Laguna: the climb ( part 1 )

Howdy Readers!

Enjoy part 1 in a 4 parts series:

"How adventurous are you Mickey?" my cousin asked.  I guess pretty adventurous, I did wake up at 2:30 am to get ready and meet her and her friends at the bus stop at 4 am.  In this case, the early risers avoided the heat and traffic ( a common Filipino method of traveling ).  30 minutes had passed since we arrived at the campsite at Majayjay, Laguna's Taytay Falls.  I thought we were just  meandering towards the roaring Taytay Falls where other campers converged.  Boy was I wrong.

After lunch, we started walking.  The pristine and clear blue water was visible and tempting.  "Save your energy, that's not where we're going," my cousin interrupted my daydreaming.  We passed by a sign.  My cousin reassured me, "We're not diving at that waterfall, and we're just following a path."

Because I was such an expert mountaineer ( with a record of 2 climbs, this being the 2nd ), I wore an absorbent cotton sleeveless shirt, and in-house white flip flops.  I followed the rest; I was in a group with 3 experts- what's there to worry about.

We pulled ourselves up 4-5 ft high boulders.  We crossed shallow streams with deceptive rapids.  It was light and fun, until one of the beginner hikers, who was climbing a slanted and smooth rock wall with tiny crevices, slipped causing my expert cousin behind her to slip as well.  Our leader decided to change our route, and trudge through the rapids instead ( closer to the ground ).

The shallow streams had deep middles, and when I lost my footing ( several times ), the current carried me and I actually felt being twirled ( even if slightly ) BUT there was always somebody there to pull me up.  I placed my fingers on tiny crevices ( although tiny, can still save one from falling ).  We got off the rapids and switched to the mountain side filled with moist earth, mud, decaying logs, protruding roots embedded in the ground, and whatever insect/creature happened to be there.

What a surprise when my flip flops became brown, and my fingernails and arms were masked with mud.  I reached a point when I was slipping inside my flip flops, and I had no choice but to take them off and walk barefoot.  My cousin's motto: anything treatable ( such as cuts and foot pain ) is 10,000x better than death ( slipping off the mountain because of tractionless flip flops). I agree...