Traveling Pants: Mt. Pinatubo

My long weekend was spent in Mt. Pinatubo! Hurray, I barely lived to tell the tale.

The journey began in McDonald's EDSA where our tour group was planned to gather for some orientation. At around 2:30, we (group of four: sister, brother-in-law & sister-in-law) arrived at the venue and had our briefing + final payment stuffy...I guess we were the last people to arrive since everyone got in the designated vans soon after. By 3:00 AM, we were on our way to the base camp (honestly, I have no idea where. HAHA) somewhere in Zambales. Once we got there, we waited for another 30 minutes or so before we could ride on to our 4x4 vehicles. By 6 AM, the one hour ride to the crater began.

Here's the map to the crater:

Photo from TRIPINAS

I personally thought (based from the map) that the trip would be fast and smooth. Apparently, I'm bad at imagining things or I was merely a victim of ignorance. Either way, the 4x4 trip alone was a punishing foreshadow to the horrors of trekking up the crater (lol, so dramatic).

The 4x4 trip was fun for the first 20 minutes since we got to see all these amazing 'mountain' formations. The tour guide informed us that they were actually not natural mountains but they were made of lahar or mud flow of what was once a slurry of water, ash, and other pyroclastic material from the eruption. Halfway through the trip, the terrain changed from smooth, 'sandy-ashy' to rocky, bumpy, butt-painful road. Wait, there wasn't much road at all since the vehicle was just hammering through the boulders (okay, that's a bit over board but I hope you get what I mean...I know you don't). There were times where the vehicle had to go down a steep slope, through a raging rivulet and up the steep slope again. Imagine how we held on for dear life during those moments (that happened for like 2 more times).

Just the 'tip of the iceberg' type of terrain

It was such a relief to see the end of that fun/adrenaline-filled ride (forgetting the reality that we will have to go through that ride on our way back). Here's a pick at the trek marker:

All smiles! (For now) *insert Doofenshmirtz laugh

Next was the 2-hour trek up to the crater of Mt. Pinatubo. I'm sparing you all the details. Honestly, it was so tiring that I even feel tired right now trying to remember that trek (for realzzz :'< HAHA).

Anyway, after two long hours of a seemingly endless trek, we finally reached the summit! 

Finally...

We had lunch by the lakeside (or lake-crater side whatever) and did photo ops for the next two hours before we went back to base camp (and by back, I mean back to that full-body beating ride).

The so-called Toblerone Mountain, locals prefer 

calling it the Yema Mountain. 'Punny' Pinoys indeed.

Even if the trip was a bit gruesome (team no sleep!!!) and long, it was an adventure of a lifetime. I can proudly say that I'm one of the few (few = thousands) who were able to survive that journey up to Mt. Pinatubo.

Crater lake. 

Let's make a story board for these two photo bombers. >:)

 After that ordeal (srsly?), I say achievement unlocked! Off to higher peaks and summits! =))