JEST once

disclaimer: title courtesy of manny 'pero isa lang sya' pangaruy jr. Photos courtesy of manny, iam, marian and others who i have failed to mention that are also there JEST once-ing with me.

I really don't know what came into my mind. Is it the possible photo opp (which didn't happen since circumstances prevent me from bringing the camera), or the possible wild life exposure, or maybe it was just the call of nature... :))

nasan ang tsinelas ko?!?!

After some more thoughts in the car I decided that I really want to try this out. And no my final decision was not based because we were already several hundred miles away from the metro.

After several hours of travelling by car. I am prepared to journey the wild!

not! My feet was beginning to sore because it's harder to have long walks for me being flat footed. But all was well and good but wished I got a bolo which they were lending at the base. Imagine... chop tall grass! chop branches! chop bag of the fellow in front of you! err..

In every walk of life, sometimes you
really need to just stop and smell the... trees?

and if that wasn't enough... place a hammock in between them
and rest your butt off for a while... ahh the bliss...

one of my tentmates.. 1/10ths for short.

after sometime the guide showed us how to create fire
and then cooked rice using a kawayan.

Amazing!

so after some afternoon nap...

ahh fire!

ohh fire!

after having some stories from the office... :)) it was now sleeping time... and after a few hours, it was now waking time. we were supposed to wake up around 5am so that by 7am we can start going back to the base camp. We woke around 7am.

after some packing we are now ready again to venture to the forest. This time it was easier for me because I have consumed the 1.5Gallon of water that was on my back pack. Mind you, hiking up and down hills with 1.5G almost feels like the death march (even though it was february.. wakokokoko) .

We were supposed to eat a JEST delicacy "fruit bat on a stick" which was unfortunate because our guides didn't found any. Fortunately while walking they saw a bamboo with a fruit bat. This photo reminds me a bit of the poster of silence of the lambs which was a good movie and a good read... wala lang. :))

we were given a choice to go back the easy way or the hard way. Of course most of the times, the hard way has its benefits.


after going to the cliff of the mountain it was now time to go back and walk and pose along the way. Which became a pretty long way because we think our guide made a wrong turn which added 1 more hour of walking, posing and now cursing.

After all have been said and done, I am yet undecided if this will be a JEST once experience. hmm..