The Unclimbable Mountain

So when KC returned from his little visit to the States we decided to visit a small group of islands in the Philippines called Romblon (which is also the name of the province, the capital town AND the island). The main reason was to hike Mt. Guiting-Guiting (meaning knife edge in the local dialect) on Sibuyan Island a place that we dreamed would be a biodiversity wonderland after reading about it in the Lonely Planet. But we should have known. While it was one of the best forests that we have seen here in the Philippines, it did not quite match our expectations of pristine rainforest. Oh and did I mention it was wet. Why we always choose to hike in the rainy season I will never know but I am sure it will happen again...wait, when are we beginning our travels of Indonesia. Oh, yeah, we'll be touring around during the wet season!

On the first day of the hike we climbed almost 6000 feet on a track with no switchbacks (apparently they have not been told about those in the Philippines). Half of this journey was through a thick forest of evil climbing bamboo, which would grab a hold of anything (limb, head, backpack, you name it) and not let go until we struggled til we were blue in the face. We set up camp for the night once we reached Mayos Peak with the plan to start early on the hike up the remaining 1500 feet. But, after a freezing night inside a mist cloud, we decided that we could not handle another night of near hypothermia, not to mention that the thought of climbing a "knife edge" of slippery stone in the pouring rain wasn't that appealing. So instead, we got up early to look at the mountain we didn't climb and then made our way back down. We did get a great view of the sunrise over the island and a wonderful morning hike down through some amazing rhododendron and mossy forest and sore feet to boot. Lora was really astounded by the view of the near perfectly conical Mayon Volcano, which is on the other side of the archipelago but could be seen from Mayos Peak. Overall though, it was not a cakewalk and probably something that should not be tried in the rainy season but, it was still worth it.

After the arduous hike we headed back to Romblon Island to hang out with some other Peace Corps Volunteers for July 4th. The island of Romblon is truly an amazing place. It is severely cut off from the rest of the country and can only be reached by a handful of overnight boats a week from Manila. However, it is home to a sizable expat population and thus has some pretty interesting places to eat and hang out. For example, while there, we were able to indulge our cravings of real mozzarella pizza and mashed potatoes while watching the World Cup on satellite! We rented a house that was built by one of the Swiss ex-pats who lives in the area for half the year. It was one of the most architecturally pleasing native houses I have seen here and was built for only $6,000. Not a bad deal for a vacation home. The house was set up on a cliff, overlooking a serene white beached (private!) bay. We spent most of our time cooking, eating and listening to music while watching the lulling waves.

After some good food and good times, we visited Simara Island (another island in the Romblon group) where another Peace Corps volunteer is assigned. This island is even more secluded from Romblon since it is only accessible to Romblon and Tablas Island by 2 small wooden and bamboo boats a day. When the weather gets rough, such as during the monsoon season, the boats don't run. Some nasty winds were blowing through, but the waters and scenery on the island were gorgeous.