Climbing The Datum Origin

5/15/2014 8:24:26 AM

As yours truly, along with several friends, reached the island of Marinduque for the first time (in my lifetime), we are supposedly boarding a trip to the town known as Torrijos later that day.

Until a sudden change of plan went on, and early in that Friday morning, we hiked up on that mountain known as Datum Origin.

Sounds new to me, actually; I personally have no idea what the place was all about until I saw the historic landmark there. Our crew took about 90 minutes of trekking; with only armed with a bottle of mineral water and a face towel on me.

Gosh, that was really an exhausting one; considering I never experienced climbing a mountain like that!

Unfortunately for me though, my phone battery died out while travelling; which made me unable to take photographs to routing those muddy roads, steep terrain, and hollow-blocked constructed stairs. So instead, I could only rely on other photographs from the World Wide Web (with proper citation, of course; except for the last one which was taken by yours truly on my way back to the Metro).

Plus, the danger of not having somebody to guide around seemed horrifying (I don’t know why the hell we don’t have that, though all I know is that my college friend who used to live on that province seems she knew a lot).

Facebook page: Luzon Datum of 1911-Marinduque

But reaching the peak was always the best part. At around 10:30 in the morning, we finally reached Datum Origin, the geodetically-speaking centralized point of the entire Republic of the Philippines archipelago! All that despite having a tough time to text one of my close online friends to tell the news. 

http://journeyingjames.com/

That Datum Origin of Luzon was formally situated in 1911 in this stone. Still a nice spot after a hundred years, eh? (101 in fact, during the time I climbed the mountain.)

Facebook page: Luzon Datum of 1911-Marinduque

Facebook page: Luzon Datum of 1911-Marinduque

Up there you can see the entire island as well as the wide open seas around it.

http://www.ugnayan.com/

Nevertheless, it was still a memorable ride. Forget the exhaustion, the stinky feeling of sweat all around your body, as well as body aches, and muscle pains on its aftermath.

However, the downside (perhaps, an irony too) is: the longer time you took to climb a mountain, the faster you go down. Yes, as I told earlier, it took us 1 ½ hour to get up there. 

But hitting downstairs? Shoot – only 25 minutes! Yes, 25 freaking minutes! It's like we start trekking up by around 9 AM, reached there about 90 minutes before noontime, and as we got down by 11:15 AM, we were already at the ground level about twenty minutes before noontime (11:40 AM), if I'm not mistaken.

And only to realized we're still strolling around the nearby Station Balanacan in Mogpog (just down there's the port connecting from Lucena to this island) and will have to travel for like three to four hours on our destination?

Okay, 'nuff said. Off to Torrijos!

Author: slickmaster | © 2014 september twenty-eight productions

The Road to Antipolo

4/19/2014 11:04:45 AM

Around 10:10 PM at Marcos Bridge Marikina City.

I think I just had the most grueling challenge in my 23 years and almost 7 months of existence.

It’s been a very long while since I personally have thought of doing this – and I’m talking about ‘sacrifice’ for Holy Week. Yes, the one they called “Alay-Lakad.”

Most of the Catholics used to do this on a Maundy Thursday – morning, afternoon, evening or even midnight (which technically speaking, is already a Good Friday morning). They will start walking from their respective place of residences to any of churches known as “pilgrimage sites,” such as Antipolo City, the Divine Grotto in San Jose del Monte, Bulacan, Redemptorist Church in Baclaran, Our Lady of Manaoag in Pangasinan, Kamay Ni Hesus in Lukban, Quezon, and the Quiapo Church (also known as the Black Nazarene Basilica) in Manila.

Outside the gate of Our Lady of Peace and Voyage

Well, I’d prefer the much similar place – the Our Lady of Peace and Voyage located at the capital city of Rizal Province.

Taking the trail was never an easy task though. Yes, you may only walk, but such activity can really drain you in both inside and outside aspects. And I found myself more up to the challenge after seeing a road sign in Sumulong Highway (I believe it lies near that Kingsville gate), which states “Antipolo Cathedral – 17.5 kilometers.” Unfortunately, I haven't took a photograph of that.

Around Ligaya, boundary of Marikina and Pasig cities

Passed by the intersection where the Sta. Lucia East Grand Mall was located.

Near Masinag area in Antipolo City (far left shows portion of the SM City mall right there).

Ugh, some people may think of giving up by just riding a public transport. But a lot of them refused to do so, including yours truly (but of course, if this was an ordinary day, I doubt any one of us will do the chore at all). Plus, Sumulong Highway has been providing a better skyline view than any of those skyscrapers in the Metropolitan, especially if been passing there in broad daylight.

I have seen already bunch of people piling up the sidewalks of Marcos Highway in Marikina City alone when I start taking my path (I bet most of them came even farther than I do).

Along Sumulong Highway, all of the 14 stations of the cross were situated. (I managed to take some pictures of a few of them).

And after some 219 minutes of walking—from my place in Marikina City all the way up there to Antipolo…  (by the way, I started walking by exactly 10 in the evening) wow, I never see this coming at all.

I made it.

Though the authorities have to close the church's main doors at the wee hours, it never stopped every pilgrim to take time on laying a candle, say a prayer and even throwing coins on them (and seriously speaking, can somebody educate me about this, please?).

Believe me. For I've been a runner for a very sparingly period of time. But fatigue-wise speaking, nothing compares to a penitential walk like this. Seriously, I may have managed to survive a 10 kilometer run by just a mere of an hour. But this? I don't even have any distance-calculating device with me at all, but I  it seems the distance lies somewhere between 17 to 25 kilometers. Even if I’m not that religious anymore, I can tell… this seems to be my ‘ultimate sacrifice.’

At the end, when I took a bus trip (as much as I want to walk down home, unfortunately, muscle pains on my feet isn’t cooperating) and got myself back at home at 3:30 in the morning, I realized… “wow, have I really done that?” Considering the fact that at one point of my life, fatigue really took its toll on me. This time around, I never experienced signs of hallucination and even fainting at all.

The Sea of Faith-driven Humanity

Maybe it’s because I have faith both in myself and up there. That’s why.

Author: slickmaster | © 2014 september twenty-eight productions