Life’s Sneak Preview

“IF YOU HAVE THE SPIRIT, WE HAVE THE ADVENTURE!” That was the tag line I saw at the entrance of Macahambus Adventure Park. Well, for the ten free-spirited individuals (Cristy, Karen, Judith, Teresa, Chona, Arlan, Peggy, Rizza, Linnette, & yours truly) who were all set to take the adventure, it was indeed a day full of fun and excitement.

The first activity we went through was the canopy walk, wherein we were to cross the sky bridge 150 feet above the stream. With much adrenaline to start off the adventure, we crossed the hanging bridge all geared up, with a wry smile on our face. Every step forward provoked the narrow bridge into a rickety swing which roused a bit of tension among the group. But much to my amusement, I and Chona even managed to chant the melody of Regine’s song “I Can” everytime the bridge swings hehe! Such a cool way to ease up the strain.

Upon reaching the end of the sky bridge, we were to zip back on a cable that spans 120 meters, overlooking a gorge 150 feet below. We were all first-timers then, and were a bit scared to start off the zip line challenge. But whew! Everything seemed to happen in just a wink of an eye ‘coz before I knew it, my harness was fastened on the cable ready to be slid across the mountains. I took a deep breath, whispered my two-word prayer ("Lord, help."), clutched the rope of my life – and slid! Whoossh!! It was like riding a cable car, only without a car, hehe! What I thought would stir up panic attacks turned out to be the most exhilarating slide I’ve ever had. It wasn’t scary after all! I just felt like I was flying in the air! Still fired up with adrenaline when I reached the end of the zip line and finished my ultimate “cable slide”, I couldn’t help but ask the trek guide “Pwedeng isa pa?” hahaha! I certainly would have wanted to do it the second time around but we were running out of time for the next activity, and I was running out of budget too, hehe!

Just a few minutes after the zip line challenge, the group headed for the next activity which was to get down to the bottom of the gorge, and enjoy the lush vegetation and the cold underground stream. While half of the group opted to just trek on their way down to the bottom of the gorge, the other half (which includes me of course) decided to go down the stream the more adventurous way — by means of rappelling. Just like the zip line, we have to go back crossing the sky bridge. But we only have to reach up to the middle part of the bridge, where the rappelling challenge should start taking place. We were about to begin the rappelling but.. oopps! Wait a minute! Where’s Judith’s digicam? It was left at the reception area of the park together with our bags and packed lunch! Uh-oh! There’s no way we should start rappelling without the digicam! Being decisive as I was, I crossed the sky bridge (for the fourth time) just to get that precious camera (else, no rappelling pics from the top view would ever be captured and posted in the blog site, hehe!). Finally, I got the camera and we were all set to rappel. Whew! When I saw the deep gorge which looked like an eerie cliff, and the trekkers down below which seemed to look like the size of an ant, my heart started pounding loud! My golly! This was even more scary than the zip line! Thanks to my 60% guts which superseded my 40% fear, hehe! My enthusiasm to do the challenge outdid all my apprehensions. Strapped with a headgear and a harness, I moved my feet forward ready to step down the 90 degrees trail – the 150 feet trunk, with the harness as my lone support for getting my way down to the gorge. Doing the rappelling was pretty much exhausting. You would really savor the tiring experience of manipulating the harness and balancing your weight, not to mention the infuriating heat of the sun directly penetrating your skin! When I finally reached the bottom of the trail, I felt so thirsty and my stomach was craving for that sumptuous lunch already prepared by the other half of the group. The packed lunch of the rappellers then followed, which was brought to us by “free falling” from the sky bridge, haha!

After taking our lunch at the gorge, we proceeded with the cave exploration. We entered an unspoiled cavern that led to a stream with pristine water. The dark pathways brought us to another end of the cave leading to a passage overlooking the white water rafting site. For those who haven’t been there yet, you might as well try the adventure and you will really marvel nature at its best! Well, as for the rest of the group, everybody was just so inspired doing the adventure of the day. In fact, the group had initially planned for the next adventure to come up – the white water rafting! And hopefully, the Mapawa trek would also be pushed through, and so with the nature trek at Claveria. Whew! Such a lot of nature trek sked on the list, hehe!

Ooops! One last “hirit” before I end this article. In behalf of the rest of the group, I’d like to extend my thanks to our colleagues Xandi who was with us through the entire challenge (and ended up as our official photographer, haha!) and Daryl who diligently drove us to the adventure site, and fetched us at the end of the day when the adventure was through (indeed he saved our day ‘coz it was raining so hard when we were through with the nature trek). Thanks also to the staff and crew of Macahambus Adventure Park who accommodated us (not to mention the discounts hehe!) and to the trek guides who were so thorough in giving up instructions, and so we’ve gone through the entire challenge unharmed and still in great shape. (Just for the record, our trek guide commended us for being the record holder of the month, being the first trekkers with only one guy in the trek team! Kudos to all my teammates!).