By Virginia Jasmin Pasalo

IT was an experience, unexpected and unpredictably dangerous trek. My nephew, JC, thought his head was going to be staked in a bamboo after the vehicle he rode in skidded 30 kilometers per hour going down a ravine 20 feet below, so he ducked his head. A friend of my niece thought it was his end, and asked God for forgiveness. Others just shouted, and slid down into the mud. But the cluster of bamboo trees stopped the vehicle from further descent.

I was supposed to be in that vehicle, but I gave way to the mother of my nephew’s girlfriend who had a seven-year old grandchild. Instead I watched from below, as our driver could not gather enough power for us to move up through the thick, one-foot muddy clay. The cold rain poured heavily through our still warm and sweating bodies, and further made the ascent to the meeting ground more slippery. We got stuck.

How did we transition into this? It was Saturday and my sister Emma and I were scheduled to prune the vines in her garden. However, her children and their friends decided to give her an advanced birthday dinner treat. Over dinner, we were asked if we wanted to join an outdoor experience that they have booked for Sunday. They were going on a trek to Secret Haven Campsite to see the caves and swim in the river. We needed the breath of fresh air in the woods, and the temptation of the river was very difficult to resist. We were fit for the trek, and we slept lightly, waiting for 4:00 a.m. We were supposed to be at the camp site at 6:00 a.m. before the tide rises, so that we can enter the caves.

We fitted in two vehicles, a car and a van. We passed by Holcim Cement Plant, and scaled the rocky road towards Sitio Banahaw, San Mateo in Bulacan where some 700 people live. It was a difficult ascent, so we parked the car before the designated waiting area, while the van, carrying six of us, maneuvered through mud and stone. The ones in the car waited for a tora-tora to transport them to the meeting area. (A tora-tora is four-wheel vehicle with an open carriage fitted with round steel tubes around two benches facing each other enough to carry 4-5 people).

We were supposed to walk the slopes, or ride the terrain on bikes. But the road was deep in mud due to the last night’s rain. The contact person, Salve advised, us to park our cars and hire a tora-tora to go to the Secret Haven Campsite. Since there were 11 of us and 2 puppies, we hired two tora-toras.

In the first tora-tora were JC and her girlfriend Mingming. Mingming brought her mother, Wennie and her niece, seven-year old Chloe, and her puppy, Chewee. They were joined by JC’s friend, Alvin and Bryan, a friend of Lean.

I was in the second tora-tora, with my sister Emma and her daughter Ashang. Ashang’s boyfriend Lean and his father Leo, joined us, with Parker, his dog with disability (DWD).

It was supposed to be a thirty-minute ride, but the tora-toras had difficulty driving through, often getting stuck in more than one-foot deep thick clay mud. The drive resembled the tension in octopus rides in amusement parks, where a contraption designed with eight arms resembling “an octopus attached to a central axis spin and move up and down in random, while cars at the end of the arms, either attached directly to the arm or fixed on spinning crosses, spin freely or stay in place.” It was the same stomach-wrenching feeling, except that there were no locks to ensure safety, and your survival rests solely on your ability to hold on to the rails and balance your body as the vehicle twists and turns uncontrollably, like a man in epileptic seizure. Two kilometers of deep mud, we survived!

Finally, we got down and paid our entrance fee and the required life jackets. It was a relaxing walk through the flora and fauna, as well as stepping on stones caressed by flowing water from the springs. We enjoyed the river, but the rafters declined to bring us to the cave, as the high tide was expected soon, and the dam might be releasing some water. Since we were famished, we ordered brunch. Some immediately dipped into the river, and I realized that in my excitement, I left the bag with my walking slippers and swimwear in the van. I could take off my rubber shoes because the sharp stones spiked through the sole of my feet. I took a lot of photos and videos, instead. (To be continued)

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