I left work early (around 6 PM) so I would  make it to the pre-climb meeting at the UP Mountaineer’s tambayan at the Main Library. I went down at the SM North LRT station (which by the way has been renovated and now has waiting sheds and covered walks so people can be sheltered from sun and rain while waiting for a ride).

I bought a foldable sleeping pad at Bench for only P298 and it even had an inflatable pillow! I hope to use it for our climb, on the beach and Mama even suggested that we use it when we go to Papa’s grave next time.

I finally arrived at the UPM tambayan at around 7:30 and Paul briefed us about the climb since Dennis, the team leader, was in Makati giving a briefing as well.

They gave us a brochure that described Mount Daguldol, the Talikasan (an annual open climb organized by the newly inducted members of the UPM) and gave tips on what to bring. I met our group leader, Sir Leslie, and I am teamed up with Jasper, as well as Sara and Rafael, who are both Med students from UP Manila. We talked about our meals during the trip and I was assigned to prepare the omelet and stir-fried string beans.

I learned that they were part of the group in UP Manila (sister org of the Marine Biology Society in UP Diliman) that gave free snorkelling sessions every Saturday for about a month and you also receive a certificate afterwards. They said sessions would probably start by July so I better keep my weekends open by then. Since I have snorkel gear already, I just need to borrow fins from one of them during the sessions.
Here’s our itinerary for the climb this weekend:

Saturday

5 AM     Assembly, Jam Transit Station (formerly Tritran), EDSA Kamuning 6 AM     ETD to Lipa
8 AM     ETA Lipa, tranfer to jeep going to Brgy. Hugom
9:30 AM  ETA HEGA Headquarters, register
10 AM      Start trek  (Expect to walk along the beach and reef outcroppings to get to the jump-off point of the mountain)
12:30 PM    Lunch
1:30 PM      Resume trek
4 PM           ETA campsite, pitch tents
4:30 PM      Free time
5:30 PM      Cook dinner
7 PM           Socials

Sunday

6 AM           Wake up call, cook breakfast
7:30 AM      Break camp
8 AM           Start descent
12:30 PM    ETA beach, Lunch
3 PM           ETD to Lipa
4:30 PM      ETD to Quezon City
7 PM           ETA Quezon City

I’ve managed to borrow a single-lens reflex camera, more
commonly known by the abbreviation SLR, from a friend of mine and I plan to bring it with me when I go up Mount Daguldol this weekend. I have  always wanted to handle one and now I finally have my chance. I wanted to take up Photography class in college but I ran out of electives.

An SLR uses a mirror placed between the
lens and the film to project the image seen through the lens to a matte focusing screen.
When you open the back of the camera to put the film, you can clearly see this matte screen and when you hold the camera at a certain angle, you can even view the mirror inside the camera as well.

By the way, since it is a manual camera, it does not use batteries so I have to manually move the film forward after every shot and manually rewind it when the film is used up. It has a slot for the flash device which uses batteries.

We will be having our pre-climb meeting later at the UP Mountaineers’ tambayan so I have to leave the office early so I can make it by 7 PM at the UP campus.