Sinulog 2021: The Celebration of a LifeTime - A Butterflying The Bat Spinoff

January 16, 2021

I am currently writing this entry here outside our tent with nothing but a headlamp on. It's a relatively cool night here in Osmeña Peak, Dalaguete, Cebu. Anyone is probably wondering how come January is the coldest month in the Philippines when the country lies just a little north of the equator. What I know is that cold air from Siberia is blowing all the way down into Southeast Asia, hence this chilly weather.

As I write this, I am wearing this tactical jacket of mine to keep me warm. To the right shoulder patch is the flag of NATO (which I use during airsoft matches) and to left shoulder patch is the flag of the Philippines. Some of the hikers with me wonder why I like to wear patches when I am not in the military. I told them it's a personal preference. Some of the campers are still awake talking among themselves. After I finish writing this, I will go to bed.

First, I'll tell you how I got here. The afternoon and night before, I played airsoft with my team mates but I had to leave early since I needed sleep for this trip.

Just like our reunion with my group in Pukot Kitchen a month ago, here we finally have an adventure with other members. Unfortunately, not all could come due to other commitments. The event was planned no other than Happy and Gabrielle, our two wanderlusts. With them came other friends that I was interested to to bond with over the weekend. Gabrielle brought some of her friends from her BSA course, including others that were her classmates when she was a freshmen. I would later learn some of these people shifted courses to other schools. In our original group, only J.J., Justin, Reginaldo, Aubrey, and Tresha came. Tresha also brought along two friends whom I would have met had I showed up in that club in July 2016. Apart from that, there were also people from my new group: Van Henry, Kristine, Liv, R.J., and Jon. 

We were in essence like a company or a fireteam.
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Me being me, I was usually served as the bridge between my new group and my old group.

The theme "small world" played again once more. I later learned that Liv knew Happy from back then. They attended the same high school but Liv was three years younger. They knew each other from CAT or ROTC based from what Liv told me.

"I'm making the world smaller one person at a time," I said during the socials portion by the camping light.

"Nice ka pre," Reginaldo said.

"You know guys, I'll say this again. I would not be here right now nor would I meet all of you if didn't show up that day in November 2016. My then-foolish decision is what caused all these to happen. Years later, it turned out to be for the better. We made friendships and memories together." I said.

The group erupted in cheers. Some patted me on the back.

"Is it true you remember dates and all?" Jhanina, a friend of Tresha, asked.

"Well some of it. Before I used to remember a lot. But my memory is jacked-up now. I'm getting old." I joked.

Another one asked a question. It was this girl with bunny ears which looked really funny to bring at hike. Hey, I ain't laughing though because I too brought my replica night-vision goggles as part of the Call of Duty: Modern Warfare Dark Edition package back then in 2019. Since nightfall began, everyone in the camp wanted to try it on. I told them it was a toy and the NVG part was a replica only that works. That is what mattered in the end of that hefty purchase two years ago since real NVG would cost five to six figures.

"Hey Gill, just curious, when did you meet this group of yours including Gabrielle?" Danniele asked.

"Yes I do," I replied.

"When if you remember." She challenged me.

"Exact date or just a summary?" I asked.

"Exact," Danniele replied.

I smiled knowing this question was a classic. The rest of the group were willing to hear it.

"I met them on Sunday, November 13, 2016, 8:00 AM at D' Family Park," I said firmly.

The group was then amazed. I could hear voices of astonishment in the background.

"How about our 2019-2020 mountaineering batch Gill, do you still remember?" asked Van Henry in Bisaya. Van was currently the eldest in our new group. He and I are technically in the same age. The others were the Zoomers, born somewhere between 1999 and 2000.

"Of course, our group was formed on August 17, 2019, but the ones who stayed for the pre-panneling was formed on January 17, 2020."

"Wow you really do remember a lot," One of Gabrielle's other friends said.

I particularly did not recall his name. There were just too many of us. So what I did was I passed on a notepad and told them to write their social media accounts as I will follow them all once we go back to civilization. They were also passing around my replica NVG, wanting to see how it worked in the dark. I was amused seeing their faces of happiness of being able to see i the dark with the green filter.

The whole night was well-spent bonding with these people. I am glad to be able to form of connections.

Now I'm going to bed. I'm waking up 4:45 or 5:00 AM in order to catch the sunrise.

Goodnight.

January 17, 2021

VIVA PIT SEÑOR FROM DALAGUETE!

Yes today is the actual Sinulog day but the celebrations won't be until this March. Normally we would not be here in Dalaguete since I know most of these people would prefer to party in the streets except for Reginaldo and some of the new group who prefer adventure. For them, the former is too overrated. I see their point. However, since the celebrations are transferred two months from now, that's why we chose to go here.

It was still in very early in the morning when J.J. poked me.

"Bro, wake up," He said. "It's almost sunrise."

Tired, I got up rubbing my eyes. I checked my watch. It was still 4:30. I opened the vestibule of the tent and saw that it was still dark. Some of the tents had their lights on. Campers spoke in hushed tones so as not to disturb other campers.

"Let me drink some water for a while," I said to J.J.

I then donned in my replica quad-nod NVG on my head. I knew this was the perfect time to have photo of my silhouette against the rising sun on Cebu's southeastern coast.

I then climbed out of the tent. The first thing that met me was the cold January air of Dalaguete.

"Hey man, Viva Pit Señor," I told J.J. and Justin.

The other campers then got out of their tents. Their purpose was the same as ours: to see the sunrise.

"Good morning folks," I said to them.

We all exchanged greetings. We then proceeded to walk towards the peak a few meters away from our campsite. Everyone viewed towards the east where the sun was slowly rising. There was now some yellow and orange morning sky in that direction. The dawn was now breaking. A few more minutes, the morning sky was beginning to overtake the night.

So everyone took out their cameras and snapped photos of the sunrise. I then requested Justin to take my photo against the sky with my figure forming the silhouette against the backdrop. I them put my right hand over the nods.

"Say your line," Justin said.

"Bravo six, going dark."

He then handed me my phone. I reviewed the photos and was impressed on how it was taken.

"Nice one Jus." I told him. "Thanks for this."

For the next one hour or so, the we enjoyed much of the sunrise while we can. Then breakfast was being cooked. We ate a hearty meal while drinking hot chocolate or coffee. It was all made in preparation for our hike down to Kawasan Falls in Badian.

Man these days have been good. I can't wait to jump off from the top of the falls.
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It was already completely bright as day when we started packing off the camp and began the hike down to Badian. We passed by several rock formations and bushy undergrowths. While hiking, the theme of The Lost World: Jurassic Park along with Malcolm's Journey played in my head. It was the perfect tune to set up the vibes. The hike down was pleasant as we fixed our sight to the Tañon Strait down below. We used it as our reference point knowing we were headed to right spot.

The hike itself was around a hour and half or so. We knew we were nearby as we followed a stream in which its current was going stronger as we descended.

"We're close guys," Happy said.

True to her word, we then saw the iconic falls. There were actually three levels of them! We then hurried down but in a careful manner. Then once we reached ground level, we then rented a cottage to put our stuff. Catching our breathe and sweating from the hike, the water seemed also tempting. Putting our bags, we then jumped into the water and refreshed ourselves. The moment the cold water hitting our skin was the most rewarding feeling ever. We swam while others climbed on the higher levels to go cliff-diving. I always wanted to conquer this place since 2016 but never had the chance to. I admit, I'm a bit scared of heights but my friends on the old group were budging me to do it. Part of me also wanted to go so I relented. I climbed the jagged rocks, holding on to what strong roots and ropes there was. In front of me was Danniele then behind me was Justin, Reginaldo, and Van Henry in that order. The first? Well you should not be surprised who.

Gabrielle took the first jump. She was not scared at all.

"You know, your friend is really brave," I told Danniele.

"Yeah, I've seen her pics." She replied. "Standing on the edge of the mountain or that pointy rock."

"Bravest I've seen so far," I nudged her. "Your turn."

Danniele went to the platform and took the jump. I watched her leap and hit the water below, forming a big splash. It was now my turn. I breathed hard, paused for a second and ran.

"Here goes nothing. Cowabunga!" I shouted as I took the plunge.

It felt really fast as the moment of the leap was followed by loud splash. The next thing I knew I could see foam and bubbles obscuring my vision before I rose up to the surface. 

"Woo! I did it!" I said, feeling accomplished. Finally I had conquered this place.

"Congrats Gill," Gabrielle said. "You finally did it."

I then cleared the way for Justin, Reginaldo, and Van Henry to plunge into the pool. Today had really been fun. We stayed for a couple more hours before packing up and heading back to Cebu City.

"Viva Pit Señor guys," I said once more.
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In the bus, I was seated next to Justin and Van Henry with Aubrey, Liv, and Kristine across the aisle. As I looked at the others, they were tired and fast asleep. The bus played Avengers: Endgame as the in-house movie. I could not focus on it because we were in a moving vehicle, but I did have an interesting conversation with the people around. The vibes were really good. I will never forget this weekend. A part of me wished it never ended but that's what makes an adventure good so that we could look forward to the next one.

As we were nearing Toledo City, I finally got some reception for my phone. I used it to share some stories, videos, and photos on my Instagram stories. I also shared some of my holiday photos to my American friends named Anthony and Josh on Discord. Both are from Chicago and share a passion of video games and arcade games. Anthony runs a channel on YouTube known as Video Game Esoterica while Josh is a top pinball player in the United States and the world. Since 2018, I made friends with them over obscure arcade games that ran on the Konami M2. At times, we also share some of our personal lives on our group chat. When they saw my photos of Osmeña Peak and Kawasan Falls, they commented how awesome the place was. I told them that they should visit the Philippines one of these times. They expressed interest but wished it was cheap. I then told them that I also look forward to traveling to Chicago one of these days.

The ride back home was rather peaceful. I was mostly listening to music and talking with the others to pass the time. Once we were back on Naga City, Cebu City was getting close. Starring to my left, I saw the large ferris wheel that was part of Anjo World Theme Park, Cebu's only amusement park that opened not too long ago. The traffic going back was somehow terrible due to the fact this route from Naga to Cebu sees so many cargo trucks and buses a day. Our bus that we were on was just another statistic in this traffic. We finally arrived back to Cebu South Bus Terminal around 7:00 PM. Everyone stretched their tired muscles and bones as we disembarked from the bus. Sitting for three hours or so wasn't something fun.

"Welcome back to Cebu," Liv said.

"Oh it's back to work tomorrow," Van Henry added.

"Back to school for me," Gabrielle further added. "Hello student life."

I just realized she was taking law and that the real academic stuff would occur tomorrow. I guess this was a great ender prior to her going back to law. I then walked over to Happy and Gabrielle, the two hosts of this event.

I said while giving them our club handshake from year's back, "Hey thanks for inviting us over. This was an enjoyable and unforgettable trip. After four years, we finally got to hike at long last."

"No problem, Gill, " Happy said. "See you in the next adventure."

I nodded.

"Always Gill. I'm happy it happened," Gabrielle added. "See you too."

I then hailed a cab back to Banilad. Justin, Van Henry, and two others from that area hitched with me. We then chipped in for the fare. I walked home from where the cab dropped me off from the main road.

I got back home, unloading my bags, and very exhausted but felt very accomplished.

2021 seems really promising. Thank you for the blessings.

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Why Trump's second term will be better than the first
- The Daily Wire, January 15, 2021

Another four years of humiliation. Why a second Trump administration would spell doom for America.
- The Young Turks, January 15, 2021

Can't dump the Trump
- Posted on the r/TheDonald, January 10, 2021

"Remember when those idiot liberals tried to smear Trump in a bad light and we said "They got Blumphfftt this time"? Well guess what, thank you liberals for giving Trump a second term."
- Donald Trump Jr. (@ DonaldJTrumpJr), Twitter, January 6, 2021

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Author's Notes:
[1] The chapter's title Quit Señor is portmanteau of Pit Señor (the Sinulog chant) and I quit referring to the fact that most of the older wild party goers have retired from partying in the streets. Instead, they choose to do other activities away from the party by going on an adventure, biking, island hopping, or going to the beach.