Afternoon Climb at Puting Bato Peak, IGACOS

SEMBREAK 2015 is almost over and I haven't been anywhere yet.
I'd like to think that Law School is the one to blame. HA!
Oh well, this is the price I have to pay for ambition.

So instead of sulking into misery (a little exaggerated) and while having breaks in between my study hours, I reminisced the summer I had right before the first semester of this year started. Such a sweet summer! This kind of thoughts relieves me from stress. lol

During that summer (or should I say the last part of it, right before classes started), I've been to a lot of places and I've gone through a lot of adventures. I've been hiking in Samal, swimming with whale sharks in Cebu, banana boating in Bohol, road tripping in Ilocos and a lot more. It's a shame I wasn't able to write a review about it when the memory was still fresh. But I guess it's not too late if I tell the tale now, I might still preserve the adventures I had.

So where do I start?

Well, to start of, I want to share my short but fun afternoon hike at Puting Bato Peak, IGACOS last May 2015.

I and two of my friends met up at the Warehouse at Penaplata around 2pm. We then hired a habal-habal driver to take us to the jump-off site. As I remembered, there were two trails to get to the peak. We took the Tayapok trail, if I'm not mistaken, which is the shorter but still not the easiest trail to go.

The road to the Tayapok jumpoff while riding the habal habal was not easy. I experienced a lot of mini heart attacks on the way there, considering that I was seated in front of the driver. The habal habal can only hold two passengers, but we were three so....you get the idea. Besides, my two other companions couldn't fit there, and I was the youngest and only person among the group that could fit the space in front of the driver. The road was steep, so many ups and downs; and it wasn't smooth. It was rough with all the large sharp rocks, and then it was muddy and slippery at another point. We even had to walk at some point because the way was dangerous for us 3 if we ride the habal habal. But thank God we arrived at the destination. I was already sweating hard even before we started the hike. Sorry, I'm not really built for outdoors. But hey, I lived; not just that, I got through the entire hike with no arte. Swear! lol Anyway, going back to the rollercoaster habal habal ride, I swear if I told my mom about it before I went there, she would not have let me. It was scary and.... fun! AND IT WAS NOT YET THE START OF THE HIKE! :)

So when we got off to the starting point of the Tayapok trail after almost an hour of the exciting habal habal ride, we then proceeded to hike for the Puting Bato Peak.

The trail was a little steep for beginners like me. Hangak siya, besh. But still, it was manageable. We had a FEW stops for water breaks, selfies and short rests, and then continued the hike.

After an hour, we reached the peak. There was a fee of P10 to pass through the gate and reach the very top.

We were standing at 1,755 feet above sea level. It was rewarding!
Furthermore, the view at the top was breathtaking. The fresh and cold air was overwhelming. It was worth every amount of sweat I shed during the hike. It was beyond words.

That afternoon was the most tiring and relaxing afternoon I had since the end of my first year in law school, so I guess you could picture out how therapeutic the hike was for me.

I hope I get to do this again when time allows, and I hope I get to do it at

Mount Apo. HAHAHAHA! So ambitious, but who knows?

I might just tick off that one on my bucket list anytime next year, right?

So, next up, Mount Apo? lol

Anyway, thank you to my lovely companions that afternoon.

Thank you Sir Nino and Ate Amor!

Special thanks to La Vida Orchard Samal for the hosptability and for hosting our dinner that night!

To my lovely readers, you can stay at La Vida Orchard while you're at Samal Island

and also have them arrange a tour for you.

Aside from providing a comfortable place for you to stay at,

La Vida Orchard Samal arranges this kind of adventures.

You can visit their Facebook page for more details.

La Vida Orchard Samal

PS.

After the hike we contacted the driver to pick us up. There are no available transportation when you get back down so be sure to get the driver's cellphone number.

Our driver was Kuya Romel, his contact number is 0946 489 8490.

I hope you had fun reading this adventure.

Next time, I'll be writing about my Cebu-Bohol trip on that same summer.

So, stay tuned!

xoxo,

Angel ♥