of storms and man jeo wrote this at 4:10 pm • Filed under The Days of Thy Life, The Acid Tube, The Nomadic Feet, Breakaway Neurons •

its like i heard someone say “tulog na man, pikit na, ayus lang yan, pumikit ka na”. the next thing i knew the right half of my face/head was buried in mud. i opened my mouth to say the word “god”, mud and water slipped inside. i spat. earth aftertaste. i was lying on my right side. i felt the hard rain pound on my face and body. i laid still for a few moments, trying to figure out where im hurt. my left knee seemed to have hit a rock, it was screaming real bad. other than that, i thanked god i was okay. i was lucky my head landed on a soft mound of earth and not on a rock or anything that could zap the life out of me. i was really lucky. i looked up to where ive fallen from, cursing.

have i fallen asleep while walking? or was it just the signal #2 typhoon kabayan that clouded my vision and made me slip? idunno. all im certain of is that i was really tired. we all were. we’ve been trekking on the storm for 10 hours already by that time (it would take us another 4 hours to reach the already sleeping town of barlig). i remember the first time i went there four years ago, it only took us under 5 hours to trek down. but it was very different then. nobody in the team was injured and there was no typhoon. it was summer and everything was sunny and smiling. i brushed my previous amuyao thoughts off and tried to concentrate on the now-now time. we need to get our arses down, i kept telling myself, and i will not leave anyone behind.

there were only four of us, ryan, ria, mike and me. the other apexterra heads backed out a day before the climb. ryan’s right knee, which was injured from his last climb, acted up when we started our descent. hours later both of his knees gave up on him. that and the strong typhoon, freezing cold rain and strong winds, slowed our descent to a españa-quiapo jam. hypothermia poked every now and then. i did pray on our way down, a lot. i know all four of us did. i kept on begging for the rain to stop, i wasnt sure anymore how long my body can take the extreme cold. my marmot thermal was no use anymore. everything was soaking wet. there was no cellphone signal. shit.

i was so exhausted already. but i know i wouldnt give up. i couldnt. i was their only guide on that climb. and if i falter, i will fail all of us four. mike, ria and i divided and carried ryan’s stuff to ease his descent even just a little. he kept on pushing himself down, both legs constantly rejecting his brain’s orders. i knew the feeling. ive been there. in my very first mountain climb, which was in mt. banahaw with my sacrilege mountaineer friends, my knees also gave up on me. so i know how hard it was for him. good thing he had tons of willpower in him.

we reach barlig at around 12 midnight, it was already a ghost town. the storm have not ceased yet. we searched for a place to stay and found halfway inn. we were forced to stay there for the next couple of days because landslides have blocked the way that connects mountain province and ifugao. we were all so thankful for surviving that weekend. and more lessons have been learned from that climb.

i gotta thank everyone who helped and showed concerns. daren, angel, ish (ria’s cuz) and our friends here in manila. manong nataniel and his wife for trying and picking us up at barlig and driving our asses safely through the landslides. manang edel for letting us stay in her place. the NGO and autobus office at banaue. natalia of mfpi for calling and checking if we were already okay. my boss of course for not firing me hehehe. si god? the whole climb i was thanking him. and i know it will never be enough. sounds like an speech from the vma’s? hehehe.

ayun. i gotta say i was humbled more by the experience. by mt. amuyao. by the typhoon. by nature. by everything.