Its almost six in the morning (6am), I have to go to our meeting place at Jollibee Pacita. I first check if our team leader (Ian) is already at the meeting place but I found out that he is still in his house waiting for his cousin Mcphil who is still tieng his shoes. The three of us arrived at Jolly Pacita at 0545H and Ian told me that our guest (I'll tell you the names later) has now arrived at Sto Tomas market (wow ang aga naman nila . . . a little bit excited, hehehe) I told Ian that in our IT, the time that we will meet in Sto Tomas market is 0730H-0800H (so maaga talaga sile . . .). Jay arrived at exactly 6am in Jolly Pacita, followed by her buddy Ogie (ang "Pastor" . . .baket kaya), and the three brothers (Bhong, Baby and No2x). Our jeep going to turbina departed at 0630H and arrived at 0715H, we arrived at Sto. Tomas public market at 0745H (still at the timeline of our IT), there we meet our guest who are Sir Larry (may GPS yan galing) and his sweetheart Mam Rose, but we are still waiting for the "Tatlong Marias".   

 

  Ian, bhong and I collected the damage fee of 110 pesos each for our food and drinks for 2 days time (this is only for dinner on the first day and lunch on the 2nd day, the pack lunch, and trail food is not included here), so bought the things needed in the public market, there we buy pork, rice, matador, juice, ciggarettes and others. When we are done marketing we separated the things that we bought (pero madami kay Mc Phil, walang laman bag eh, hehehe sori ka), after buying in the market and the separation of foods and drinks, we are still waiting for the tres Maria's (wala pa din, baka nasobrahan sa beauty rest . . .joke).

 

   One of the jeepney drivers approach me and told me that he is willing to take us to the jump-off point at a special price, so how much I told him, he says it depends how many you are, so I said we are 13 all in all, so he said a 20 pesos each is ok. So I said ok we had a deal (sa tagalog na lingguahe to ha nag ingels lang ako). So we put our pack inside the jeep (syempre), and wait for the tres Marias to arrived but still no sign of them (what happen I don't know). Alas the tricycle now at rage their demanding that this are their route and they are the one only allowed to pick-up and take the mountaineers from market to Jump-off point, they are now protesting the driver, so the driver could not do anything but to return our money (we felt sorry to Manong). Finally the tres Marias has arrived at 0900H (ata o mas late pa ng konti . .wag magalit kwento lang to). We now take our tricycle ride to jump-off point (yabang ng tricycle d pala kaya umakyat, layo pa ng tulak namin, para din kaming nag trek na, hehehe). We arrived at jump-off point at 0930H and began trekking at 0945H.

 

   On the trek you will pass by kubo house, you may ask info there for the trail (hindi kami nagtanong kaya napunta kami sa isang trail), anyway those two trails just led to one, just have a little patience and confident on your climb and you will reach the intersection. We were'nt able to go to "palanggana" because of one the local told us that you dont need to palanggana just to have lunch (bababa pa daw kasi kami tapos aakyat din) so find a suitable place to have our lunch anyway our lunch is at 1145H (still in the timeline kahita late na kami umakyat), anyway I ate only chocolate for the lunch. After 1 hour rest we continue our trek and reach the grassland were one can view the sto tomas side of makiling (maganda view kesa sa traditional), we continue our trek and reach the "Gubatan Campsite" at 1645H.

 

   Were the only group who climb traverse that day so we occupy the whole campsite (circle formation) and most of our tents are fixed in higer elevation (naambon kasi at foggy) the temp is cold and its very difficult to move eventhough you wear two jackets. Our meal is composed of Caldereta by Ian (hindi na nilagyan ng reno kasi naubos na sa lunch namin, hehehe). Bong's menu is the giniling with baguio beans (wow kakaiba daw sabi ni Sir Larry, first time nakatikim ng ganun menu, hehehe). After our lunch ofcourse its matador time, mcphil, the 3 marias and mam rose did not came out of their tent because of the intense cold weather, so we are the only one who have the session. While we are having our socials some movements on the matting and notices that it was a limatik (blood suckers), Ogie who is the bravest on the limatik even touches and putting it in his fingers and playing it (wow tapang baka epekto ng alak lang, hehehe, tignan natin bukas hehehe), the socials ended at 2330H, I think, hehehe.

 

   Bong and I wake-up at 0430H and start cooking noodles, Ian followed and play his Ipod music and play the "incomplete" (incomplete naman said by bong) not noticing that its already playing (nawala tuloy lasing ko kakatawa, hehehe). Ou breakfast menu is composed of noodles, cornbeef and tinapa by Sir Larry with matching kamatis (wow sarap), I only ate noodles because my stomach is already scrambling, hehehe (baka bumukol eh, hahaha). We start to trek at 0900H, but before we make the trek we have a little prayer by pastor Ogie (Amen).

 

   Our climb to haring bato is very difficult it is very cold and foggy (with a little bit rain) so the trail is very slippery, particularly the rope segment, specially Mcphil who will first make a booster (utot baga, hehehe) to climb the rope segment (grabe one miss you die in this climb), besides the cold weather and the rain one of the things that make our climb very difficult are the fallen trees on the trail, we have to crawl down just to pass by. We reach peak 2 at 1300H I think. After peak 2 we go straight down to forestry and reach it at 1630H. We go straight to Edel's Crib just beyond the UP compound, we ate and take a bath their.

 

    The makiling traverse has now come to an end, another success from the DPM Climb with Sir Larry, Mam Rose and the tatlong MARIA's (Belle, Thess, and Yadz). See you on the next climb Mt. Tapulao.