mountain view

the sky barely had clouds to cover up the harsh beating of the sun this morning. the heat was almost a punishment. while on the jeep, i couldn't wait to get to the air-conditioning of the office.

when my ride turned at the highway, i was greeted by his majesty, Mt. Apo or Apo Sandawa. No clouds barred the view of the peak. Every crevice and groove were visible from where I was. It was spectacular. Until the jeep moved again, and an ugly supplemental medicine billboard blocked it.

i realized, it was when i was living in manila that i have not been blessed with a good morning view of the mountain.

during my days in pampanga, my bus driver would relish us with stories of mt. arayat, as it watched over us on the way to school.

when i was a jesuit volunteer in calapan, we'd have breakfast at the porch with mt. halcon reminding us of God's skillfull 'hands'. after days of hard rain, one can see several falls cascading the sides of halcon. best viewed with jesuit songs soundtrack. :) unfortunately my last visit to our calapan home, the coconut trees have grown tall obscuring the view of halcon.

back in pangantucan, again as a jesuit volunteer, our school has a great panorama of mt. kalatungan. while we would rest at the pine trees lining a trail to the canteen, i'd look at kalatungan and wonder how our jvp batchmates are doing up there.

when i really take notice of a mountain, i can't help but smile.

apo was so handsome today, that i actually felt tempted to climb it someday! and that's a good sign, because i've been avoiding mountain climbing because hey, that's part of my job description. so... yeah. i thought about it this morning. who knows, i may just do it!