the banahaw experience

it might've been a day already, but my body's wrecked with muscle pain all over. inspite of this fact, i still went to school (although late) and enjoyed the day remembering about yesterday's amazing adventure.

it started out with me and lorraine waking up from sleeping on the journey towards mt. banahaw. after a few minutes of orientation time by our lakbay kalikasan instructors, kuya abe and kuya jin, we jumped off the bus with only one backpack, and with only one bottle of water.

yes, lorraine and i admit we were stupid to leave our bottle of water back at the resting place. in Kalbaryo, we had to walk for two hour's worth of trekking, from one small hill to another big mountain. at first, we were fast walkers but then that left us dehydrated, and by the time we were trecking downwards and back to camp, lorraine and i were in no mood to talk anymore, well, at least scream in surprise if we suddenly slip, but then that was that. we were already both dehydrated and hungry and both of us were looking forward for some lunch.

of course, lunch nourished us again and we were back to trekking, but this time, to a small cave. Husgado was the part when we had to enter a small and narrow cave to be 'judged', as the title implies. the folks there believe that if you couldn't get out of the cave, you don't have enough faith. if you got out after a long time, you had many sins. if you got out with a lot of scratches, you needed to repent more. if you got out just fine and in a short period of time, then you're definitely clean. they also talked about the cave being magical: if you didn't believe enough, the cave's walls would narrow and you wouldn't be able to pass through.

i'm a bit of the claustrophobic side and i absolutely hate dark places, so the time i spent inside the cave, i was crying, shivering and gasping for air. yes, i panicked a lot, and i thought i wouldn't be able to hoist myself up. i DO believe in God and have enough fith in him, but i didn't believe that i could support myself with my own bare hands and feet.

after the Husgado, we went down to what they call 'Buhok ng Ina': it's this small waterfall in the nearby river that would wash your sins. the test there was to lie down under the waterfall and stand up again against the current of the water. so okay, that we didn't do. instead, we did the ritual that was similar to getting baptized in the Jordan river. as a class, we went under the water three times, and after that, it was a free swim for all.

on the way home, we watched 'One More Chance' starring John Lloyd Cruz and Bea Alonso. so okay, i definitely felt twitter patted on some scenes, especially with their lines. yes, they're cute together :P

we ended up in school at around 7, early even if we met some traffic up in C5.

all in all, it was an awesome day, something i wouldn't forget because it is indeed an awesome memory that needs to be kept :D

(pictures to be posted later!)

--shing