Climb for a Cause: Mt. Manabu, Sto. Tomas, Batangas

The group with Tatay Tinong (left) who offers his civet coffee at Station 5 (photo by Euden Valdez)

August 20, 2016

RAK: Random Act of Kindness is a group of mountaineers who climbs mountains and invite people to join them and uses the proceeds to help the needy.

The day started early as the meet up time was set at 5am at the JAM Liner bus station in Cubao, Quezon City. My good friend, Eula and I found ourselves in the kind company of bearded guys on a mission--to help a remote community school in Benguet have a 4-in-1 printer. The current situation is that the kids need to endure a 2-hour 1-way trip to the next municipality to have their test papers copied or printed. Well, that's bound to change for the better now.

How does the advocacy work? For one, there's a fee for the trip. From there, the group is expecting to raise a small amount that will help them achieve their goal. For two, participants can donate additional amount for the cause. This we did and was delighted to learn that we helped them reach their target amount for that trip. Thumbs up!

With the thought of doing something worthwhile, the mood was set on the bright side.

For almost 2 weeks by then, the rain's presence has been felt and true enough, it rained hard when we reached SM Lipa where we are set to meet our trek leader (TL). His name is Karlo. The other guys are: Tupe, sir Alex (who is a high school Biology teacher), Lino, and Ivan and his sister. 8 brave souls who dared climb a mountain amid the weather. Hoorah!

It wasn't until 10am that we finally tackled the muddy and slippery trail. It started as a continuous descent, earning jokes from the guys quipping; "Kala ko ba hike to? Bakit pababa tayo?" which, of course, courted a chorus of laughter from the rest of the group.

Let me paint you a clearer visual now. We walk in a single file with TL Karlo right in front, Ivan and his sister right behind him, Eula in front of me, sir Alex, Lino, and finally, the sweeper or tail, Tupe at the back. Walking right behind 3 rowdy men and hearing their endless stories and banters made the trek light, easy, and oh-so-fun!

As the weather kept teasing us with streaks of sunlight then raining down on us here and again, the supposed-to-be easy trail proved to be a little more challenging. It wasn't good because aside from the danger of slipping down with a possibility of injury, I also couldn't drink in the green scene around us as I was so focused on my footing. Only then and now would I allow myself to look up, take photos or videos, before again resuming my steps.

The trail is subdivided into 8 different stations, creating huge relief for hikers as the next station is always something to look forward to. We passed through stations 1, 2, and 3 with only a few sweat and little heavy breathing. This gave us great hope that we can conquer all 8 easily. On our way to station 4, we saw 2 caged Bleeding Heart pigeons--endemic in the Philippines. They're these little birds with a round patch of Red feather on their chests that creates the illusion that their chests or their hearts are bleeding out, hence the name. They're pretty. And they're also caged.

Station 4. Here we took a few minutes rest, ate some jelly ace, hydrated, and went on with the conversation that doesn't seem to end between our co-hikers. I don't think I can stress enough how much laughter we had all throughout that day. Those guys are crazy! Haha!

Station 5 is the one they all have been looking forward to as there apparently is free coffee. I'm not really a coffee drinker, so I let them have all the excitement and anticipation. By this time, the trail has been continuously going up but thanks to the rocks and roots of trees all around, it was also less slippery than the flat land we were walking along a few stations ago. Because of this, our speed was also lessened but thanks to the rain, we found the strength in our legs to half run half stride up and in the safety of station 5 where benches, a roof, and steaming civet coffee await us.

this beauty can be seen right before reaching station 5 on your way up

Each cup of coffee is free and if you want to bring home some, you can also do so. There are packs of ground civet coffee for sale for coffee lovers. But getting past the free coffee, I think the greatest attraction of station 5 is the giant phallus erected proudly right upon the exit. I didn't notice it immediately but laughed out loud when I did. That was too hilarious for me. It even has hair! Noticing my now engrossed attention to the statue, the old man in that little hut added that he put a rope around the thing saying; "Nanghahabol ng magaganda eh!" Roar of laughter.

Coffee done, we were about to continue our climb when again, heavy rain poured. We then resorted to having an early lunch. When lunch is almost over, something truly unexpected happened. Ivan, the youngest of the group, claimed that he's having difficulty breathing. This stopped the group short and focused our attention on him. As we watch him, we also saw his face turning redder by the second and soon, his face swelled up along with his lips and tongue. He also started scratching his arms and neck. It was immediately ruled out as an allergic reaction. Good thing though, Karlo has 2 anti-histamine tablets with him. They urged Ivan to drink both. Soon, as more and more people keep piling inside the hut, more and more people are also asking about our current predicament. Questions and assumptions flew in the air and soon, Ivan was being asked to drink hot water, eat raw sugar, inhale some leaves, and to stop scratching!

Let me say this now. Ignorance is truly a bliss. While everyone is panicking, I was simply sitting beside Ivan, occasionally reminding him not to scratch, and went on eating lunch. What I didn't know was (and which Eula told me later that day) allergy attacks like that can sometimes lead to death! That's why everyone seemed to be scared and panicky while I chew on grilled pork that Eula packed for lunch. I had no idea!

It goes without saying that the climb was aborted. Everyone agreed even without anyone asking anyone. I'm disappointed. I won't hide that fact. But a life is more important than reaching the summit and documenting it. And so, when the medicine took what effect they could to better Ivan's condition, we climbed back down. TL Karlo already called the local municipality and requested medical aid. They also dialed 911 when we got back to the Bleeding Heart pigeons.

"We climb as one." Tupe kept saying when Ivan started apologizing.

all smiles on our way back down :)

look at my feet! #braggingrights haha

A little after Ivan and his sister have washed up, the ambulance came and took them to the hospital. By this time, Ivan was looking better, so we're also feeling a lot better that after washing up, Tupe screamed for lomi. He's been going at that even before we start the hike, if I remember correctly. And so, our next destination was the lomi house where we each enjoyed a bowl of steaming hot lomi with chunks of lechon as toppings. Wow!

here's the infamous lomi :)

Hunger and craving satiated, it's now time to go home.

We might not have reached the summit which all of us expected before the trip started but the trip as it is, is still something else. I've befriended 4 crazy men who totally and successfully made me and Eula laugh all throughout the day (men with large hearts set to committing Random Acts of Kindness), hiked under the rain, and saw for the first time a Rambutan tree and ate its fruit right after plucking it out of the branches. Good, so good.

Lastly, I truly enjoyed and appreciated how Tupe, Lino, and sir Alex kept to their trek duties even when we're already out of the mountain and are walking along EDSA. We still walked in a single file with Tupe and Lino walking ahead and sir Alex walking behind me. I like that they did this to ensure I'm not left behind. Thank you, good sirs! :)

Do watch the video I made for this trip here :)