Mt. Pinatubo Adventure (Colors of Nature)

Life is a myriad of colors.

My first travel in 2015 started at the crack of dawn on Feb 22. It was a mixed emotion because again it was my solo adventure to a new destination ~ Mt Pinatubo.

It was a fun kicked~off there were 11 of us in a van heading to the first point. With us were 2 guys from New Zealand, two girls from Korea, an Iranian i guess because he seldom talk & the rest just us, Filipinos.

After our breakfast of rice, spam, egg and Ph10.00 coffee we headed to the registration, briefing & orientation of some sort as required for safety & environmental awareness. It includes the do’s and dont’s to our group mate a New Zealand vegetarian girl who vomit along the way because she ate freshly cut water melon at the very early morning.

And all were set for the first adventure, the 4×4 jeep ride to lahar country, a vast land devastated by lava flow during the eruption of Mt.Pinatubo in 1991.

I was small then back to our province and my relatives from Pampanga & the neighboring town went home along with the family because of the volvanic eruption.

Now I am here ready & excited to explore the aftermath yet tagged as “talked of the town” because of its captivating beauty.

As a brief background Mount Pinatubo is an active stratovolcano in the Cabusilan Mountains on the island of Luzon, near the tripoint of the Philippine provinces of Zambales, Tarlac, and Pampanga. Before the volcanic activities of 1991, its eruptive history was unknown to most people. It was heavily eroded, inconspicuous and obscured from view. It was covered with dense forest which supported a population of several thousand indigenous people, the Aetas, who fled to the mountains during the Spanish conquest of the Philippines. After the eruption there came a hole where fire & lava burst & exploded surrounded by carved crater and became a water basin ~ a beautiful blue lagoon or lake.

It started with a bumpy ride then a vast white powdery area greeted us. It was not the white sand beach of Boracay. The area was covered with lahar. A very long stretch where the lava flow when fire spewed from the angry mount.

After a short photo session our adventure went on until we had a full stop at their so called parking areas. And we can see from afar that others have already started their stretches. Few more walks and we reached the starting point and assessed ourselves which category we belong.

Like any other treks & hikes we traverse streams, rocks, shades and cliffs until we reached our final destination. The crater of Mt. Pinatubo a peaceful and tranquil lake was a priceless surprise after a long trek with no trace of wrath and anger.

In life, we also have treks and hikes, there are always challenging walks, ascending & descending but as long as we are ready we will reach the summit & the reward is always worthwhile and priceless.

Share with others your eyes have witnessed so a camera should always be ready 🙂 Enjoy life while we each can.