The Backpack Adventures

Our adventurous feet take us to the historical town of Maragondon in the province of Cavite. Today, we'll be hiking a historical yet controversial mountain - Mt. Buntis . Mt. Buntis Mt. Buntis Details: Mt. Buntis stands 280 meters above sea level (MASL). The name " buntis " is a Filipino word that means pregnant. To find out why it was named as such, I asked our guide who sadly seems to know nothing about it. Then I recalled that a few years back, I hiked another mountain near Mt. Buntis called Mt. Nagpatong . The name " nagpatong ", by the way, means to lie on top of somebody...  I would love to share my own interpretation of how these mountains got their names but the story tends to be perverted in some way so I'd skip that part. Barangay Caingin Barangay Hall Don't forget to register Going back, despite its "shortage in elevation", Mt. Buntis remains one of the well-known mountains in the Philippines. This is brought by

Our adventure today takes us to Sto. Tomas in the province of Batangas to hike one of the major peaks of the Mt. Malinpuyo range - Mt. Manabu .  Mt. Manabu Mt. Manabu Details: The name Manabu came from the abbreviated word, " MA taas NA BU ndok" which means tall mountain. However, according to our guide, the mountain once had no official name and was referred to by locals as "Paligawan" or a place where grazing cows get lost. The name Manabu was coined by hikers who first "discovered" the mountain as a new mountaineering destination and since then the name stuck.  The "Rosary Trail" of Mt. Manabu Mt. Manabu is famous for what I dub the "rosary trail" (you can check out the photo above to find out why) or the loop trail. This trail is relatively straightforward and is mostly covered by a tree canopy. There are eight stations along the way. These stations serve as trail markers and some as rest areas. Here's what you'd se