Feature Article

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.

   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!