No Pain, No Gain

Having just come back from SM Megamall, I thought about what I just did (take a 5-minute taxi ride home) and felt relieved that I was within the confines of my building. Then again, I thought about the walk to EDSA Central…it was the longest walk of my life though it was only 10 minutes in reality because I was in excruciating pain from my infected left foot. What had I done?

Less than 3 weeks ago, the clouds on Mt. Napulauan had been a reality and I was walking on them. I was on cloud nine literally. It didn’t matter how we had been freezing in our tents the night before barely able to sleep from the distractions of frost bites; the time that JM almost went into hypothermic condition almost forgotten. The sun felt having that feeling on being on top of the world. I do not regret a single moment I spent there no matter how I might have thought to turn back because of the others who were unsure that they were going to make it to the peak. Mt. Napulauan is not one mountain to be underestimated because it offers wonders I believe you have to struggle for. True beauty has never been so difficult to come by but when it is in front of you, everything else vanishes and you are left embraced by a moment of awe and perhaps fear because it might all seem unreal.

However, I have learnt some lessons on the trip. First, never go for a foot spa 2 days before the climb. I would never have had the blister to begin with and wouldn’t be in this partial “invalidity” at this moment. The problem is really not the pain or my infected foot but the wound that was near a vein connected to my liver. As a result, the condition of my liver had been compromised. It had only been a blister to begin with. Sometimes, I walk barefoot in the mountains. Being flat-footed and conditioned to handle rough terrain, I was comfortable with the earth right at my feet. At this point, I suppose that a foot spa could have been the death of me. Second, bring a thicker sleeping bag. My black sleeping bag had been too thin to give us any comfort with the chilling air. What was worse was that JM had wet the sleeping bag so it was useless. Still, we managed as the hours ticked by ever so slowly till sunrise saved us from certain depression. I must remember to drop by a North Face outlet to look at its line of sleeping bags because it is the only store I know so far that sells sleeping bags for winter climates like Mt. Everest and I believe that is what I will need for another time! Third, remember to charge the batteries of my digital camera before a major provincial climb! I had actually bought a spare battery for the trip but forgot to charge it as well as the main battery, which I had forgotten had already been used for another occasion. This is my absent-mindedness in motion.  All those beautiful pictures  I could have taken and memories I could have saved were lost forever; the little tourist shops by the Banaue Rice Terraces, pitcher plants along the trail on the way up to the misty forest, the first campsite where both JM and I had to pitch our own tent, the fireplace that kept us silent but warm etc.

Sometimes, I don’t understand myself. Sometimes, I don’t know where Common Sense has gone. JM likes to remind me of that but he’s still a friend. I suppose it takes an extraordinary person to understand someone like me. I like to think that I am a person out of the ordinary. …and so I experience my highs and lows never alone. Here in my little world, I think of pain in general, my pain, and what other pain may come. If that is what I have to go through over and over again, then it is still worth it because I have the best out of my life with my family and the few friends I have who share my joys, surprises, and challenges that always make better people out of us. It is never the end of the world because when Death comes, it is simply another door to another life beyond our human comprehension for now.