Outbound 2013.

Last Friday, November 22, 2013, My batch went on our annual outbound learning experience. This year, we went to Nuvali in Sta.Rosa Laguna. That day started off as an early one, leaving for school at 5:30 am was something that I wasn't used to. I mean c'mon, that's the time I wake up every morning. Anyways, So, we left the school at around 6:15am and the bus ride felt kind of short but still fun since there was no traffic and my class was just so weird and goofy (in a good way of course). As we got to Nuvali, it was time to get down and dirty. 

Our first part of the outbound was a probably a 15+ km hike in the muddy yet very nice and calm forest. With the trees and plants all around, I felt one with nature. Thankfully, there was a little drizzle and the weather wasn't bad so, I didn't have to worry much about sweating and not like a little rain would hurt, right? 

At the end of that long hike, we had to hike down an extremely muddy and slippery slope to get to the Diesmo River. We struggled and held on to the ropes, the trees, and even falling on our butts in the gross mud, although that didn't matter in the end. "We live for adventure" my classmates were saying on the way down. At the end of that slippery steep slope down was the river, the water was nice and cold and clean, I guess that "near-death" hike down was worth it, we just dove in the water, it didnt matter what we were wearing. I swear, we were like kids, playing around with the water, wetting each other. The ground of the river was all small rocks so, we felt them all in our shoes. We'd trip at times but naah, it didn't matter. 

Getting all dirty in the mud, playing with water, not really caring about how you looked. Those were the moments when I felt like I was a kid again. We didn't stay long in the river and since we had to go down to the river, the only way back was up. We walked following the river probably half a kilometer more. Then, we walked back up a similar slope. This time, It seemed easier to get up than to go down since there were sort of "steps" although it was steeper and going against gravity wasn't really what my body wanted especially after swimming and playing around in the river. 

When we finally reached the top, we took a short break in a small tree nursery and demo farm where there were nipa huts, by this time, my camera had died and I left my extra one in the bus so, I wasn't able to take pictures. Well, in that mini farm, there were tomatoes, cabbages, lettuce, chilies and more and it was just so cute to see small groups of each plant there. 

Once that was over, we walked back to the bus, taking an alternate route as when we walked going to the river. It was more of a straight path and it was less forest-y but shorter! We then all changed and had lunch in the bus, bringing all our packed lunches. That morning was an experience that I didn't know I'd actually ever do in my life! 

The afternoon was rather more chill and a rest from that tiring morning although, it still required lots and lots of walking. Honestly, my feet really hurt already but I realized I didn't do that often so might as well. 

We went to the Evoliving Center where they gave us a short lecture and insights about environmental issues. We talked about what contributions we can do to save our mother nature and they showed us many innovations that are earth friendly.

Outside the evoliving center,  we set our carbon footprint along a path to the fish feeding area. It was also where there was a man made lake. Nearing the end of the day, we had a short boat ride to where we came from and just took more pictures from there. *if you noticed, it's the same place I went to last summer like what I said in my previous post. 

We left Nuvali before the sun set, to avoid traffic since it was a Friday but once we got back to Manila, we weren't spared and rush hour caught us. Due to the insane traffic, half the way, we slept and the other half we partied, ate and bonded more as a class. We ended up on the road for about 3 hours and got back to school at around 7:30pm. 

This outbound/fieldtrip, I belive, was the most fun one yet! It was definitely an adventure and experiencing it with these group of girls made everything more worth while. I got to be one with nature in this and experience things that I've never really done before. I really hope hope I get to do this again in the near future because this trip was definitely one worth remembering.