SI AYANG ANG ESKAPO : Mt. Manabu Traverse, Santo Tomas Batangas

APRIL 2013 CLIMB

Mt. Manabu is located in Sto. Thomas Batangas. This mountain stands at 760+ MASL which considered as a minor climb. This is the fourth mountain of the ESKAPO MOUNTAINEERS. We were ten in the group all were new to hiking and no mentor was with us. That's why i cannot forget this climb because this is the first mountain that i lead the group.

From JAC LINER Buendia LRT. With Leah,Me,Lyn,Jen Bel, Janine,Jm, Carlos, Philip and Jackie.

We took a JAC LINER Bus going to Sto Tomas Batangas at 3 o'clock PM. It took almost 2 and a half hours to get to Sto. Tomas Drop off .That was Saturday and there's a huge traffic around Manila and in Turbina Laguna. Along the way we saw the range of Mt. Makiling-. Which is the famous MT. MAKILING TRAVERSE/MAKTRAV starts and ends at LOS BANOS jump off.

Before we took a tricycle to get us to the jump off. We dropped by to the church along the highway of Sto. Tomas Batangas to pray for the group's safety

Its an old church that was reconstructed. Beautiful!

We reached the jump off at 6:30 pm by riding a tricycle from Sto. Tomas. We had a long bargaining with the tricycle drivers there because sabi ni ate sa palengke ang bayad lang daw sa tricycle papapunta sa Brgy. Sta Cruz "Sulok" is only 20 pesos but kapag mountaineers daw and sasakay sisingilin ka ng mas mahal like ng binayad namin na 70 per head. We dont have a choice but to pay them or else walang maghahatid samin sa jump off since nag connived na yung mga drivers na hindi nila kame sasakay sa ibang presyo.

Photo by Lea

We started the trek at 7:00 o'clock PM. I managed the positioning of the group. I was leading the group and I assigned the boys to be sweepers and girls were in the middle. It was not that easy for me to lead the group because i am used to chase my mentors during the trekking and for this climb i needed to carry the group and make sure that we are on the right way.

The trail in Mt. Manabu is like the "Station of The Cross". During Holy Week this place gets crowded because of the "namamanata" . They consider this mountain holy. And i noticed as well that on every station there is a small grotto or a place to pray.

To climb Manabu will only take 2 hours and thats if you are taking the regular trail. But unconsciously we took the longest trail in Mt. Manabu. I did not know that we were taking a different trail. I would say we were fast. The pacing of the group's trek was good! Narealized ko lang na almost 3 hours na kaming nag tetrek at wala pa din akong makitang campsite at marinig na moutaineers.

When we got to an open space we rested for 10 minutes. When i sat down i felt worried for the group because i did not know how far we were and how long we needed to trek to reach the campsite. Everyone was tired and starving. I was sitting under a small tree and i prayed and asked Lord to lead us to the right trail and wished that after an hour we will reach the campsite. And suddenly............

After the water break we composed ourselves again and resume trekking.After an assault trail i saw a white wood...... i ran and i was surprise because we reached the summit of Mt. Manabu after 5 minutes walk from where we were resting and losing hope.

This is the peak of Mt. Manabu. That cross is really our saviour!!!!!

Photo by Jen Villagen- MANABU PEAK

From the Peak of Manabu the campsite is 15 minutes away. We had to be careful from descending the peak because it was steepy. When we reached the campsite we decided to pitched our tent upfront of the Batangas City Night Light. But for me the night light of Manila from Mt. Balagbag is still the best.

After setting up our camp. I managed to cooked Beef Kaldereta, Pork Adobo and Nachos for our late dinner. It has been our tradition to cook food that we have down the mountains like having a usual life. We hate canned goods,wow ulam, cup noodles the likes.

To complete our night, Mr. Carlos Yao our group's entertainer prepared a number for us. He did a "stand up comedy" - The Miss Manabu 2013. It was the funniest and one of the most memorable socials.

My Beefy Nachos

Around 12 midnight we decided to rest........

Foggy and Cold morning

This is our home sweet home. It can accommodate 10 to 12 persons. It was Sir Kaloy and I idea. It consists of two 3P coleman tents and "pasadya" na fly sheet- the yellow and the black cloth to cover both tents and between the two tents there is a long earth pad serves as the floor.This ESKAPO tent is safe. Incase of rain we have another fly sheet to cover the whole tent to prevent the entrance of water. Its all my engineering ^_^

Like all other climbs of my group i am always the first person to wake up in the morning. It was a foggy morning and it was quite cold. If you will walk around you wont see any view. I was really excited to see how beautiful the view from here since we had seen nothing on our way up because it was a night trekking.

Another great breakfast with my members...friends......scrambled eggs , ham, hotdog, mojos, salted egg, left over kaldereta, coffee and fried rice!!!

After we had breakfast the view started to be clear from clouds and fog. After the sky got totally clear at last the view of Mt. Malipunyo and the Susong Dalaga appeared upfront us.

The Malipunyo and Susong Dalaga from Manabu Campsite

This is one of the highlights of Manabu Climb....the view of Malipunyo Range.

The View of Mt. Maculot. Cuenca Batangas

Mt. Maculot is where the former mountaineer Sir Vinson Ayson found dead on foot of the mountain heading Taal Lake. Based from the mountain expert he fell from the "Rockies" of Mt. Maculot. REST IN PEACE sir!

Photos by Lea Legazpi

After the pictorial we needed to prepare for descent.

The mountaineer who took this picture does not know how to use a manual DSLR.. ^_^ anyway thanks Sir!!!!

Start the descent

Descending from Manabu Peak was very easy because we took the traditional trail. We were excited to reach the house of Manong Pirying because he offers free coffe and its not just a regular coffee but one of the expensive coffee in the world. The Alamid Coffee.

Manong Pirying

Coffee Alamid is produced by our very own Philippines Bearcat called "Musang". Its like the most expensive coffee " The Kopi Luwak of Indonesia". Musang eats coffee cherries from the forest and because of their weak digestion when they defecate you will see that the coffee beans are still coffee beans. There is a misconception about Alamid Coffee because many thought that this coffee is made of bearcat shit but its not!. Musang only eats coffee cherries in the forest and they are hygienic animals.This coffee is expensive i think because of how its being produced. From harvesting to cooking its extremely a tedious process.