Conquering Patag

Circumstance can be compared to the Devil. At first, it takes you to an all time high and when you feel like a million bucks, a crack on the Earth suddenly appears and it swallows you all the way to hell. I have experienced it while I was applying for the NLE and it reminded me of a time in my life that I'll never ever forget. In short, I still have PTSD (Post Traumatic Stress Disorder) about it. And here's the story...

My friends invited me to go to Silay, Negros to have fun at Patag again, maybe for the last time because it was just a month after our graduation and we feared that it was going to be our last time together on an adventure. Since I was nostalgic about my deleted shots about Patag, I went for it. Happily arriving at Bacolod, I said to myself "I'll try to take some of my old shots" with a smirk on my face.

The next day, we went to Patag riding in our friend's van. The driver was driving like he had a bad case of diarrhea. My shots on the way were limited. I had to put my not so small body through the window just to take some shots. It was very difficult since the road was rough at certain points.

portal to Patag

as I've said, the road weren't that nice, lots of big trucks carrying
sugar cane chug on the dirt roads

this shot was taken at about 60 kmh on the dirt road

a lonely tree stands in the sea of sugar canes

We joked around with our friend when he asked where we were, we said "near the sugar canes!" and its full of sugar canes all the way to Patag. ^^

I still remember the first time I smelled the air on the way to Patag, and I thought to myself, its like love, its sweeter the second time around.

The moment we arrived in Patag, I quickly took some of my cliché shots and here they are:

it was very cloudy that day and it rained on some parts of the mountain range

you can still see Panay island on the other side

we took a short hike to a cold spring pool and took a dip at their ice cold waters

One of the best things about Patag is that there are lots of small critters to photograph...

these three were all unwilling subjects, but with some persuasion,
they stood still for about 2 sec. for this exposure

UBFC(Ultimate Bug Fighting Championship): Let's get it on!

I was busy the whole night photographing some of the insects. The next day, we hiked towards some of the falls...

The path to one of them was very difficult. We had to literally hang on the branches just to avoid getting our stuff soaked. At this time, I still had no phobia about water and electronics.^^

who said that there were no Yin and Yang Buddhas..

another thing about Patag is that lots of really big ferns can be seen around

our giude told us that this falls was still virgin. According to him, its too dangerous to go there, even for a seasoned veteran like him.

These shots were taken on the way to another falls...

I was in awe the first time I went here, and I felt the same when I came back. I still remember finding a Pokemon gameboy cartrige here.

the Guardian

He was one of the two dogs that accompanied us in our journey. The first dog failed to return to camp. He was stuck because he cannot jump down a small cliff. This other dog followed us on the way to the second trip to the other falls.

this was my last shot for the day

After this shot, we went to another pool. It was nice there but we were unable to take a bath because they emptied the pool for cleaning and they were just starting to fill it up again. I saw this in-land crab, and tried to photograph it. But it retaliated to the pool. I followed it down. I told myself "I cant jump this with my camera", so I let my friend hold it because he was in the pool. When I jumped, I accidentally bumped into him and he accidentally dropped my cam on the water!!!!
Things slowed down a bit, I was on denial! I was so f*ckd-up. I was cured of my depression, and "here we go again!". I went from the top of the world to the pits of hell! We hiked through most of the mountain range, there were plenty of potential shots, but my mind was set to go back to Bacolod right away. In my rage, I never felt tired even though we walked several kilometers up-hill. When we arrived to camp, the fog rolled in, just to add ambience to my misery.
Several hours later we were in Bacolod finding a repair shop, but to no avail. I just distracted myself by going to the Panaad Festival. The next day, we again went to other shops in Downtown Bacolod. Again, to no avail.

On our last day in Silay, I tried to turn my cam on, and this was its first shot since it got soaked:

my friend Pogz is no longer innocent after our trip

I felt very happy that day. "Yes! Its still working!" On the way to the port, I took this shot:
But the glory was short lived, my camera displayed an error sign. Sh*t, hope's lost again...
I arrived at Iloilo, FINE... Freaked-out, insecure, neurotic and emotional.(from the Italian Job).
The next day, I went to a camera shop to get it fixed, but again, a miracle happend, it worked again, and to this day, it still does, with a dumb exposure meter though, and I can live with that...^^

this is the shot at the camera shop

A brief description of my camera...
Its a point and shoot cannon A550 and it fell lots of times, one from 12 feet when I accidentally threw it while doing a high-five with my bandmates on a contest and it got wet on Patag. Its a tough ass camera, and I'm glad it's still going, going, going (just like an indestructible Energizer bunny)...^^