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| The easy part. |
Our second day in El Nido started at 5:00 AM. Groggily, we followed our tour guide as we walked to the starting point of the climb to Taraw Cliff. All our sleepiness disappeared when we stared up at how high the cliff was. We felt scared and excited but we were in for an adventure so despite the lack of safety gear and not knowing what lies ahead, we went on.
The first levels were easily accessible. We jumped on rocks, trod on damp forest ground and balanced on trunks of fallen trees. We thought that this would be easy when suddenly the foot path disappeared and the forest was replaced by rocks. Not wanting to be a wuss in front of the other, we climbed on. The ragged rock formations were blunt on the first few meters but the higher we went, the rockers were getting sharper and thinner. At one point, we asked our guide, "What happens if we lose our balance and fall?" "You die." Our guide casually replied. We didn't want to die yet and we didn't want to back out after getting that far so slowly but surely, we stepped/climbed/clambered/did whatever it takes to survive until we reached the top. I was mentally telling myself to think of this as preparation in case of a zombie apocalypse or another war happens and the cities get ravaged and we will be forced to hide into jungles, cliffs or mountains.
Finally, after 45 minutes, we reached the top of the cliff. The view of the sea from the top was amazing. It was worth the climb. We just sat there in silence, admiring the view and looking at each other with smiles on our faces. Our guide interrupted our thoughts by asking us if we wanted to have our photo taken before going down as it was getting hotter with the sun rising.
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| No words. |
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| You fall, you die. LOL. |
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| No pads, no helmets. |
After the downward traverse, the adrenaline has worn off and we felt tired so we went back to our room, had breakfast and took a nap before our next adventure.
