Nancy Binay’s victory? Blame it on people who don’t have Facebook and Twitter accounts. This was the sentiment of a lot of people on social media after the daughter of the Vice-President of the Philippines won a senate seat in the midterm elections. Continue reading »
In a lot of ways, I am my mother’s daughter. We both have annoying allergies, a strange fascination with bloody contact sports (she watches UFC with me), and a streak of wanderlust. Like her, I’m stubborn, impatient, proud and an indomitable control freak in certain situations. But in a lot of ways, I couldn’t be … Continue reading »
Because the summer heat is zapping the life out of me and I haven’t been to a beautiful beach in a while. These are some of the memorable beaches I’ve been to in the last couple of years. Continue reading »
If there is an afterlife, then I hope it treats you well. I hope there are more mountains to climb on the other side. I hope gravity is kinder and there are no more falls. If you do fall again, I hope the ground catches you gently. Continue reading »
So this is what it’s like to climb on a sunny day. I have the bad weather curse. Whenever I go on a climb, chances are it’s going to rain or better yet, a typhoon is going to make landfall right where we are. It was a rare sight then to see sunshine and blue skies on our traverse of Mt. Dayungan in Subic, Zambales. Continue reading »
Easy hike, perfect weather, beautiful views. I can’t remember the last time I was this ecstatic on a climb. Actually, I don’t think I have ever been this ecstatic on a climb. And I swear we’re not on crack. Continue reading »
As if I haven’t said enough in the past seven posts I’ve devoted to this climb. It has been a month since our epic (and I do mean epic!) traverse of Mantalingajan. I’ve gone on a couple of climbs since then but I still can’t stop thinking about Manta. I still get the creeps whenever … Continue reading »
0400H Wake-up call Alarm goes off. Nobody moves. 0430H Wake-up call “Anong oras na? (What time is it?)” “4:30.” Jet sits up. I sit up. I curl back into my sleeping bag. He does the same in his malong. Fred snores contentedly in the other tent. Nobody moves. 0530H Wake-up call We finally summoned the … Continue reading »
This was the day hell (and tear ducts) broke loose. But first let me tell you about The Tale of The Amazing Corned Beef Guisado otherwise known as Fred’s comeback moment. We had a little campsite drama on Day Two which involved my temper, his ego and a 24-minute delay that was made a bigger … Continue reading »
This was the day we almost had a siraan-ng-pagkakaibigan (end-of-friendship). Well, not really. I’d like to think our friendship is strong enough to survive a trivial spat like that but it still wasn’t pretty. 0400H Wake-up call We woke up at 4am as usual, prepared breakfast and took care of all the routine stuff before … Continue reading »
0400H Wake-up call The night was chilly and nothing was more comforting than to stay cocooned in the warmth of a sleeping bag. But this was the first day of the toughest climb of our lives and oversleeping was out of the question. The 4am wake-up call was probably a little harsh but we agreed … Continue reading »
This climb started with a silly promise from my friends, Jet and Fred: Pag umakyat ka sa susunod, sasamahan ka namin. Huwag ka lang tumuloy ngayon. (We’ll go with you on your next climb. Just don’t push through with it now.) I was all set to climb Mt. Mantalingajan, Palawan’s highest peak, last year but … Continue reading »
When I started climbing regularly two years ago, I got invited to an outreach climb in Mt. Malindig in Marinduque. That’s where I met a bunch of generous, inspiring and kind-hearted people whom I’ve become good friends with: the Happy to Live, Glad to Give (HLGG) family. HLGG was formed by a group of friends … Continue reading »
