I experienced my first climb in Mt. Romelo in Famy, Laguna last Nov. 8-9, 2008. I was with my mountaineer friends, and my experience there was so amazing, even though the trails were so muddy that I slipped so many times and got my right ankle sprained.

I enjoyed the moment when we were in Buruwisan Falls (in the picture), the water was so refreshing and it really soothes my aching body! haha! I remember, while passing through the rocks, I accidentally slipped and got my leg hit the rocks, that when we came back to the campsite, I already have a huge hematoma on my leg, but still, I don’t care, that will be a souvenir from Buruwisan Falls. Hehe…

After we had taken a bath we had our dinner and slept early. It was so cold there, and three of us had to share on a sleeping bag that we used as a blanket, lucky for me, because I was the one who is in the middle! hehe..

The next morning, when we woke up, I thought it was still raining, but it was not, thanks to God. I said to myself, it’s gonna be a nice day!

After having our breakfast, we fixed our things and rented two horses to bring our bags back to the jump-off area. It was a relief because I know it will be hard for us to trek down with our bags on, because the trails were muddy because of the rain that night. There was this part of the trail that we had to pass, and the technique that they said for you to pass it, is to run down, but when I looked at it, I got scared, because I know that I might lost my balance and I may roll down. Haha! But thanks to “him”, he was there to take good care of me, but while slowly going down, I lost my balance and slipped, but he manages to hold my hand. Hehe… But one of us really lost his balance and the only chance for him to safely go down is to run. We saw everything that happened, he passed the one whose leading the way and went straight to the guava tree. I got teary eyes from laughing so hard at him! That was one of the funniest moments of the climb! After that moment, we had some buko juice and continued our way down, and when we reached the jump-off area, I was so relieved! Whoa! That fun climb is one of the best experiences I ever had!!

For the second time around I went back to Famy Laguna to spend my weekends with nature. Famy Laguna is about 2 hours trip via bus f rom Juction, Cainta Rizal. With me are my friends from others sites of the company with their friends.
The plan was to meet-up at Robinson’s Cainta at 1pm but as you know we Filipino’s have the habit of the “Filipino Time”, you know what I mean guys. So I was to arrive first at the meeting place at exactly 1pm with no faces of members of the group until around 1:45pm. The bus going to Infanta usually passes by the area every one hour. We were able to take the bus at around 4pm.

We made a stop over at a certain barangay of Laguna for about 30 minutes. There are a couples of small restaurants around the place where travelers from far places can stop and have a quick break before continuing their journey.

We arrive at the jump-off site at 6:00pm for registration and had to prepare all our things before starting the trek. Few minutes after arriving at the camp site another group of hikers arrive for the same purpose. It was already dark and the sky wasn’t clear since and looks like we are about to get wet on our way to the camp site. We had to get our flash lights out change and some of us had to change our clothes.

We were expecting that the trek would be more difficult than before since its a rainy season, but we were wrong. The previous trek was muddier that it took us about six tiring hours to get into the campsite accompanied by heavy rain pour on our way to the top and going to the campsite. But this time, the rain wasn’t that heavy and only lasted for about few minutes. I think it was a blessing that for the second time when we were almost at the peak of the mountain a freezing cold from heaven would welcome us.

Finally after three hours we reached campsite and immediately unpacked our heavy loads and plunge into the river to wash ourselves from the mud. The water was freezing cold but we have no choice but enjoy it.

Late posting for the Famy Laguna hike. It was last week of February that we went for hiking in Mt. Romelo, Famy Laguna. It was a 6 hour trek to the camp site. Most of us is new to this fun activity with only two out seven have experience in hiking. We arrived at the registration at 7:30pm and we started the trek at 8:00pm. The trail was muddy and dark with only three flash lights available. The muddy and dark trail was accompanied by rain which gets heavier when we reached the peak of the mountain. It was about 12 midnight when we reached the peak but the campsite isn’t there yet. From the peak we still have to follow the muddy the trail that even get worst due to the heavy rain pour. Some of our things were taken ahead of us by the horseman. We only have few things with us and the bad news is we don’t have enough water with us. With me is my camera while the others have some canned foods with them and water, but not enough for the group. Though we were all tired and arrived at the camp late all was paid off when we woke up in the morning and saw the beauty of the place. Right next to our tent is the free flowing river water of the river. And sarap matulog sa tabi ng ilog since all you can hear was the sound of the flowing water rushing down the river going into the water falls.

Picture above is the water fall. Other campers prefer to have their camp near the water. But it’s a bit dangerous especially when heavy rain pours there is a possibility of overflow of water. The water is so cold but you I’d say you haven’t gone to this place if you do not plunge into the freezing water of the fall.

Jackie? She’s from UP Pampanga unfortunately not able to get her number.

Above is the trail during the trek. You can imagine how difficult the trek was.

Jumpshot at the peak of the mountain. This was taken at around 4 in the afternoon. unfortunately Lester is not on the picture. he went ahead of us on horseback ride. Thanks Aileen for taking the picture. on the picture: Dianne, Me, Boyfriend ni Dianne, Santy and Paul ( Buddha)

Yesterday (Saturday), I left around 8:30AM from the Elim Global Headquarters and headed off to Famy, Quezon with some of my Elim friends.  We headed there to do an ocular and at the same time shoot a testimonial by a couple who are regular Elim dwellers that live there.

The trip was fun… being that I enjoyed long trips, the travel to our destination was something I was eagerly looking forward to even the day before our departure.  On our way there, it was just me, Jayp, Maricar and Sis. Lory Lina (wife of Joey Lina).

We took the Antipolo route… the roads were paved… the path was winding… and the view was just wonderful.  Lots of green fields and open space… mountains and vast plains of grass and trees.

We finished the shoot, exchanged pleasantries with other Elimites and had some really tasting “ginataan” (I had 3 servings!) and chicharon before heading to Siniloan.

Lunch was spent eating at a Jollibee branch in the same province with Elim friends as well.  We headed back at around 2PM and arrived in Manila at roughly 4:30PM.

It was a pretty long trip but spent fruitfully as everything we did was for the Lord and for His glory.

And though the travel back and forth was pretty tiring… I wouldn’t have traded it for any of my favorite pastimes.

The heavy rains didn’t stop us from hiking up and camping at Mt. Romelo in Laguna. Here are some of the my fav photos. Enjoy!

As tempting as it was to chicken out and hitch our bags onto horses like the one you see above, we were determined to finish the (supposedly easy) climb with our heavy backpacks on our backs. It took us 4 hours just to get to the campsite.

The great thing about this camping trip was that we get to enjoy the cool and refreshing water from the mountain.

For those of you interested in climbing up Mt. Romelo, you can check out this page from waypointsdotph.