Travelouge

Mt. Banahaw

Quezon Province

BACKGROUND

Mt. Banahaw is the grandest of the Southern Tagalog mountains. Towering high over the provinces of Laguna and Quezon, its significance in religion and folklore makes it not only a physical, but also a cultural landmark. It is home to Rizalistas and other cults, some of whom believe the mountain as the "New Jerusalem". To a wider populace, it is a sacred mountain, visited every Holy Week by devotees, some of whom made it a pledge to regularly climb Banahaw. Thus it is not surprising that places in the mountain have religious names, such as "Kweba ng Dios Ama" (Cave of the God the Father) and "Kalbaryo" (Calvary). At its foot village of Kinabuhayan, all sorts of amulets, magical stones, and healing herbs are peddled, together with souvenir shirts.

Meanwhile, many residents of San Pablo City and nearby towns, especially the males, climb it as a rite of manhood or a teenage adventure. For their part, for Manila-based mountaineers it is the Level 3 climb closest to home. Aside from the challenging, 2-3 day trek, there are waterfalls, pools, and caves to explore. One famous cave is "Husgado", which is so tortuous and narrow that it is said that evil persons will not be able to come out of it.

SPECIAL CONCERNS :

Hiking in Banahaw is currently forbidden; do not use this information to make an unofficial, illegal climb. Instead, you may explore the two other peaks of the Banahaw trilogy, namely Mt. Banahaw de Lucban and Mt. Cristobal. Both are challenging climbs, worthy of the Banahaw experience.

There are numerous religious and natural points of interest in Banahaw. This is why it is ideal to hire a guide, so that you can learn more about the mountain. If you have time, ask your guide to take you to the places of your choice.

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And as we, 10 - BRC went to Mt. Banahaw. All of us are excited and nervous of what will happen and what we might see at the top of the "Kalbaryo".

As the bus took off. Everybody pray for the success of our last but not the least of all the outbound trips we had. Many of us brought gadgets like PSP, MP3 and Cellphones. And as we stop for a breakfast stopover, many rush over the fastfood chain for they can't wait for our arrival in Mt. Banahaw.

As we near to Mt. Banahaw many were so excited and we can already see the body of the mountain itself.

As we arrive at our destination point, where we will meet our guides through Mt. Banahaw

As the tour guides arrive. They first made us to do some warm-up exercise. And as the done doing the warm-up exercise, we immediately move towards our journey to Mt. Banahaw. We went through the residence near Mt. Banahaw. After it the hard part starts.

As our journey continue, even when everybody is tired, we all just laugh and expect that our march to Kalbaryo is worth it. When we reached the top, we felt the chill of the wind at the top of the Kalbaryo and an amazing view above.

As we had enough rest we already started to go down the Kalbaryo. Everyone of us were so happy and thought that the every step we take forward while going up even though we are already tired is worth it.


We all go home full of smiles and rest for all the rest of the trip.