Mt. Mabilog, The Story of My First Climb

          Immediately after I quit my job, I've been thinking of new places to go, beaches I've never been yet, adventures worth trying and learning that I still need to improve myself.

         Been doing a lot of new things, until I saw several friends posted their photos at the summit of Mt. Batulao in Nasugbu,Batangas. The view on top is breathtaking, nothing but nature's bountiful gift to human; and that's made me curios how does it feel to reach a mountain's summit. 

          So there, through my brother in-law, Alex and I joined a group of mountaineers to climb Mt. Mabilog in San Pablo/ Nagcarlan Laguna. 

             I though it's gonna be easy! And I was wrong. At first I was excited, had my adventure documented by photos even our tricycle ride going to Sta. Catalina where the climb will start. 

From the base, it looks easy to climb right? Looks could be  deceiving, that's true! 

From the start of the hike, I was ahead of the group. I was always next to our guide :)

             I sweat like I didn't sweat for a year, 10x as that of my zumba sweat. I don't wanna share photos, I looked like a wet dog on the street, i dunno how i smell anymore, all i knew was i kept on climbing and pushed myself hard to finish the climb. My hair turned like a witch broom and GOD, the hot pink sole of my shoes turned dark brown because of the mud. 

          What keeps me climbing was the fact that I am definitely loosing weight, and I can eat chocolate bar without guilt. 

           And of course, I brought my favorite Nissin Wafer which I munched all throughout the climb. And look, I unloaded 1 bag to my brother-in-law. He helped me anyways.

Few meters before we reach the summit, I used all my energy to keep ahead of the group. This maybe is a natural will for the first timers. You feel like it was a race but it's not. 

And I will be forever proud that Andin and I were the first 2, to reach the summit of Mt. Mabilog. Amazing view at the top, I can see all the other mountains, even higher than Mabilog, looks like twice of the height of Mabilog. And look at the two lakes ( Lake Yambo and Lake Pandin)! 

According to folklore, these lakes are couple ( Ambo and Andin) as what the elderly believed. The scenic view from top took away my stress but it was temporary. Couldn't help but sleep the entire night because my back hurts and my shoulder aches so bad.. Need to regain my energy for the next trip to Lake Pandin. 

And then all I heard was the wind, laughter of mountaineers which I failed to mingle with... I'm sorry guys, felt really sick then. I really wanted to join, but my body didn't cooperate.