persons concerned is defined as: buying from food stalls, eating in fast food chains, buying something considered as new in the fashion industry, which by the way I'm sure it changes as often as the weeks pass by. Rather than stuffing yourself with excess calories and enough closet bulging apparels, why not try burning those fats almost equivalent to a hundred pound bulk. Which makes a person overweight depending on the factors such as height and health related whatever.
So hiking, that was how we had spent the last day of our COLT training...an excursion to the government protected, Maasin watershed. We had departed from school at around seven thirty in the morning and arrived exactly an hour after we had departed. Luckily, the weather had greatly improved over the past few weeks, had it been raining, surely the trekking would have been less memorable.
The Maasin dam site
The first step of a thousand steps to come.
The view from the mountain across the river
After quite a few meters away from the DENR headquarters, we had encountered as much river crossing as we had been expecting. Our knee level shorts and pedals were sunk to the knee level depth of the water. We had been expecting a higher level of water since it had been raining the weeks that had passed. Paranoia had warned us, enough to make us had the entirely insides of our bags wrapped with big plastics and so our phones and cameras ziplocked. And so onwards we go, crossing rivers with zigzagging paths. Excitement rushed as every time our feet submerges in the cool clear waters. We had hurdled rivers that we were going against the current. Until we had reached a certain point known to us as the Holy Ground. Where the tour guides have that superstition that first-timers should kiss the so-called Holy Ground in order to appease the spirits and to ensure safety to travelers. And once again we had set foot to more river crossing and hiking. Since we cannot plant trees that time because the weather is increasingly hot, we were made to pick up the carabao's dried manure - which of course, smells awfully nature-ish - in order to fertilize the few inches uprooted trees, the purpose of bringing extra plastics as what we were assigned to.
The ritual ceremony of kissing the ground
After a few more hours of trekking, we've reached the place where we are supposed to have our lunch. But before we did so, we had a few more steep hill climbings, and had reached this place where unlimited spring waters flow. The water had come from the roots of the trees and cleaner than any other distilled water. And certainly tastes better.
The scenic view during lunch
The Return Voyage
We have climbed the mountains on the way back instead of strolling the other way
around. Which makes our return trek more exhausting. We had a good two hours and a half,
hiking the steep slopes and the ups and downs of the mountain. The highest peak we had
reached was the elevation two-hundred fifty meters above sea level. And some of which my
batch mates were struggling to catch their breathes every five minute rest.
At the end of all those trekking, I've earned myself a total of two minor injuries and one quite big
gash behind a little under my knee. And it was bleeding for a good three whole minutes.
Not to forget my tanned skin got even tanner, oh scratch that, got burned from a whole day free
burning sessions... But it was all worth while. I'm not much of a nature-ish person but I might be
considered as outgoing, adventurous in fact. And this is just one of the few I've got.
Summer just gets hotter... =D
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