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Published: December 25th 2008
Other than are usual mountaineering trips, we decided to uncover some hidden places few city folks have visited along the rolling hills of Mt. Napulak. Our destination this time is the last barangay of Igbaras, Iloilo... Brgy. Igcabugao. This barangay is the jump-off path going to Mt. Taripis. Our original plan for the November adventure was to conquer Mt. Taripis, but things change when we arrived at Igcabugao.
November 21, Friday..... the Cloud Trekkers headed to Mohon Terminal for another fund and adventure. At around 7am, all of us were in high spirits for the trip. This time two friends joined us, Paul, who is Jerwyn's high school buddy and Kat, an old time mountaineering enthusiast. We left Iloilo City at around 8am and arrived at Igbaras at 9:30. After registration with the local tourism office and a photoshoot, we took a 45 minute trycicle ride to Bgry. Passi, and met our ever loyal guide, Mr, Morot. From there, all of us were on foot as we ascended the path going up to Brgy. Igcabugao. As we trek the path, well all the views, left and right, are breathtaking. With the sun high up in the sky, phew! profuse sweating
is a major occurence, hahaha! It took us 2 hours to reach Igcabugao. The good thing about this trip is that, our guide lives in Igcabugao. So, we are assured of a place to pitch our tents, and somebody to cook our food, isn't that great? When we arrived at Igcabugao, Mr. Morot welcomed us in his house. We were greeted by his six children. We stayed outside of his house, in a viranda overlooking the mountain ranges, with a fantastic view over the rice, vegetable and flower fields. During this time, we decided to change our itinerary. Instead of trekking Mt. Taripis, which is about an hour away, we decided to do caving instead. We put out our food for lunch. Our menu: Red native rice, chicken ham, Korean seaweed rice wrappers (thanks to Paul) and hard boiled chicken and quail eggs. Right after lunch, we left all our stuffs in Mr. Morots house and took out the most important thing you need when you travel.......... digital camera....... for evidence.
Well, I find it hard to put into words what happened to us, what we did, how exciting the paths along the way before we reach the cave,
Mt. Napulak
Mt. Napulak from afar. The mountain range are all interconnected. just look over the pictures, and Im sure pictures speak more than words. To give emphasis on some of the pictures: The rocks are pure marbles. We climb up and down to cross them, and to be honest, its quite easy to do it. When we reached the cave, well its cold, its dark and spooky. But the place is awesome. No words can explain how I felt when I was there. The limestone formations where superb. After our cave adventures, we went to the stream for a cold bath. The water is so clear, well, to sum up everything, the place is a pardise.
We headed back to Mr. Morots place in a hurry because its getting dark, and we don't want to get lost. We set our tents, cooked our food, took showers at the poso and made ourselves comfy as the night came. It was a cold night! Winds was hitting us left and right. No worries becasue our tents are strong enough to resist the cold wrath of the night.
Morning comes.... A day for another adventure. Juven and I were the early birds. We woke everybody up, set and prepared breakfast. Our menu:
Cloud Trekkers
On our way to Igbaras. native red rice, bread, eggs and to our surprise fired fresh water native frog, courtesy of Mr. Morot. I was hesitant at first, but after a few bite, no one can tell its frog meat. Taste good!
Our second day was all about waterfalls. And again, pictures that are posted in this blog will do all the talking.
The entire adventure came to its conclusion at around 3:30pm. We went back to the popblacion of Igbaras, had a little rest in the town gym. Sadly, there was no more jeepney available going to Iloilo City. We took a trycicle to the next town and took a jeepney back to the city.
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