Kawasan and the Rain Bearer’s Broken Heart

Part 1 of 2 of the December Waterfall Chronicles

My yearly birthday vow to catch the Geminid meteor shower on the eve of December 14 was disrupted by the exhaustion caused by our event in Cebu the day before. I really planned to catch it around midnight. But after I took a bath around 10:30 in the evening, my consciousness immediately rode its way to dreamland.

I woke up at around six in the morning, both excited and a bit nervous for my first ever lone adventure.

My dear friend Nessa was in Cebu earlier this year, so when she heard that I would be at the Queen City of the South, she immediately pushed me to go to Kawasan Falls on my birthday.

Yes, I definitely missed the mountains. It had been a long time already since my last climb (read the Mt. Damas blog here). But the thought of going solo with nature made me hesitate about this trip, specially since my sense of direction was never reliable. Ok. Fine. I confess that I was just afraid to travel alone in unfamiliar territories. I was used to three-hour bus rides from Manila to my hometown Bataan but that would never count as “travel.”

But, I was already in Cebu. And besides, it was our rest day, and my birthday after all, so I decided it would be best to just grab the opportunity and take a detour from work. It could be a great fulfillment on my 26th year on earth.

After having breakfast at the hotel, I asked the front desk on how to commute to Kawasan Falls. Yes, I wanted to commute. And yes, I suddenly had what I called the “birthday courage.”

I was told to ride a bus from South Terminal going to Moalboal – Bato via Barili. Luckily, Kuya Arnel, one of the hotel room boys, had now ended his night shift at 7:30 in the morning and was now on his way home, which was towards South Terminal, so he became kind enough to be my tour guide that morning.

From R Suites and Cafe in Mandaue City, we crossed A.C. Cortes Avenue and rode a jeepney going to Parkmall. Then we had another jeepney ride going to Elizabeth Mall wherein after a few more walks, we finally got to South Terminal.

After making sure that I found my bus, Kuya Arnel bid me goodbye.

And here was where my adventure started.

Around halfway along my trip, it started raining. I could hear Nessa’s laughter over her text message saying that we now had confirmed who the real rain bearer was.

Our trip to Palawan during the Christmas holidays last year (click here to read about it) had been laden with a lot of rain. And everytime we meet, whenever and wherever we go, there would always be rain. We were always fighting over who was bringing the rain. And now, ok fine, I confess.

But I still had my birthday luck that day because it stopped soon enough.

And after three hours of great ocean sceneries outside my bus window, I was welcomed by this path.

Concrete. Yes the first things I noticed were cement and lamp posts. I became worried. Good thing I saw an early hint of the blue waters of Kawasan.

Then I came across the bridge.

I thought it was made of wood, when I first saw a picture of this on the internet. But no, it was concrete again. I became more anxious and started asking the question, “Why?”