Chasing Waterfalls and Climbing Mountain in Tarlac

Hello my friends!

Life is hopping on a ride of the skeptical journey passing through a muddy and blurry road, in between rough and smooth highways, in which nothing is sure but uncertainties.

As we continue our journey in going through the unknown road of uncertainties in this so-called "life", we tend to meet a lot of people along the way. Today, let me share with you about these people I get to bump into along the way. An adventurous individual who is always hungry for challenging travels, that have carved out a big place in my life, and of course, the adventures I get to experience with them.

Climbing mountains is one of their passions, that's why I was able to experience this exciting and adrenaline-rushing outdoor activity, for which I am very grateful. This time, we went to San Clemente, Tarlac to climb Mt. Damas. Oppppps, don't get me wrong with its name 😅. Yes, you heard it right, it's Mt. Damas (sounds like I am cursing someone but this is really how it is called). Anyway, in the Filipino language, this doesn't sound like bad words or something like that. Ok so much with its name, this mountain has some breath-taking views to offer though.

From Manila, we rode the Victory Liner bus that took five-hour travel to get us to our destination. With its five-hour ascend, I consider this mountain a major climb because of the difficulties we encountered during our trek. We crossed a river along the way, so we also took a five-minute rest to save our energy. The sound of the running water was so relaxing that it eases our tired bodies. So the five-minute rest was spent living in the moment, listening to mother nature as it played a beautiful sound.

As we continued with the trek, we had to cross a rocky portion and the guide had to tie a rope ahead of us for us to assist in our steps. It was so steep that we had to embrace the huge stones to carry our bodies upwards. So thankful to our guide that he assisted each of us carefully to make sure all of us were safe.

And then we happened to pass by a local carrying a little monkey. He said it was his pet. It was so friendly that the monkey did not get mad when I touched him. So I asked permission from the owner if I could snap I picture with his monkey and he politely said yes.

_{Don't be scared dear, we may look like sisters, but I won't take you home.😅}

And after five hours of challenging climb, we finally reached the summit. And a rewarding view of the rainbow welcomed us on the top.

_{I always wonder if there is really a pot of gold at the end of the rainbow. 🤔}

The overlooking view of the mountainous side of the province is so amazingly picturesque. It was all worth the climb. And then we set up our tents because we were going to stay overnight there. Together with the stuffed toys that my friends brought with them (what an effort😁), we surely had a goodnight's sleep. Hugging them kept us warm during the cold night on the top.

The next morning I woke up early to witness how beautiful the sunrise would look like when you are on the top. And as expected, it did not fail me. The scenic view of the sunrise was also worth climbing here. I know it's not every day that I get to stare at this beautiful view so I might as well make the most out of it and enjoyed the moment.

My friends and I savored every moment with some of the stranger mountaineers that we meet on top. It was truly an amazing adventure.

We started descending in the afternoon. We had a traverse to the majestic Ubod Falls. We stopped by to enjoy the scene as well as to let out bodies felt its relaxing cold water. We all fell in love.

The climb and the falls adventure gave us a fabulous and challenging weekend adventure. As we conquered the struggles during a hard ascend, we get to lend each other a helping hand so there will be no one left behind. It was the camaraderie and friendship that again, help us get through it all.

We overcame the mountain. We overcame ourselves. It was something we will always look back on that made us stronger to face any challenges. I was thankful to my friends who climb the mountain with me. It doesn't matter how hard or easy the trek was, it's the climb.

Thank you again my friends for dropping by. Until next blog and have a great
weekday ahead.