Mt. Pico De Loro, Parrot's Beak
Philippines / R4 / CALABARZON / Cavite
I was browsing blogs about Mt. Batulao when I was directed to a post about Pico De Loro. Hindi talaga ako hiker dahil medyo mabilis ako mapagod, and after my "buwis buhay" experience sa Mt. Batulao, sabe ko di na ako uulit. Pero nung nakita ko yung mountain, sabe ko, "shet pupunta ko dito!". I immediately asked bf kung pwede ba kame umakyat don that weekend and sabe nya, itatanong daw muna nya kung sinong available sa tropa. Too much excitement, nagfile agad ako ng vacation leave sa work. I felt very sad nung sinabe nya na di lahat pwede nung weekend na yon, so it was rescheduled the next weekend. Hindi pa din daw sila nakakapunta don so di alam kung paano pumunta. Luckily, bf's cousin Dennis went there just two weeks ago and he is willing na samahan kame.
So ayun na, riding a van, from Silang Cavite, we stopped at Robinson's Dasmariñas and Trece Martires public market to buy some stuffs. Passing Naic and Maragondon Cavite, after several hours of travel, nakarating din kame sa Ternate.
We first registered at DENR Cavite. Dun na rin kame nagpalit ng damit at naglipat-an ng mga gamit (for everyone's convenience). Being the only girl in the group, I have the lightest baggage which includes my stuffs, a bottled water, some canned goods and a DSLR camera.
As per the log book, we were the 12th group who registered that day, and as per the lady from the registration, groups are ranging from five to fifteen people. From there, na-imagine ko na kung gaano kadame ang tao don, considering na may mga groups pa don nakahapon pa dumating.
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registration at basecamp
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At the second registration area, binati kame ng mga asong tahol nang tahol. We stopped by to register and refill our bottles with water na galing sa gripo ng walang hanggan. In there, you may get water as many as you want. Sabe ko nga, para dito siguro yung reg fee (kidding aside). After resting for several minutes, we then continued our night hike.
Our ascent took about four hours. Approaching the campsite, pina-una na namen si Dennis para mag-hanap ng spot, leaving me, bf and two others behind. As we go along, we heard some girls talking and laughing. Naisip namen na baka may mga taong pababa so we stopped and waited for them to pass para hindi kame magkasalubong. The funny things is, after couple of minutes, waiting, doing nothing, we decided to continue walking, and found out na yung naririnig namen na mga boses, hindi pala pababa, CAMPSITE NA PALA YUN! So, natawa nalang kame.
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| picture taking and breath catching |
Ang daming tao. More or less thirty tents (not to overexaggerate pero feeling ko 50+ yung tents e hahaha) yung nakatayo. We did not find an excellent spot para magtayo ng tent pero okay na din yung na-pwestuhan namen.
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| the building moment |
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| some problems with the tent, and I thank the dictionary for the word resourcefulness |
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| tonight's menu |
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and we found a friend
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After several shots, we decided to call it a night.
We woke up before six in the morning to watch the sunrise. At around seven thirty, leaving our day bags on the campsite, we proceeded to the summit.
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the waiting-for-the-sun-to-rise moment
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It was a foggy morning. The parrot's beak looked dread as seen in the summit. Nasabe ko nalang, "maiwan nalang kaya ako dito, ako nalang tiga-picture sa inyo?". Then naalala ko, eto yung nakita ko sa internet. Eto yung dahilan bakit ako pumunta dito. So I gather myself, bringing enough courage (and prayers), I proceeded to the legendary parrot's beak.
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up to the top
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I don't know if it's because I'm petite (or because of the prayers), I didn't find it hard scaling the suicidal, almost 90-degree climb to the top of the monolith. So from there, we took A LOT of pictures, including my
"pang primary photo sa facebook" shot.
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| bogs' planking attempt |
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and the carpe diem moment
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I dunno what mother nature is trying to say here..
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I think Nike should pay me here
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Back to the campsite, we decided to go to the waterfalls and have our brunch.
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group picture before leaving the campsite
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| so I'm Dora now |
A very inviting sight indeed. Dennis is cooking lunch, I joined my other trekmates who were already enjoying it's refreshing waters.
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| and I got tired. Bf got tired. |
Back to the DENR where our sundo is waiting, we changed our soiled clothes, had some refreshments, and took our ride home.
(Date of Climb: December 15, 2012)
Pals : Von, Eruel, Dennis, Ian, Jeff, Alon and Bogs
