 My
cousin Lino, who had brought the horses that would carry our supplies separated
from us at this point to take a different, horse friendlier route up the
mountain. Exhausted from his slight detour, Mr. Lawigan opted to go
with him and asked me to come along. But I declined because I had a different
purpose for taking a different route. My dad owned a small piece
of land on this side of the mountain and he had asked me to take pictures
of it to show to him. At his age now, it is clear he can no longer
climb this far up. Upon reaching our land the group rested for a few minutes
while I took pictures. After a while, we continued on.
Because we had gone to our land, there were no defined pathways from here up to the summit. We had only 2 choices. It's either we go back down a bit and take a circular route up which would take farther and longer, or we could go straight into the un-trailed bush, which would be shorter but a little less safe. We opted for the latter so off into the bush we went, hacking through tall shrubbery, grass, thorned twigs and vines, bothering some strange insects and smelling odd scents. I was starting to get pretty exhausted myself. From this picture alone (Picture 4) you can already see that I have been bathing in my own sweat for quite a while. The continuos climbing has started to take it's toll on my thighs which were starting to get numb, refusing my brain's orders to move. I had this huge rip in the crotch of my pants that was getting larger. Good thing I had shorts underneath or else lots of people would be starting to see more of me. At this point, the comic book world
seems to be the farthest thing from my mind. All I was focused on
was to get my legs to move and to watch closely for the next spot where
my feet would land. A mistake would send me tumbling down the path, taking
some of cousins with me.
|
I
started walking and climbing again and pretty soon I was in sight of the
summit (Picture 5). I met up with
Mr. Lawigan and my cousins once again at this point. They had
stopped a several meters below the top to set up a temporary camp. Some
of them were already lighting small fires with which to cook our lunch.
At this point, I didn't think at all of eating or drinking. All I wanted
was to get up there. Like I had noticed the first time I was here, there
are three summits on this mountain. The area that encompasses all three
summits were pretty barren aside from tall cogon grass. It's not that people
had cut off trees there, but rather it's how it naturally is there. Trees
do not have a chance to grow because of the fierce winds that blow
up there most of the time. That day though, it was strangely calm.
2 crosses were erected on 2 summits in honor of Jesus and the days leading
up to Easter. I suppose a third cross ought to have been erected
on the third summit but I guess they hadn't gotten around to it yet.
I
remember the last time I was here that the last few meters leading up to
the top were the most difficult to climb. At this point you are
already tired, there is no longer anything to hold on to and it is the
steepest part of the climb. Gathering as much resolve as I could,
I started up. And sooner than I expected, I was there. It was 9:15
in the morning. I nearly collapsed, but I managed to gather
my wits and sit beside the cross instead (Picture
6). I was extremely happy but I was also extremely tired.
My thighs were burning with pain, I was breathing really hard and I truly
felt that something was going to give. This is something that a lot
of people on that mountain felt was pretty easy to do. And for most mountain
climbers, Mt. Lumot is probably nothing than kindergarten. But
to me it already felt like freakin' Everest! I was out of shape and
nothing confirmed it more than what I felt that day. My breathing
soon slowed and my body started to calm down. How can it not? Every scene
from every direction was breathtaking!
In
one side we could see neighboring towns and ricefields and another side
showed all of San Pablo surrounded by mountains from all sides. In
Picture 7, 3 of San Pablo's seven lakes
are visible, Lake Mohicap, Lake Palakpakin and Sampalok
lake (somewhat covered by mist). I sat there beside the cross
longer than I intended, just taking in all the beauty around me.
And in way I understood a bit why every mountain climber would go to such
lengths short of suicide to come up the sides of mountains to the very
top. Why? Because it's so beautiful up there. Personally, getting
in touch with this awesome beauty brings me a lot closer to God,
if not physically then in spirit.