Mt. Banahaw: Where religion and nature meet
By Edward A. Diaz
After
having outbound trips for the past years, I can say that the excitement and
thrill is still present within us. The local and religious beliefs told to us
by our teachers and the instructor before the outbound trip even made us more
excited to go to Mt. Banahaw. The fact that this is our last outbound trip in
Marist School gave us mixed emotions about the trip. We were happy in a way
because we can use this trip as an opportunity to bond with each other. I
personally was a little sad because I could not believe that this would be our
last outbound trip. We were somehow pressured to make sure that every second of
this trip is meaningful and fun for all of us.
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The 5:00am People
Some students of Homeroom Brother Basilio Rueda arrive
early for their Outbound trip. Some played boardgames
while others talked with each other while waiting for their
classmates. |
It was at 5:oo am that we are expected to
arrive at Marist for the assembly at the High School Covered court. I arrived
at 4:40 am. I noticed that I was the first one among my group mates to arrive
at Marist School. Before going to the High School Covered Court, I planned to
go to the chapel like what I do every morning but decided not to go because of
the darkness and silence made me scared to go to the chapel alone. When I
arrived at the High School Covered Court, there were already a lot of people
there. We all sat there and waited to get in the bus.
It was
around 5:45 that we were asked to form two lines with our pair. We then entered
the bus and here our journey started. Our guide introduced himself as Kuya Emman.
We started praying the rosary and it was followed by the giving of the simple
rules to follow in our trip to Mt. Banahaw. The rules were the usual no
complaining and no littering which have always been told to us ever since we
had our Fieldtrip in grade school. The was one new rule though which was
repeatedly told to us by our teachers and instructors and that is, to not say
the word “kulto”. No offense but this rule made me think that the place we are
going to is a place filled with mysterious and unusual beliefs and sects. Kuya
Emman then gave us some details about Mt. Banahaw and what to expect on that
day. He then gave us the time to sleep.
After a
few hours on the road, we stopped at the stop over. We bought some things that
we forgot to bring like food and water. After a few minutes we then went back
to the bus and the journey continued. When we got near to our first
destination, we were asked to put only our food and water inside our bags. When
the door of the bus opened, a big gate welcomed us. It was very big and
colorful; it had symbols and images that were new to me.
 |
Path to the top
One of the first paths that the students use to go to the
top of the mountain. This particular path was wet
because of the continuous rain that day. |
While
walking, we noticed the dark clouds above us. This made us realize that this
will be a wet adventure. We passed through houses and arrived at the church
like structure with several devotees inside. It had unusual symbols again like
what we saw at the gate earlier. It had three windows with colors yellow, blue,
and red. Kuya Emman said we were not allowed to take pictures because there are
people inside praying. Afterwards, we went to a house where there is a big map
of the whole Mt. Banahaw National Park. Here, we were allowed to take pictures
of the map.
The
houses and manmade structures that we saw started to lessen as we walked our
way up the next destination. We reached a place with five statues and as far as
I can remember, the statues were of our national heroes like Apolinario Mabini.
Apparently the members of Ciudad Mystica de Dios consider some of our National
Heroes as their twelve disciples. Our class was asked to form a circle here to
have our warm-up.
 |
Husgado's Exit
Some students go to the hut where the exit hole of the
Husgado Cave is found. Students waited for their class
mates inside the cave where some students were report
edly stuck for several minutes. |
Our
adventure to reach the top of the mountain has officially started. The place
was filled with amazing greeneries and a vast array of plant species. With our
wet clothes and full energy, we vigorously climb the mountain. We put our bags
and left our things inside a small wooden shelter with Mr. Balatbat. I was one
of the last ones to leave that place yet sadly, I forgot to convince Mr.
Balatbat to achieve his goal of reaching the top of the mountain.
The
next part is what I consider the “real” mountain climbling. The mountain we’re
trekking is named Kalbaryo. Just the name itself made me convince that we we’re
about to face a hard and challenging route towards the top of the mountain. And
indeed it was hard! I screamed and complained a lot. Sorry but I’m just not
that outdoor person. After a long, frustrating and probably dangerous climb, we
were able to reach the top of the mountain safe! Some of us got minor abrasions
on our legs and arms but it was tolerable and not fatal. When I reached the
top, I was so happy. So happy that my group mate’s camera was not broken and I
got no injury after the long and wet climb. Our group took some pictures and
rested for a while. After looking at the beautiful views surrounding us, we
started to go down the mountain.
 |
Husgado
A Lakbay Kalikasan instructor tries to help a student get
out of the cave. The instructors during the Outbound trip
spent many hours helping students inside the cave. They
helped by giving instructions and tips to students inside
the cave like do not panic and crawl slowly. |
As
expected it was hard. In fact, it was harder because the climbing almost
drained all of our energies so we were left with a few amount of energy. When
we got back to the shelter, we had our lunch. The place was dark and hot. I for one was just excited to eat and seat down on a decent chair for a while.
After eating, we were asked to crawl inside Husgado or the cave. Not all went to the cave, I personally was so
tired so it was impossible for me to crawl inside the cave. Some people were
also stuck inside the cave and this even made us more scared to go to the cave.
Our
next destination was the river named Ilog Lagnas. I only took a shower from the
small falls beside the lake though. This was because we were not able to take
all the videos that we need so I had no choice but to improvise and shoot at
the lake. After this, we went back to the bus and this ended our journey to Mt.
Banahaw.
Inside
the bus, we fixed ourselves and wore our clean clothes. We then answered the
paper given to us by Kuya Emman and spent most of the time in the bus sleeping.
I don’t know why but for some weird reason, I was not able to sleep on our ride
back to Marist. The bus stopped at the stopover and we had our dinner there. We
went back to the bus and watched a movie. We arrived at Marist at around 10:30
pm. After this long article about the outbound trip, I can say that this year’s
outbound trip is the best outbound trip ever!
