Hey, Hivers! It's me again, makiyumee! For today's blog, I am going to be sharing to you this very significant and unexpected travel that I had experienced with my friends. A little warning though, since my phone that time has a very poor camera quality, the photos here are not that good but still it showcased the moments that I have with my friends. So, without wasting more time, let's dive into it now!
The year 2023 was hectic for me. Classes would shift from online to full face to face and vice versa, the tasks became a lot heavier and more challenging; my nights became busier compared during the day because of doing these tasks and sleep became elusive. I would sometimes find myself dozing off during discussion or maybe find myself staring into space. Stress was building up and time came when I would go to school having a bad morning.
If my memory serves me right, it was around the month of October last year when I was inside our classroom when I suddenly heard one of my classmates who just entered the classroom saying, "We won't be having classes this afternoon!" he announced in such a relieved and excited way. But as someone who doesn't believe an announcement without evidence, I just ignored the announcement right away and went back to what I was doing.
Then, a few minutes after the announcement, my seatmate and my friend's cellphone started blaring up and the familiar tone of a Messenger chat entered my ears, making me stop from what I was doing and peeking at my seatmate's phone. There I read that the teachers wouldn't be conducting a class in the afternoon, and I felt relieved. Finally, I can take a rest even just for a few hours before I start working on my school tasks again.
Everyone was getting ready to leave and so was I. My friends were getting ready to until I heard one of them say, "It's Jufel's (@iamcheerfellll) birthday today. Let's go to her house to celebrate!" and I remembered how my friends got excited about it as all of them considered the idea of going to the birthday celebrant's house which was in Tabogon and it's like so far away from the campus and we had to take a bus ride for like an hour or maybe a half. But we still went anyway—yes, the distance didn't stop us.
That day, I found myself waiting for a bus to Cebu City at the bus stop near our school. I was with my friends and while I was the lookout for the bus (we took turns as the lookout, and it was my turn) my friends were busy counting their money to check if their budget would be enough for the bus fare from the school to Tabogon and then from Tabogon to going home. Some of us had to use our savings, which was in the hands of one of my friends, so that they can pay for the bus fare. Yup. Nothing was really stopping us, even money.
When the bus to Cebu arrived, I alerted my friends, and I remembered how I laughed at them after they jumped off from the bench in excitement. As the bus slowly stopped in front of us, we dashed away from the bench and towards the doors of the bus. We huddled at the door as the bus conductor let us board the bus one by one. When we settled on our designated seats, the bus conductor counted us to know the number of bus tickets he'll give to us. When he knew that we were 13 in all, he shakes his head as he punched the ticket with his one-hole puncher while saying, "You're making this bus your school bus."
Well, we were a lot and most of us were still wearing our school uniforms and when we heard the bus conductor say those words, we just laughed it off. It was an unexpected trip, and we didn't bring any spare clothes. During the bus ride we took pictures and passed by places together and it was almost like a field trip. The time was 12 pm sharp and we still haven't eaten our lunch since we were still travelling but who cares about lunch when there's an amazing view outside the bus window? Seriously, I did not feel any hunger during the bus ride because I was busy looking at the view outside.
The bus came to a halt the moment my friend and classmate, Jufel (@iamcheerfellll), told the bus conductor to stop the car—I mean, the bus. We got off the bus the bus one by one and when I stepped out, I couldn't help but turn my attention to the mountains that could be seen just by standing beside the road. As someone who went to Tabogon for the first time, all I can say was that the view was so breathtaking.
Jufel led us to her house, and we ate lunch there as we celebrated her birthday. We met Jufel's pretty and adorable niece, Mamay, and Jufel also offered that she would tour us to Little Batanes which was just near her house. It was my first time hearing about Little Batanes in Tabogon and Jufel explained that it got famous during the COVID-19 lockdown. A lot of people had enough time to travel to local destinations during that time and that was how Little Batanes was discovered.
After we ate our lunch, we rode the jeep of Jufel's father towards Little Batanes and during our travel, excitement was present in the air as we joked about taking a lot of pictures until our phone storage goes full. Who wouldn't take a lot of pictures though? The view of the mountains was something worth taking a lot of pictures and of course, the people I was with makes it a whole lot better.
We passed by the cemetery along the way and the jeep suddenly slowed down, making our conversation come to a stop. The atmosphere of the cemetery just made us realize that we needed to stop talking and respect those who were resting and when we were near our destination, excitement once again overwhelmed us all. I couldn't tear off the smile on my face as I observed the scene. The long winding road, the green grass and fields, the trees, and the mountains—it really felt like I was in Batanes that time.
We took a rest and observed our surroundings longer before one of my friends decided that it was time for us to take pictures and so we did. We took group shots, solo shots, candid, and a lot more. I had a great time but that wasn't the end because we decided to climb a hill (or maybe that was a mountain since it felt like a mountain to me because of how high it was) and boy, it was hard! We were hiking in our school uniforms and black shoes; we were covered and drenched in sweat while carrying our bags.
For someone who is not used to hiking and climbing, I haven't arrived in front of the hill yet, but I was already tired and ready to go to bed. My knees were shaking, my soles were sore, and the holes of my nose were stretching as big as saucers! I was breathing and huffing like sumo wrestler. But still, everything was worth it the moment we arrived on top. The view from the top was even more breathtaking and I remembered how I changed from exhausted to mesmerized. I had never seen a view so beautiful until that day. As I stared at the horizon, I totally forgot that I climbed the hill without my shoes on.
We took more photos and appreciated the view on top one last time before we decided to go back down. I took off my shoes for the second time since the path was steep and slippery. After we got down, we took once last photo and then took the same path towards home. As we walked down the path (without the jeep to fetch us this time) some of my friends were already complaining how their feet hurt and how their body was slowly feeling exhausted.
I even remembered one of my friends crying because of how tired they were, how the sole of their shoes opened as if it was telling them that they were tired too and how their cries of exhausted surrender echoed through the green fields but we all just laughed it off later. When we got to the main road, we waited for a bus to Hagnaya and a bus to Kawit since not all of us were from Medellin. After waiting and resting at a bus stop, a bus finally came for us, and we headed home.
While staring outside the window of the bus, I thought to myself: "I didn't get to take a rest today since I spent the entire day tiring myself by climbing a hill and walking a very long road, but who cares? I enjoyed everything anyway and I know that this is one of the memories that I will never forget."
That would be all for this blog, I hope you had fun reading it and I will see you all on the next one!
