When Things Get Blurry: Spending One of My Most Memorable Sunrises at Mt. Binacayan

“.. there it was. An impressive sea of clouds that can provoke one’s insane poetic self to jump right through it. Heart first. Careless of the abyss. It was truly that beautiful.”

JIl DIAMANTE

Rodriguez, Rizal | Philippines

It was pitch dark. Although the ascent was quite easy, holding my phone as a flashlight as the other hand grasped for leaves and stones for balance made it tricky. Also, the trail was still slippery from last night’s downpour. And unlike Sam (bless his height), I must be strategic on where to land my feet and which branches seem steady enough to hold my weight and nimble frame. During the hike, there’s always a silent self-inflicted wager not to slip.

A few more assaults and I cunningly managed to balance my source of light in that space between my top. My phone was practically pressed against my profusely sweating twins. Very clever, the poor thing probably enjoyed that ample space as those two lovelies barely occupied any. Not that I’m complaining. Hey, all tatas are beautiful!

We were a few meters away from the summit of Mt. Binacayan and my eyes were slowly adjusting to the beauty that was about to unravel itself. The sun was slightly shy yet to break the coldness of the early morning and remained oblivious to these souls who were eager to meet him. And I felt like a kid playing peek-a-boo with the mighty sun, constantly looking for his blush of light to sift through the countless green leaves. He didn’t disappoint though.

I felt like a kid playing peek-a-boo with the mighty sun, constantly looking for his blush of light to sift through the countless green leaves.

Finally, we reached the summit. And there it was. An impressive sea of clouds that can provoke one’s insane poetic self to jump right through it. Heart first. Careless of the abyss. It was truly that beautiful.

And to think that I almost missed it! Truth was, I lost count of the number of times Sam and I postponed this hike. But looking back, the pure fault was on me. Aside from the valid inclement weather reason, we didn’t push through either because of my hefty load of tasks scheduled in school, office, and extracurricular or I failed to wake up on time on the day itself. The latter’s embarrassing but I blame my school papers and caffeine. Again and again, an external force has to intervene to break me from wallowing in a pile of deadlines. That time, he’s that annoying force.

Notwithstanding, these photos did not do any justice to one of my most memorable sunrises. An epic fail of comparison to the naked eyes. But regardless if the canvas is flawed, I will always be collecting memories and exploring things that exalt my soul. I like a definitive ranking of my best experiences and this my friend was my second best sunrise by far.

Hopefully, soon I’ll be able to share with you that sunrise that bagged the top spot. That sunrise that sparked my love for the outdoors.

Soon.

 FINI.