Friday: Woke up energized and well-rested. We laced up our running shoes for our early morning run. We don’t have any route but since we weren’t able to visit the Eastern part on Thursday, we decided to go that way. Before we left the room, the girls decided that Elay will be the one to bring the camera so as to save the battery of Jean’s digicam.
Tere: Elay, make sure na makuhanan mo ako ng picture ha kasi ilalagay ko sa blog ko at para may ebidensya na tumakbo ako sa Corregidor. Ayan kuhanan mo ako ng naka talikod. (No answer)
I looked behind me and – Nada! No Elay and no Feivy in sight! It was just me and Jean… Goodbye documentation! I guess the two was left behind when Jean and I started to jog.
The view was breath taking… my knees almost gave up when we reached the north entrance of the Malinta tunnel. Ang tarik naman nito! I can now feel the agony of the runners who took part in the Conquer Corregidor 10-miler last year. Whew!!! As we went further to the East, Jean and I tried to remember our history. We passed by the Filipino War Memorial but decided not to stop so as not to ruin our momentum; we just promised that we will see the sights on our way back. The view was just beautiful in that part… the tail of the Island is very visible and we had the best view of the Caballo Island.
I wanted to increase the pace, but worried that Jean may not be able to keep up with me so we ran slowly and just enjoyed the serenity of the place. Ang sarap lang lumanghap ng sariwang hangin, wala pang sasakyan, kami lang ang taong tumatakbo. We were also able to see monkeys along the road; some are even jumping from tree to tree.
We continued to run farther because we were looking for the Lindley Airport since we saw a sign showing its direction earlier. The airport was found on the tip of the Eastern part which is very near the tail. The bonus when we reached that part was our discovery of the Mindanao Garden of Peace; this garden was realized through the efforts of the Anak Mindanao Party list and some other individuals and organizations. It is actually in honor of the victims of the Jabidah Massacre.
It was in that area where you can have the best view of the Caballo Island – it was really a sight to behold. Sayang! We didn’t have a camera…
We looked around for a while then decided to go back because it is getting hot. We were talking about what could have been and what could have happened if the war didn’t happen and so on and so forth… this one just stood out of my memory.
Jean: Buti nalang pala ma’am wala pa tayo nung nagka gyera ano? Ang hirap siguro nun.
Tere: Oo nga kasi kung buhay na tayo nun baka na rape din tayo ng mga Hapon!
We laughed so loud our laughter reverberated into the woods.
We passed by the Filipino War memorial before heading to the transient facility where we were staying. We were wondering why Armando didn’t take us here, lack of time perhaps.
It was a good run; I didn’t know how far we covered but a friend estimated it to be more or less 12k back and forth.
We found Febs and Elay at the hammock near our room; nadala pala namin ang susi! We told them what we saw and made them inggit to the max :-) since we will leave at around 3pm, we asked Jasper, Jorge, and Den-Den (our very kind tour guides/friends) to please accompany us to explore some more. We then decided to go back to the East for picture-taking.
Trekking brought us to the Malinta Tunnel where we explored the 1000bed hospital and most of the laterals… nandun ulit ang mga kamag-anak ni Casper. Instead of walking another 3-4km to reach Lindley and the Mindanao Garden of Peace, we were lucky to hitch a ride with Kuya Tony who was heading in that direction (Thank you, Kuya). Hmmmmmmm dumadami na ka-berks! After taking lots and lots of pictures we headed back to the Filipino War memorial for more pictures…
inside the filipino war memorial
We then proceeded to the abandoned beach resort to swim, lunch, and buko. The beach was super nice… according to the boys the beach closed due to some management problem. Wasted resources, wasted beauty.
the beach resort...
We stayed in the beach for another hour; in as much as we wanted to stay longer; we can’t since we have a boat to catch. The boat will bring us to Mariveles then we’ll take the bus from there to go back to Manila.
The four of us had a great time… we went home tired but happy and full of memories. We also made a pact that we will be travel buddies from now on and vowed to go back to the Island in the not so distant future.
