Monday, March 12, 2012

Three-Day Mindanao Escape: Bukidnon (Part Three)

Still hungover with the natural beauty of Camiguin, our group pushed forward to Bukidnon. We traversed the roads we passed the day before, which made the scenery more familiar than before. With the tiresome yet fun day that passed, most of us fell asleep during the ride to Bukidnon. After a few minutes of getting into the van, I fell asleep and was wakened by the door of the van being opened. One of my friends needed to withdraw some cash, so as soon as we reached the city proper of Cagayan de Oro, we pulled over on a machine for her to get some money. ATM machines were like little luxuries there, since there were so few of them. After around ten minutes, we left and started to climb the sloping roads going uphill.

Our guide informed us that to reach Bukidnon, we had to cross several mountains. The trip was a process of waiting in a complete stop for ten minutes of more, then moving forward on very rocky and bumpy terrain. Our guide mentioned that the destroyed mountain road was an effect of Sendong, the typhoon that devastated Misamis Oriental, more specifically, the City of Cagayan de Oro. After the road smoothed out, we found ourselves sleepy once again, and after a period of time elapsed, we were already in Camp Phillips, municipality of Manolo Fortich, Bukidnon. There, we quickly hopped off our van to take some pictures of the giant pineapple that decorated the road. Beyond the orderly Camp Phillips was the seemingly endless fields of pineapples of Del Monte Plantation. There were pineapples almost as far as the eye can see, and the air there had a sweet and pleasant smell to it. It wasn't long before we reached our destination, Dahilayan Adventure and Forest Park.

It was very cold at Dahilayan. The feel was like we were in the far north in Baguio City. However, sweet pineapples replaced the fresh strawberries and adrenaline-pumping zipline rides took over the tranquil horseback strolls. After arriving, we quickly ate our breakfast from Paras and immediately purchased our passes to ride the three ziplines there. The first two ziplines were of the usual lengths, but what Dahilayan was proud of was its 840-meter dual zipline -- Asia's longest dual zipline to date. To reach the start tower, we had to ride a small but powerful utility vehicle along steep dirt roads. It was quite the trip: we often found ourselves precariously overlooking steep cliffs overrun by wild foliage and greenery. After the short but nerve-wracking ride upwards, we arrived at the start tower. We were geared up by a set of crew members at the ground, and then we walked up a hanging bridge to the start tower while donning our zipline gear and harness. After a few minutes of wait, I found myself hanging by my zipline gear, and before I knew it, I was already zooming down the line.

It was my very first zipline ride, and nothing beats the fact that I did it on Asia's longest one. Looking down, I saw my shadow flying above the different landscapes that changed every second or so. I flied across several scary-looking ravines and cliffs. For the first time in my life, I was soaring on top of the vibrant treetop canopies instead of being shrouded by it. The whirr of the zipline gear made my heart pound with  anticipation, excitement, and a little bit of fear. I was actually flying! After almost two minutes of railed flight, the marshall at the end of the line signaled us to tuck our head down and fold our arms to the side. With a sudden jerk of the rig, we halted to a complete stop. I was a conqueror of Asia's longest dual zipline!

After we claimed our zipline pictures, we moved to Dahilayan Forest Park, which was just a few meters away from Adventure Park. There, we took a lot of snapshots because the picturesque scenery. Some of us were brave enough to try the Zorbit Experience. My friends were strapped inside a giant zorb ball, and was pushed about three hundred meters downhill. As I watched on a bridge over the track, all I could hear was screams of a mix of joy and terror from my friends. After even more pictures, we left the beautiful Dahilayan Adventure and Forest Park, had a quick lunch at Del Monte Clubhouse, and went back to Cagayan de Oro. We arrived at our hostel, Victoria Suites, at around six in the evening. After a delicious dinner sponsored by my generous Tita Aiza and Tito Jun, we retired for the night, since all of us were deadbeat by the long travel and since our call time was four-thirty in the morning for the last leg of our Mindanao escape: Iligan.

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