Sanmo: The Legend of the Galleon

Aside from the superb beach resorts and wondrous hotels in the island, there is still a touch of natural beauty hidden in a well developed tourist destination at Mactan. I've always been looking for something different in the island of Mactan.

Today, we presumed to be going out to check out museums at Mactan, but it turned out to be more than that. Supposedly we are meeting at Mactan Marina Mall for leisure at the museums, but it turned out that the museums are closed. We never realized that museums are closed during special holidays. It turned out to be our luckiest moment at that very instance. But since we are already there, might as well check out other things to do.
Afternoon can never be too late for an adventure. And what makes it even sweeter is when you are together with your friends. This makes it a sweet afternoon adventure special. It’s a good thing that we have Sir Giovanni Enecio with us who suggested to visit his treasure park.

The treasure park is just around the vicinity of a subdivision. Though the place has been developed as a residential area, you can still see a place less traveled by people. Then there could be a reason why that area is less visited. On our way to the place, Tyler the Great happened to have a little chitchat with the pedicab driver. According to the pedicab driver, the place is called as “Linao sa Sanmo”. It is very famous for its enchanted story, like the ghost galleon ship and the treasure underneath the seabed. Locales would say that that a galleon ship would dock around the harbor and divides the shore passing through a stream that with shallow rocky seabed and eventually disappear. Sir Giovanni claimed that he heard a rumor that a treasure chest is hidden around the area, buried underneath with rocks forming a skull that suggests it is dangerous.

But what is more evident to me is the beauty of the lagoon. More than any treasures hidden around the place, I consider the facade to be the very treasure itself. It is more than the items caged inside a box at the museums. It is more than the enchanted stories that we hear. It is nature. Enchanted, treasured, and purely fascinating.

Part2 Mt. Takliad traversed Mt. Lantoy sidetrip Argao Port Area

You can never be satisfied with all the wonderful sights when you are reaching halfway to heaven. I can’t even dare to stoop and stare at the trail that we have passed thru, as well as the places down below the cliff. It seems like the only flesh that wouldn’t get scratches, bruises and sprains would only be your tongue if you fall into that cliff. “Dila ray way labod nimo pre kung matagak ka dha!” – Jessie Mendez. Which is absolutely true… hehe…

The peak holds the wonder of insane beauty. What is more insane when night clouds were about to cover the place and we haven’t any munch yet, we are starved. Courtesy of Mam Angie, she got the burner heated and the pot boiling. At last, dinner was served. We ate dinner at around 1900. Everyone was knackered. Lights were off at 2200 when the rain suddenly poured down. Fair enough after that long sunny trek.

Wake up and hustle. As expected, Sir Lex the great would give us that morning shout, wasn’t really a shout because all he got to do is talk early in the morning and everyone would wake up and would feel alarmed as if there was a situation going on...effortless… hehe. But thanks sir you woke us up or we will be eating breakfast at lunch. So we hurriedly packed up our thing and ate breakfast.

It’s the second day of our trek. Everyone feels so excited for the trek! Hearts was pounding; noses were flaring and sweat all over as we went down leading to our next stop…Mt. Lantoy. It was a fun trail going down to the foot of the mountain. Most of us remembered the feeling of being slapped by our parents at the butt since the trail going down was very slippery. It was very nostalgic. As much as we desired to traverse from Takliad to Lantoy as soon as possible, we needed to stop for lunch.

All ears for lunch. Having one of the councilors of Brgy Conalum partake our little chit chat while waiting for lunch to be served, was an honor for us. We overheard and never realized that we were well monitored from day one. And another kudos point to the local government of Brgy. Conalum.

Start the traverse. Satiated with the food that was served courtesy of Mam Angie once again, Misua nay subak nga corned beef nam nam! On our feet and hiked all day to Mt. Lantoy. Over 2 of hiking, we never gave up. We were able to summit Mt. Lantoy at around 1500 last June 20 2010. Still the best place to be. Locales said that there was once a tower over the peak that was ruined, so the place was named Tore Lantoy. At last we were able to meet our very goal to summit 2 mountains in the province of Argao. The gang's exit was supposedly going to Usmad but since time was of the matter we followed the road to Lapay. What else can I say but we are very lucky at that time since the first councilor of the municipality of Argao was hovering along with her luxurious pick up. So we grab the opportunity to save time and effort and rode along with them…Bagag fes… hehe… Anyhow we gave our thanks to her and bid farewell.

One thing I learned about this climb is perseverance. Never stop up until the very goal is met with no complain and with calmness. “Perseverare” means to continue steadfastly.


Trip Cost:
South Bus to Argao – 130php (roundtrip)
Habal2x – Poblacion to Conalum – 60php
Natural Park Preservation Fee – 20php

Part1 Mt. Takliad traversed Mt. Lantoy sidetrip Argao Port Area

Inspired by our ill-will to climb the tallest peak of the Visiyas region, the gang woke up early June 19, 2010 carried full pack gears and headed off to Argao for some practice. Sir Lex Tyler the great, sir Ayanz Abay Uncle Marley, Sir Junie the fighter, Sir Eduy the wanderer, and Sperm the spermatiks , with 2 ladies Mam Kezia “the all for love climber”, Mam Angie with a smile came along with enthusiasm.

The meeting place. We took the 0730 ride from South Bus Terminal to Argao arrive at exactly 0930 and fled to Ybong’s tree house where we will be meeting our guide to Mt. Takliad and Mt. Lantoy. We waited for 3hrs for Sho who is supposedly our official guide, but unfortunately he never showed up. So we took our initiative to look for someone who can somehow just show us the trail so we can take it from there. Sir Leonard who was also trained to guide visitors became our man.
Brgy. Conalum to wherever. From Ybong’s place in Jampang, we took a couple of steps and then we got the tricycle driver cornered and was left with no choice other than to bring us to poblacion. Haha… On the way to poblacion, we were very lucky enough that the tricycle that we were on ran out of gas. See how karma works… From poblacion to Conalum the fastest way of transportation is thru our local version of motor-cross – the “habal-habal”.

I was caught in a limbo riding that stuff. First turn to the left, the tire got busted. Second turn to the right we were lost, went straight to Bugasok Falls which is not our destination… haha… but it was fun. Thanks to that driver we had to pay additional fees and had to walk straight back to where the group is located, nonetheless I had the chance to meet Sir Jothams, tourism official of Argao.
Since we lost contact from the group we asked the tourism official himself. He was very helpful and he was really in hand with his job. Kudos to our tourism official together with the locales for all the efforts of preserving Argao’s natural park – the Agta Cave, Bugasok Falls, Mahayay Beach and more must- see in Argao.
Trek on trail. You wouldn’t dare to underestimate a trail, how easy, steep, long or wide it is because you will never know what will happen. Like what happened to one of our comrades when we take our feet 600ft above sea level. He almost got himself into the cliff when the bamboo pole he was griping breaks and he got out of balance. Luckily, he fell on his back on a piled stone, his spinal column was cushioned by his backpack and managed to grab on to another branch.


I totally disagree to those mountaineers who would rate a trail. It would be far better to be careful while walking, and no one can stop us from doing what we love to do. As for ZETS, the trail is part of the package, the view, the sound and the serenity all comes with nature and we consider them being a part of life.


Kapalaran (Destiny). Jump off time 0030 we started getting our feet moving. We know that it is going to be a long hike. Maybe it was by fate that we would meet our friend there at Brgy. Conalum, Sir Jessie Mendez, a friendly locale of that place. He is like the muscle man of the mountain. Jessie is one of a kind, very unique, somehow special. I couldn’t blame Jessie for igniting the ice-cold heart to blazing fire of our very own “the All for love climber”, as mentioned above we only got 2 ladies Angie and Kezia. He hiked with us until we reached the peak of Mt. Takliad. Reached the peak at around 1530 and got a breath taking view of the panoramic scene of the east. We loaded our eyes with all the view that was offered. Took a couple of pose and felt hungry. So we needed to prepare our dinner and checked out for available campsite since the peak has limited space to huddle around. It was really meant for us to be on that place and on that time after all the things that we’ve encountered only for a day. It was rewarding.

Continued…

Freedom of Climbing

"Nothing compares being free with nature. Celebrating its 2nd Annual Freedom Climb."

The Navel Mountain in Cebu

Dakbayan sa Naga kinapusoran nga bahin sa Sugbu. A city well-known for its industrial trade, home of one of the biggest cement producer Cemex operating at Tinaan and the recently opened Small Medium Enterprise (SME) located at Barangay Cantao-an.

Approximately 22km away from Cebu City. Situated midsouth of Cebu bounded by Minglanilla at the northern part, San Fernando southside and Toledo as the western neighboring area.

3 stoogies - Lex, Sperm and Noel came to drop by Barangay Cantao-an, Naga ("tao-an" as what locales would declare) hoping to find something interesting. The eminent peak we see from the city caught our attention, hence wanting us to uncover the wonder of the place. We met at around 0900 at south bus terminal, we took an early morning quick meal and got ready. Waiting for buses bound to Naga was too exciting which ended chasing for running buses. Cut the story short, I almost got left behind. Headed off to Naga City.

Arrived at 1100. We took a fleet bumpy ride via our ever trusted native moto-cross a.k.a. "habal-habal" to Mt. Naupa. On the way, your eyes will be tainted and clouded...of dust particles. Free face powder made of dust. Haha.. \m/ So a pair of glasses would really come in handy to protect your eyes. You would really distinguish why these big cement companies were established there.

Jump off time 1230. Blazing hot sun, dense air and sweet fume of ripening mangoes. Escorted by local guide, we took our pace. We started slow, slow gets fast, fast gets faster. I was catching for my breath and got dizzy. So we halted. Summer is really getting into my skin. Moving along, we got into a lot of challenging trails. Somehow, we were thinking that our guide must have thought that we were mountaineers and we love adventure so they gave us what we are looking for. Talking about walking thru subsoil, griping at one hand while the other half was almost hanging over 500 meters high taking chances at each step. Lex said "Memew, murag mini-Mt. Alto" ("memew"-his overrated expression..hehe) . Which it could have been easier taking the long way across the trail. We even came across a snake and said "hi, passing thru" and was somehow friendly to us. And at last we managed to get at the top.

Astounded by the angelic scenery. We peaked at around 1330. I was fascinated. "Mt. Naupa - the best place to see one time COAST to COAST of Southern Cebu."~Zzubu Eco-Tourism. "...dili na kinahanglan nga mag lingi lingi o mag talikod ka para lang makita ang Bohol Sea ug ang Tañon Strait sa Negros Side."~Lex Tyler. I can say nothing but clap. It was really worth it.

Traverse 1400. Got all the pics and videos at the peak, twas time to leave. Mother nature needs to rest. Packed up everything, check for left behinds--all clear. We started stepping down, I could sense that something was lacking. I started to realize, darn i lost my cap. I hurried way back to the top, nothing was found. I yelled for help, we cant find it. So I decided to leave it behind, it was dear to me since I got it as a prize. We started looking for campsite and we found "the laguna" owned by Barsalo Family. We talked to them and we got their permission to go back to their owned area to camp.

Mt. Naupa, is really a wonder that everyone must discover. The navel mountain in Cebu holds the greatest scene you can partake soon.

TRIP COST:
Bus - 70php roundtrip Cebu South Bus to Naga
Habal2x - 80php roundtrip

Things to bring: (Day Trek)
3-4L of water
make sure to bring your shades
sleeves to protect your arms from the heat
pack lunch