by Maria Eleanor E. Valeros, #newmedia specialist
:for#microadventurism
CENTRAL CEBU LANDSCAPE, PHILIPPINES — Toyed with the idea of a Transcentral Road walk two years ago. It happened as planned, but it had taken scores of postponements before the idea could finally leave a track.
Even my small circle of hiking enthusiasts was just too chicken to do it. Concerns varied from security matters to weather, from endurance to availability of time. And, we couldn’t seem to agree on a particular date and time.
In the first week of February I checked the calendar for a full-moon date. Of the six calendars hanging at home, five had the full moon on Feb. 14, Valentine’s Day. But large The Freeman calendar had it on Feb. 15, a Saturday.
I liked that one different date. Somehow it hinted how odd my idea was. It was something not normally conceived even by habitual trekkers themselves.
Many would rather run – to make a record – the 48-kilometer stretch from Cebu City to Balamban town in the province’s northwest. Some would rather test their charms at hitchhiking to the other side, on any of those vehicles plying the 44-kilometer stretch of the Cebu central landscape.
In my case, I don’t mind walking. However, I couldn’t walk alone. Doing it solo is not a good idea. Either I would stir suspicions among the mountain residents, or hoodlums would take the opportunity to victimize a woman, cherishing her solitude, in some isolated area.
I reckoned though that I had already waited long enough for the activity. My patience was like hair thinning on my aging faith. Nonetheless, it still looked virtuous to wait for the right time and the right company.
It would come, I knew, like a stream ultimately meeting a faraway ocean despite a million bends. I had been through too many instances where the Universe conspired with my desire and allowed me to go hiking and trekking. It had never failed me in the past.
Then, one day, in my routine commuting to Cebu City for my job, I happened to sit behind two young backpackers. The convergence inspired me to start a conversation. I learned they were from Talavera, Toledo City and were headed for Osmena Peak in Dalaguete town in southeast Cebu. From there, they would cross to Kawasan Falls (Badian town) via a five-hour hike.
Thrilled but not anticipating much just yet, I saved their contact numbers. I didn’t even bother asking for their names. If we were destined to be trek-mates, it would come, I figured. Then that would be the time to exchange first names.
Days towards Feb. 15, I posted an FB account invite for hiking enthusiasts. I declared I was “ready to pursue my very first Transcentral Road Luna Trek.” A good number “Liked” the idea but hinted no commitment. Some said they might join, but I knew the excitement would just die down the moment they leave the FB page.
My Plan B was just to try going from JY Square in Lahug to Ayala Heights up on the near mountains, a distance of around 18 kms. Both ways, up and then return, was a good 36 kms. already and I could go alone. My hope is like an overcast sky. But I believe I should do this — or never.
Then, from out of the blue, Renzo Reoyan (25 years old) sent me a text message that he was already at JY Square with his cousin, 26-year-old Kyle Basalo, waiting for me. I was like – owwwwwSum! We were going on our very first Transcentral Moon Walk!
Pain soused the journey, literally! The backbreaking uphill at the start of the walk and the steep downhill past Barangay Ga-as (part of Balamban) were just too much to bear. It was the silliest hike I’ve done in my life, 44 kilometers in 14 hours. We started late afternoon of Feb. 15 (Sat.), and reached Brgy. Aliwanay at Poblacion Balamban at the burst of a Sunday skyline. That’s about 3,300 feet for every kilometer covered!
It was offbeat. It was off the beaten track. But the three of us agreed that it was still a “fun walk,” knowing that we would not be doing a hike like that on a regular basis anyway. And we couldn’t do it anymore a decade later. So it was just the day to do it. And it was the night, too, to watch and get awed by the sight of mist shrouding the mountains.
It was such an absurd idea indeed, for what if we’d encountered outlaws along the way? What if we’d witnessed something or somebody being dumped on the roadside, or down a sharp cliff, while negotiating Cantipla or Cansomoroy? Knowing how bad some people could get these days?!
Being a journalist of 16 years, I knew of lawlessness carried out in the wee hours at the remote hillylands. But I fought against these creepy thoughts that night. All I wanted to do was to focus on my pace, my stride – and finish the journey before the “1st Eleanor Valeros Memorial Climb” could be organized.
And I could not have done it without the two gentlemen who bought my very crazy idea. The duo who risked it with me, in our common desire to push ourselves to the limit. (Photo by Kyle P. Basalo/first published in The FREEMAN, March 23, 2014)
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To join the first anniversary walk come Feb. 15, 2015 (Sunday), email me at eleanor.newmedia@gmail.com or FB: Eleanor Newmedia.
TRAVELEANORISM 