Trekking @ Mount Pinatubo and What Not

I heard a lot good reviews about trekking in Mount Pinatubo. Luke and JC went there last year and was jealous seeing them riding those 4 x 4 trucks, err and the crater of Moutn Pinatubo din pala. Luckily Dom organized a trip for Pinatubo a couple of weeks and as soon as I read his announcement I immediately texted him and ask for a reservation. Was suprised also that Rosa

and her AG are joining the trip. Ang saya! The more the mannier! Jejejeje

Meeting time is 4:14 AM @ Shell McKinley. Shucks! Ang aga! Went home from PM around 11:00PM na then eat (i asked my nanay to cooked porkchop bbq even on a friday!) and watch a movie pa till 12:30AM. Then woke up before 3:00AM for Rosa to pick me up and Che then go to Kuya Ef house for our service to Makati.

The trip to Dau took us 1 hour then spend a couple of minute to buy pack lunch and then rode the 4 x 4 trucks (yes!) all the way to Capas Tarlac! 

Nasagap ko ata lahat ng usok along the highway! Jejeje

On the way to Pinatubo

After 2 hours we arrive to this Pinatubo Spa Town where Dom need to register us trekkers and gave us some time to go to the bathroom and freshen up before our trek.

Welcome powh!

4 x 4 All line-up

After making chikka with other people and putting our protective gears for the dust (errr..sila lang pala kasi wala akong dalang pangprotekta) we start our drive to Pinatubo. The first pit stop is a very wide space na puro buhangin and small streams of water. The place looks like this...



According to our guide this place used to be a vast sugarcane fields but it vanished after the eruption. Then I remember the proposal project that I made 2 years ago for Capas Ethanol project, and i was like "where the hell are they going to get the sugarcane to use for this Ethanol plant". And yesterday I sit down corrected. The thing is tarlac has sugarcane sources pala! Now I know jejeje.

The walls of lahar

Sabi ni guide, the place is the location shoot for those GMA-7's sci-fi telenovela a few years ago. (Forgot to ask what's the name though). The place reminds me of the sand dunes of Saudi, minus the water streams of course =D

Che inspecting her camera

After a couple of hours driving we finally start our trek to Pinatubo crater. This is the part i've been waiting for. Good choice I wore a trekking shoes instead of a sandals coz konti lang naman ang mga streams of water we've encountered (plus i dont have sandals! waaaa!).

The lahar wall and me

Parking lot of 4 x 4

During the trek it's hard to find a place to sit down and take a rest, unlike in Batulao where there is a shack after 15 minutes of walk. And it came as a suprised to find a Kubo in the middle of the mountain. Yehey!!! Pahinga galore!

After 20 minutes of trekking again, we've finally arrived at the crater! Wohoo!! And this thing greeted us a the entrance..

God's reminds us on how he can create and destroy life with just one snap

Welcome po sa crater!

In fairness, daming tao sa crater! Met a whole family, a balikbayan, a retires US servicemen (from Clark i suppose) and a lot of young professionals. It's like a pasiklaban ng mga DSLR! Did the DSLR convention moved to Pinatubo? Jejejeje

Thank you Lord for the good weather=D

After eating our lunch and made some acquaintance we descend to the crater lake for the boating. According to our guide its a 170 steps daw. It was easy going down but it was hell going up!!!!

Kuya Ef made it to the other boat coz puno na boat namin. Good thing coz at least we have picture from other the other side. Dom was with him as well. And Josh ,the nice kid we've met (i say kid coz he relly looks so young, eventhough he's working na as a accountant) at the trip.

At the other side of the crater we descend, Faith tried to feel if the water is really hot, and indeed it was true. Nope i didn't tried to touch the waters coz paranoid ako sa mga acid thingy things. LoL! Crazy me noh?

I have to admit the place is awesome! It's like your in the magical world of LOTR. Winner!!! Would love to go to that area where there is sandlike slopes kaso it's on the other side of the crater. So far from where we deck. =(. But still it's nice to view them from afar.

KE, ang huma-hardcore photographer!


That's the area i want to explore sana!
River (lake deep) Mountain high!

A lot of vegetation flourished on the crater lake, wonder how this plants live on this type of water.

Fact: Walang isda sa crater, di ata kaya ang sulfuric acidity level ni Pinatubo.
False: Hindi puedeng maligo sa Pinatubo.
Fiction: Kaya kong languyin to the other side of the lake.

Bato sa buhanginan


Yay! Uwian na!!

All in all the trip is awesome. Btw, before we went to the crater we had a small outreach for the Aeta's living in Pinatubo. We brought clothes, books, school things and some small snacks for the kids. It was heartwarming to see the smiles in their faces upon receiving the gifts. Didn't took photos during the event coz i was handling out the clothes to the adults. I hope they appreciate the little gifts that we've gave them.

Special Thanks to Dong Ho for oganizing the trip, to Shy's AG for the food and kwento, for KE for the service, to our guide Rennan for helping Shy and Dory make it to the top, to the mamang bangkero (pic below) for the safe trip on the other side of the crater, and most specially to all the trekkers who joined us thank you for being a sport. Thanks so much!

Naks! Si Kuya all smiles (kasi puro chicks kasama nia sa bangka)

Thank you and godbless you all!

Welcome Back!

After staying in Baguio for 5 days, eto ang mga napala ko

1. Headache
2. Sipon
3. Body Ache
4. Pagod
5. Teary Eyed
6. Soar Throat
7. Aching Legs

But wait, there's more:

8. Spiritually refreshed
9. Feel God's love throughtout the conference
10. Blessed by the service done by the brother's and sisters of Northern and Central Luzon.
11. Meet the wonderful persons like my breakfast buddy from QC, Ms. Secretariat, who is a deadringer to Pia Guanio, of Angeles, Roomies from Angeles,Greenhills and Dagupan.
12. Bonding time with the Alabang Brothers.

Hmmm...mukhang okay narin.Sulit naman pala ang pagod. Watyathink!?!?

theonoski

Excited!

In less than 40 hours i'll be in Baguio na for the RLTC. I'm really excited about this RLTC thing for i know i'll have a very good time discovering God and his wonders for me. Plus the fact that i'll be going to BAGUIO for the first time!

Yay!

Screw the Young Professional (a.k.a. yuppy) image. I'll run around Baguio like a 5 year old kid in a playground. (of course the rltc parin ang top priority activity ko sa baguio, hehehehe).

Excited? Yes!

Atat? Super!

Tapos mo naba trabaho mo sa office? Malapit na!

An Ultraelectromagneticsupercalifragiliciousexpialadocious experience

Last Sunday, I was lucky enough to be invited to attend Lingkod's anniversary in Makati City. At first I was excited to be a part of the activity of our community, to be familiarize with other branch's members and also be a part of the celebration for Lingkod. But my excitement turned into worry when they announce that we should be at the place at 8:00 am on a Sunday morning and also we need to do a presentation (i.e. we have to dance) at the afternoon affair. O.K. i said to myself, the waking up in the morning on a weekend we can dealt with but the dancing part....uh-oh...hmmmm..."houston we have a problem, a dancing problem that is"!

So, what i did was for the dancing part, we've practice the dance the day before the event (i.e. Saturday) and boy did we preactice very hard talaga! Thank God for JC, Ian and Sheena for patiently teaching us how to dance and the blockings! Eventually, after the gruelling practice we did master the dance steps! Yey! Hooray for Theo! Hahahaha.

(c'mon the last time i did dance with choreography was in first year high school pa, not counting the kotilyon and js prom dance ha! and the rest of my life i just dance in bars and disco where as you probably know, ,dancing there doesn't need choreography. jologs pag choreograph sayaw mo sa dance floor.lol)

So, the dancing part is done. Next to do thing, wake up at 5:45 a:m. Boy, this was really really tricky. Me, waking up at this time of the day on a weekend means away! But being a good servant and a little bit excited about what's store for me at Lingkod anniv I obediently alarmed my phone at 5:45 am and diligently stood up when it alarmed.

I must admit i'm impressed at myself for waking up early and not being grumpy/cranky, maybe it's a good sign that this day will be ah-o.k.

Oh, one more thing, another thing that dreaded me in going to Makati was for me to drive in EDSA. Nyahahaha! I've only drive there once and i had a ka-rellevo (no pun intended) with me but now wala! It's me who will drive all the way to Mayor Binay's Kingdom without any reliever in driving. But hey, luckily i did made it safe and sound to Makati. Maybe God really want me to go there and experience his love and to praise him, nowithstanding the early morning meet-up, the driving along edsa and the dance presentation.

The anniversary start with a mass and guess what, I've been chosen among so many people inside the training area to read the Responsorial psalm!!! I was shocked, happy, scared, doubtful all in the same time. Shocked kasi why me? Happy because i'll be serving the Lord. Scared coz it's my first time to do such a thing! Doubtful, kasi baka joke lang pala to! Well it turned out it was not a joke and i did my part (according to the priest in the mass) very fast! hahahaha! It's not my fault if i read fast, ang mahalaga they heard what I say di ba?

After the mass, its workship time. It was pure joy to worship the Lord and I must admit it was my first time to really sing out loud, raised my hand up high, joyfully sing to the lord in all my life! Sobrang saya ng experience,i cannot explain in words how happy and contented i was during the whole sessions. And the talks was amazing as well, the speakers really inspired us to be a good brothers and sisters not only to ourselves in the community but also to others as well.

Afternoon come and the presentation of each branch was held. We we're the first one to perform, in fairness to us we we're great! Hahahaha. The impromptu cast was fabulously great! Well we did lived up to the title of our song (joyful joyful of sister act 2) kaya we were having fun and joy talaga while we dancing. Nakakapagod but what the heck, we had fun naman, worth it parin ang pagod =D.

I went home very very very happy and feel blessed and yes until now i still had this so-called lingkod anniv hang-over (it's already thursday btw) but i must admit It was one great experience, pede ko pa makwento sa mga taong gustong makinig (or forced to listen to me hehehe).

Dear Lord, Thank you for the blessings you have given to me, thank you for being my saviour, my companion during loneliness,my bestfriend who keep on telling me that everything would be when im depressed, my buddy when i'm desperate for friendships, my conscience when im dealing with mortal sin, my buddy when i needed someone to talked to. Thank you Lord.

All of this I offer to you my Lord. My life and my profession I offer to you. What I do to my brothers and sisters in servicing them and my achievements in my work I offer to you, for you alone are the greatest and the most loving God. I am nothing if you're not here in my heart.

AMEN.



(note:title was inspired by the Eraserheads and the movie Mary Poppins)

September

Ang galing! It's already September na,next thing you know it's Chrismas time na ulit. I have a lot to look forward to this month like:

Sept. 5 => Ate's Birthday/Jphil's anniversay/Gawad Kalinga gig.
Sept. 7 => Lingkod's Anniversary.
Sept. 8 => Mama Mary's Birthday.
All Saturday of Sept. => Bar Exam ni Sis.
Sept. 24-28 => RLTC at Baguio
Sept. 30 => Company bonus =D=D=D=D=D=D

Fully packed na ang September ko, what more pagdating ng December! Hehehehe.

Im really excited to the RLTC gig because it will be my first time sa Baguio (read my previous blog to know how excited I am kapag baguio na ang pinaguusapan !).

Better get back to work para walang backlog and para makagala na!!!!

gogogo
theo