overly romantic, it's laughable

I want to make sure I bring all the stuff I need when I go out on a trip so I list down the things I have to pack. This is a list I made on our trip to Argao and I've been using it on the following treks I've had, adding whatever stuff I need.

One of the things I almost always bring with me is a book or any reading material and/or a notebook where I can draw or write stuff.  It's true what they say: boredom kills. And this is my way of hanging on to dear life. (Okay, that was cheesy.)

Packing for the recent trek I had was hurried. I was currently reading a thick novel but I didn't want to bring anything big and heavy so I grabbed this small novel (novella?) I had in my shelf: Bridges of Madison County.

It was so short at around 150 pages with huge font -- talk about stretching the length of the novel -- that I finished half of it during the frequent breaks we had. I had the impression that it was a good book coz the awesome Clint Eastwood made a film adaptation about it. I was wrong. It was overly romantic, too cheesy I thought some rats were trying to attack me. I hate the story. Wife of a decent husband falls in love with a stranger she met for four days while her family was away on a trip. She and stranger part ways and never meet again but their love never faded even until their death decades after. asdfjkl!!!!

Too sensational, too cinematic. I wanted to crumple the pages and burn the book. 

It's terrible. I'm no moralist but it amuses me that this book became so popular because they had an affair.

Unless you want to feel angry and dumb and wanting to poke your eyes for reading such horrible stuff, don't read it.

Budlaan River Trek

After plenty of turning down invites for the outdoors I finally had the time to join one.

I went river trekking and rock climbing in Budlaan Falls in Talamban on a cloudy/rainy/sunny Sunday. I first met these people at a Basic Mountaineering Course held last month. The weather was just fine when the group rendezvoused in the morning but when we reached our drop off at Baugo it started to drizzle and then it rained hard. Our guide/leader surveyed the area and tried to weigh between doing Kan-Irag or push through with the river trek.

We did the river trek.

My camera's LCD was broken so I was shooting through the viewfinder the whole time with no reviewing and stuff. I'm glad the photos came out good.

Some girl's feet swimming in coffee.

Because of the rain the water was brown. It wasn't really dirty. Just muddy. On normal days the river and waterfalls look like this.

There were lots of rocks and boulders and plants and insects along the way.

Sometimes we had to cross the river and the current was quite strong and along with that, some rock climbing and rapelling. There were lots of ropes involved. That guy on the left was our guide, Aaron. 

I don't know what's up with those strips of white shades on the photos. 

Mighty waterfalls. I have so much love for fresh water. =)  

I don't really know the names of the waterfalls. There were probably three or four that we passed by. This one was the biggest, it was majestic. Well, it wouldn't have been so if it weren't for the rain. Otherwise it would have looked like (this).

Those are water hoses. And that's Neeru. Or was it Jerson? I was only sure of one name among the people in the group:  Paw Paw who helped me bigtime.

Now, this is where the magic happened that day.

The ropes were extremely important. Someone said this is the part where you learn to appreciate your life. It didn't really apply to any of us until the "magic" happened. I don't want to talk about it. I just want to tell you this: think twice about river trekking if it's raining hard, ergo, when it floods. 

This is the part where I finished a quarter of a short novel I brought with me. The group was moving slow and there were lots of waiting time in between it would dry your eyes out. It was an ugly book I brought. So ugly I think I'll tell you about it later.

Brisk walking back to Baugo. Racing the sunset.

We were way behind schedule. We were supposed to end up in Busay but it was getting dark already so they decided that we just go back to Baugo where we dropped off. I love walking trails--at dusk at that. And I was practically silent most of the time. #shytype. I would have been the opposite if my trek buddy, Rochelle, went. She had other plans. I miss her a lot. Like a lot, a lot.

This trek was so cheap I only spent less than 50 pesos. And I got a huge ugly bruise as a souvenir. It's so colorful it's like I have a rainbow tattooed on my left knee.

Garden

Late post.

Last month's hike in Banawa.