Heaven on Earth | Mt. Manunggal (Part 2)

Hello everyone, I've been off the grid in the last couple of days; traveled last Thursday on an island in Southern Cebu, cooked a new recipe last Friday, and jogged to complete my distance goal for the month, and had an amazing time with my love and family the rest of the long weekend. That left me exhausted! When one's aging, there are just days that I'd rather sleep the entire day than go out and have some adventure. 😂

Well, I'm done resting and here I am ready to bring you with me as we continue with our Lulinghayaw sa Cebu featuring my trek to the historic Mt. Manunggal. We've reached the campsite in my last post after more than 4 hours of trekking and today, I'll share with you the rest of what happened during our first day at Mt. Manunggal.

Are you ready to reach heaven this time? 🤔

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An afternoon of magic

In my last post, we already reached Manunggal's campsite. What a relief! After pitching our tents we moved up the viewing deck and discovered how beautiful the view from above was. Climbing mountains and seeing endless mountain ranges aren't new to me but there was something that afternoon in Manunggal that reminded me that each climb is unique in itself.

The weather couldn't decide which side it'd take that day. It was so sunny when we started trekking then it rained after lunchtime then it was sunny all over again. The same happened when we were already on the viewing deck; it was all sunny with the massive clouds floating behind and above us.

A couple of minutes later, the clouds, in all shapes and sizes, started to gather closer and closer to the viewing deck. Our surrounding was slowly covered with a combination of clouds and fog. And before we knew it, we were totally surrounded with fog that became thicker and thicker as time ticked.

It was beautiful to be standing next to nothingness; it took away all uninvited thoughts and momentarily brought peace of mind. As you may have read, I had an out-of-this-world encounter with a sea of clouds in Mt. Pulag, but this was different; I was devoured by fog and there's nowhere to hide. The time came when there was nothing else to see but all white matter in the air. If you're asking if it was cold, it was; but the cold didn't bother me as it appeared certainly marvelous at that moment.

"Is this how heaven looks like?" I asked myself. I honestly felt I was in a different dimension and that made me joyful and grateful beyond words. The next photos will speak the same.

Everyone's just happy to experience it. Here are some of our group photos with the misty background.

And of course, my love and I didn't skip the part where we take couple photos haha

And here are my favorite shots of Jelo and me. I was glad that Jelo was there. He has always been there for me and I've been exploring places with him (mostly as third-wheel haha). I wish I could bring my entire Bogo Family (my closest college friends) here one day.

While I was happy to experience what we've experienced, I was a bit worried if it will be all fogs for the rest of the afternoon as well as the following morning. If that'd be the case, it will certainly be detrimental to my dream of seeing the perfect mountains surrounding Mt. Manunggal, both from the campsite and the peak itself. We stayed longer in the viewing deck; there was nowhere else to go, trekking down and up the neighboring hills and other attractions in the campsite would be dangerous as there was almost zero visibility.

But just like magic, the sky cleared in an instant. It almost felt like someone we couldn't see blew all the fogs and clouds and revealed what I, among others, looked forward to the most - an idyllic 360-degree view of the entire surroundings.

From the highest point in the viewing deck (the viewing deck has 3 levels), one could see the vastness of Central Cebu mountains. We even saw Balamban, thanks to the huge ships docked at the premise of Tsuneishi.

I don't know how it happened. I mean the entire mist surrounded us a few minutes earlier and now, the sun's right above us like all that appeared earlier never happened in the first place. Beautiful massive clouds floating a few kilometers away showed no signs of bad weather, rain, or strong wind. The day's beautiful once again. Of course, we took more photos now that the sky cleared up, the lighting was perfect.

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Time to sleep

We went down and explored the rest of the campsite and went back to the viewing deck just on time for the sunset.

Deep inside, I know I've had enough and I've seen more than what I've bargained for but when the sun finally set, I told myself that it was too much. I was in awe the entire time, stretching my arms and hands to the sky, raising my praises to the one who created all things perfect and wonderful, singing to the melodies of worship songs because I felt alive and I felt blessed to have been alive that day, that hour, that moment. Who am I to be given such an opportunity to experience the kind of life that unfolded right in front of my eyes that day? I felt truly blessed.

We spent the rest of the afternoon at the rooftop, watching the sun melt in the immensity of the clouds and the dark sky. At times, all we have to do to be happy is to stop doing anything. Stay still and be amazed at how the world can inflict the much-needed energy and passion inside us.

We went down to the main entrance where we paid our dues to eat our dinner and came back to the rooftop for what was supposed to be a drinking session until we realized it was too cold to stay longer there. We headed back to our tents and slept. We have new adventures awaiting the following morning! We better replenish our energies.

I couldn't hide how happy I was during the first day of this trip. But this trip got more exciting during the 2nd day and you'll find out why in the next part. Hope you all enjoyed our playtime with the fogs and clouds! Cooking more death-defying views in my new post!

Thank you, as always, for joining me in this trip! See you in the next one! 😁

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