Tuesday, June 7, 2011

Pinatubo Crater Lake Experience




Madaling araw noong Hunyo 4, 2011, dahan-dahan kong ginising si ate bitbit ang aking bag at bag ni "The Wife".

"Pakisarado naman ng pinto ng bahay, aalis kami ni Che."

Hindi na nakuha pang itanong ni ate kung saan kami pupunta. Pagkalabas ng pintuan ay kaagad na kaming lumarga.

Oo, magtatanan kami nang araw na iyon.




We are going to Tarlac this time. "The wife" organized a trip to the summit of the Mount Pinatubo and swim in the crater lake that was formed after the said volcano erupted in the early 90's.

We were supposed to go there a week earlier but due to bad weather conditions brought about by typhoon Chedeng it had to be re-scheduled. We had to follow the recommendations of the local government unit in Tarlac to just cancel out the trek. In every "elopement" safety first is our utmost concern.

We met up with our companions at the McDonalds Branch in EDSA Central Mandaluyong at about 3:00 AM. From there we rode a van going to Capas, Tarlac where we said we are going to have breakfast. Unfortunately, the information given to us by our contact was wrong. Apparently the Jolibee branch in Capas is not open 24/7.

We instead bought some food in a nearby convenience store and headed straight to Pinatubo Spa Town where we are going to meet our local contact and guides.

Pinatubo Spa Town provided us with lockers so we can temporarily deposit some of the things that we are not going to need in the duration of the trek to the summit of Mt Pinatubo. They also are the ones who would provide for our lunch later.

While at Pinatubo Spa Town, we met a lot of other trekkers going to the top as well. One group is consist of fellow bloggers doing their "Akyat Pinatubo" event. they were also supposed to go the week before but also had to be asked to re-schedule.

The fun started as soon as we saw the long line of 4x4 vehicles along the highway. Only these vehicles with their huge wheels can be used to travel through the rocky terrain towards our jump off point. And so off we went.



The 4x4 ride took almost an hour going through huge swathe of land that used to cater to lahar and other volcanic items. Along the way we could imagine how much devastation the mighty volcano must have caused when it wrecked havoc in this side of the country two decades ago. Although there are already tree lines sprouting in higher portions of the land, the sandy plains are still only conducive to cogon grass.

Our jumpoff point was through what the locals call "the longer way". We are not able to use the shorter way as erosions occured recently which cutoff the way for the 4x4's to reach the easier jump off point to Mt Pinatubo. From the shorter way through the "Skyway" we would have saved more than an hour in our trek alone.

Rain started to trickle even before we could reach this jump off point for the trek. And as soon as we started walking it started to go harder. Although this could be dangerous as more rain could cause sudden flash floods, this would prove to benefit us also as having such weather condition means we are safe from the angst of a hot sunny condition. One fellow trekker who was able to access Pinatubo once before told us that when he first went there they were terribly slowed down by the hot weather.

Halfway through the trek the rain stopped. It was still cloudy though so there were no complaints. We are thankful as well as finally we are going to be able to use our SLR cameras. There was nothing worse than carrying such heavy and bulky cameras and not be able to use them for fear of having them soaked in rainwater. I was also carrying a tripod at that.



Still enjoying the trek, the wife and the husband all of a sudden got into competition mode. And so the "Iwanan ng asawa" game came to be. We started walking faster trying to out pace each other. By doing so we also started to leave all our companions behind.

We soon reached the supposed shorter way jump off point. It was nuts when we saw the sign saying "The Trek Starts Here". We were like, "WHAT!!!?!!". How can the trek start there when we have been walking for almost one and a half hour already? LOL!!!

From there however we noticed that the stream was starting to become clearer and colder. The paths were also much narrower compared to what it was at the initial portion of the way. It was a sign that we are getting nearer our destination.

And then came the stairs going upwards. Every step up was harder than the last but the pure excitement of finally reaching our goal makes us not notice how tired we were.

Lo and Behold! The picture below is not enough to show how beautiful the scene was.




The Husband and The Wife were so happy to reach the top of Mt Pinatubo that we only took a few snaps of us and cared less if the other guys we were with arrived already or not. We wanted to have a dip on that great lake we are seeing below us.

After just a few minutes of descent, we are able to touch down on the sandy shores. I again took some snaps but was so overwhelmed by the blue body of water in front of me, I ditched the camera and the bag and the tripod... and swam...



Was I tired when I reached the place?

Yes!

Was I still tired after feeling the cool waters of Pinatubo over my whole body?

Not anymore... It was replenishing...

A few moments later, "The wife" followed suit. And she also was caught with euphoria as soon as she felt the cold water enveloping her.

They say a volcanic lake water is good for the body skin. It is not just that. It was good for tired bodies as well as far as our experience is concerned.

The lake was so deep. I tried to dive deeper but my naked eyes will not see a thing. The depth was all blue. How I wish I could swim to its center. I couldn't imagine how great it would have been. But the caldera was so huge my brave heart betrays me. I do not want to brave the calmness, afraid that I might not be able to swim back to the shore. But nevertheless, it was one of the most enjoyable swims that I have had in my entire life.

We were the last group to leave the lake. Even the bloggers that we mentioned earlier have all left already.

The wife and the husband enjoyed our stay so much that we missed our lunch. And since everybody else in the group have eaten already, we ate in a hurry to make sure that we still have enough energy for our long trek back the jump off point.

As expected the way back was less adventurous than the other way around. But the Husband and the Wife were still able to enjoy every minute of it. There we are trekking some of the most rocky journeys in the Philippines and yet we were still laughing and holding our hands. It temporarily allowed us to forget the spites of the city and work.

By 6 PM we are back at Pinatubo Spa Town. Rested for a while, took our showers. If only we still have more time, we would also have availed of the massage offered by the Spa Town. But we still have to go back to Manila. We made a quick stop at the nearby Capas Death March Shrine and then moved on.

We ate dinner at one of the stopovers in NLEX. The Wife and the Husband, and the whole group for that matter, were supposed to be dead tired already. But we weren't. We totally enjoyed the whole adventure, bantering and laughing and relishing the whole experience.

All of us agreed. It wouldn't be a bad idea to do it all over again.