RAPPELLING 2

Frankly, I didn't want to go up the Babag limestone tower again. Not for the third time. The novelty and challenge are gone. But I was tasked by Judge P to invite some friends in the media as possible recruits. They were not there at the assembly area, my fault for showing up 45 minutes late. It took me an hour and a lot of will power to drag my lazy butt out of the bed on a Sunday. Hard to believe, mountaineering was beginning to bore me. I have a short attention span. Getting new recruits and interacting with people who share this love and respect for the outdoors help. But there's another antidote for boredom, and that is being scared shitless.

Our friend Ross brought along his eldest brother, a retired accountant. The expression in Judge P's face when his jaw dropped while he was introduced to the senior citizen was priceless. And we were going rappelling! Manong Nonoy's knees started to wobble as we made our way through corn and mango plantations in the 45-degree plus incline of the slippery and muddy slopes. When he saw our goal looming ahead he flat out gave up and refused to take another step further. Told the incredulous judge he can climb a bed but not that.

Judge P brought some seedlings and seeds which he wants to plant at our Babag cliff. Figure that, he buys seedlings at a nursery in Baybay, Leyte which he lugs all the way to Cebu, to plant these in the mountains. Judge P acquired a tax declaration for the limestone tower which makes it his property, but which he is declaring as exclusive property of our club Green Earth Mountaineers. This will be GEM's "training center" for new recruits where they can experience rock climbing, orienteering, mountaineering, and rappelling in one day or less. Planting other plant species is our way of helping Nature transform this site into a mini-jungle.

Because of the bags of plants and seeds I knew right away that we will have to take the Ladies Trail. It's too bad that Rene has not traversed the more challenging Pedro's Trail which demands a great deal of rock climbing and crawling. I met two new climbers, Renante and Denden. Both of them have trekked Pedro's Trail but not the Ladies' Trail, so Rene was outvoted.

This is only Renante's second rappelling trek and the first time took place the previous Sunday. I was away in Bohol with Judge P and his family, to cover the Sandugo festival. Renante was accompanied by GEM mainstays Ely, Lito, and Jojo who brought an American lady friend. Jojo assured the group that Tammy, for that was her name, is a parachute jumper. Our guys were not impressed when Tammy demonstrated poor physical coordination for climbing. She kept tripping over her leather sandals made for city-walking. It was fortunate that the guys decided to tie her to a harness because she slipped while negotiating a rockwall. Carved in the heart of this limestone protrusion is a cavernlike tunnel with a skylight. We like to take a break here. "You guys are crazy," Tammy declared, "you come all the way up here just to have lunch?"

Perhaps she didn't get it. The cave is a cozy hideaway that offers shade from the sun, wind and rain. Sturdy vines and the roots of the trees that grow above give this cave a wild undisturbed ambiance. One can meditate here peacefully. An opening between two walls has a ledge from where one can safely admire the great view of the mountain range that makes up Cebu's spine. This is where I took that fabulous photo of Gingin admiring the sunset against a backdrop of misty mountains. Gingin now uses this photo as wallpaper for his computer screen to remind himself that we need quite moments like this in our stressful lives.

This particular Sunday I stood in Gingin's place, but instead of looking straight at the mountains through the fog, I focused my attention on the butterflies that were fluttering around the shrubs that grew out of the crevices. I didn't know they could fly this high. How pretty, how nice. Earlier, on our way up, we made a short detour at a nursery garden near a boys scouts' campsite. All the flowers were in full bloom and there were butterflies everywhere, attracted by the red, orange, purple, yellow and white blooms in the garden. Even the wild shrubs and some grasses had flowers. After a year-long spell of drought the rains finally came last month and all at once a wave of a magic wand splashed the Babag hills and valleys with green, green, green. The red roses, yellow chrysanthemum and white mum flower plantations were ready for harvest or replanting, the corn plots in the steep slopes bore fat stalks, and the madre de cacao trees that were once skeletons of withering branches were now sporting lush canopies.

"Today is a good day to die," I told myself as I peered between the two trees to which the rappelling ropes were tied. Beside me and oblivious to my morbid thoughts, Judge P was busy putting on the harness and checking the ropes. Putting an arm around each tree to brace myself, I peered down again. The 130-ft. drop didn't scare me as it did the first time last year. Maybe because the trees and shrubs covered the slabs of rocks and round boulders below. It looked very inviting. But I forgot to kiss my mom goodbye when I left the house. I did hug my cat, but my mom would be inconsolable if I went away like that. Even worse for my father ... No, I can't die today.

A yell from the Judge who reached the ground safely brought me back to my senses. It was my turn to go next. Rene, who came down first, and the judge were yelling at us to use only one rope instead of one. I was indignant that they'd suggest a single rope for me, never mind if I was half or a third lighter than them. My voice hit a higher octave when Denden started to remove one carabiner from the harness. "What are you doing," I shrieked as I slapped his offending hand, "don't touch that!" I was starting to have my doubts about Denden's competence in securing my harness to the rope. A fresh graduate from college, this is his fifth rappelling trek and I only met him an hour ago. He didn't look as cool and as confident as Judge P or Ely, the GEM expert in knots. How could I take someone seriously with a name like that? "But didn't they say to use just one rope," Denden clarified. "Yes," I snapped, "but I want these two carabiners on me." He smiled while he shrugged as if to say, "well, if it makes you feel better."

Renante, who was tucked in a crevice waiting for his turn, grinned at me nervously as I sobbed while I "assumed the position." Hu-hu-hu, God, why am I doing this? Our GEM president Lito came down from his perch (the ledge can only accommodate a few people) to give some moral support. He had to because I was either ignoring Denden's instructions or arguing with him. I'm such a bully. First, I insisted that the rope was too heavy and ordered Denden to hold it for me. "Why are you holding the rope?" President Lito demanded, then saw me hugging the rocks. "Tonette," he said patiently, "you don't have to hold on to those rocks, just grab these ropes." "But I'm not in position yet," I whimpered. More firmly and sternly, Lito coaxed me to let go of the rocks, grab the ropes and assume the correct position. I swear my knees would shake except that my legs were too petrified to move a muscle. I have never been so scared, execept that Lito kept barking at me which was annoying and distracting. Jojo last week spun and swung out of control because he kept his legs close together. With that in mind I spread my legs. "Don't bend your knees," Lito said. Keep your legs straight, spread them wide, give the rope some slack, now move your feet, nag, nag, nag ...

I didn't think I would miss him when I suddenly found myself all alone and literally facing a blank wall. What now? The first and only time I did this I had a buddy, but today we only have one harness so we had to go down one at a time. Okay, Tonette, I psyched myself, just keep your cool and maintain presence of mind. All my movements were measured and deliberate. Right feet first, then left, next give the rope some slack. And most important of all, keep the right hand at the back and never let go of the rope. It's okay to let go with the left, but never the right. How odd, this seem to take forever. My first time was like a breeze. Pretty soon the rockwall curved inward leaving me with nothing to brace my legs against.

The only thing that connected me to the cliff was a single rope with a diameter as cute as my little pinkie. That's when I started to descend fast, pretty fast. Even though I was wearing two gloves I could feel the heat from the friction. Oh shit, what now? I hollered to the judge below. "You better be ready to catch me 'cause I'm going down fast!" Both Judge P and Rene yelled back at me that I was going too fast. Damn it, tell me something I don't know. "Fast, you're going too fast, slow down," they shouted together. How do I brake? Summoning all the strength from my puny arms I held the ropes tighter, adjusted the angle of my right arm and that slowed me down a bit. Problem is, the rope burned against my ribcage and Owww! it hurt, so I moved my right hand lower to my hips, which only made me go faster again. This so, I alternated with this slow and fast tempo. My hands, arms, shoulders, and neck were starting to hurt. Jesus, I suddenly remembered the protruding tree branch where I got stuck the first time. I loosened my grip on the rope to speed up my descent then as I got near the offending branch I swung my left leg and kicked it out of the way. Swoooosh, I went right past it with my heart stuck in my throat. Regaining my voice I pleaded again, "somebody please catch me ..." I had visions of crash landing and breaking my legs, or rolling off the slope. "Slow down, slow down," the judge was still at it. Then just a couple of meters off the ground and the end of the rope I finally got it right and came to a slow stop. I didn't know which was more comforting, having the strong arms of both Judge P and Rene around me, or planting both feet on solid ground albeit with shaking knees.

Days later, my friend Lysle called me up. She just nominated me to the "Fun and Fearless Female" contest promo of the local Cosmopolitan magazine. "I need a good shot of you rappelling, you have to do it again and get someone to take your picture." No shit.