Climbing Mt Maculot, Batangas {Deetour}

I wrote this in my diary last March 7:

I just got back home about an hour ago from Batangas. That was where Mt. Maculot, the mountain we climbed, was located. I met up with Jeannine and her husband Bob at the bus stop near the LRT Buendia station at lunchtime yesterday.

Then we rode a bus to Batangas and got there at around 3pm. We stopped at a market to buy rice and I also ended up buying some paho, which are actually small green mangoes, and some bagoong. Batangueños mix the chopped up paho with the bagoong and some chopped tomatoes.

Then we ate lomi and puto before riding a tricycle to the foot of Mt. Maculot.

We proceeded to climb at around 3:00 pm. The climb was ok. There was no rain and the sun wasn’t too hot. It was very tiring, though I sweat off about a gallon of water and shed 5 lbs. I wish! Hehe. We got to the top after about 2 hours. The view was absolutely magnificent. We took some pictures along the way.

Then we set up the tent they brought and unpacked our stuff. It was really cold and windy at the top. I wore my jacket and I was still freezing. I ended up staying in the tent most of the night.

Jeanine whipped up some sinigang and we ate the hot soup with the lechon manok and rice she had brought.

After dinner, we talked a bit, and I fell asleep at around 10:30. But I woke up several times during the night because it was so darn freezing and noisy, because of the wind flapping against the tent walls.

In the morning, we woke at around 7am. We had some hot chocolate (made from tabliya) then climbed down to the narrow bridge that connects to the next mountain. Bob actually climbed the next mountain to take pictures

After that, we packed up and climbed down.

The descent was scarier than the climb, because I was scared I would roll downwards and die or something. At several points the earth came loose at my feet and sent me hard on my butt.

But I managed to reach the bottom in one piece, with a few minor scratches on my knees and hands, dirt on the seat of my pants and all over my hands, and my legs shaking. I had also made friends with most of the trees when I used them as handrails to aid my descent.

Then we went back to the market to have lunch. I had some tawilis, this small fish that can only be found in Taal Lake, as well as Halo-Halo and ice cream. Yum!

Then they brought me to Jeanine’s mom’s house where I bathed and slept while they went to the house of their uncle who had died the night before.

When they got back from visiting, they woke me, and together we went to Lipa so we could ride a bus back to Makati.

Before getting on the bus, we ate some bibingka with salted egg. Yum, too!

It was an awesome experience, and I don’t regret it at all. I wanna do it again, actually, even if I am dead scared of descents.