My Blackout Moments Trekking to Hindang Cave

Another adventurous weekend for me this July.  Last Saturday, July 16, 2011, me, Pat, Jam and Lai went for a trek to Barangay Hindang to see Hindang Cave and Hindang Falls.

It was my first time to visit Hindang.  And my first time to trek since the Mt. Agad-Agad in 2003.  Not including the Tinago Falls in 2009, but still that was also a while already.   The only climb I have is with the stairs at City Hall and at home, hehe...  The trek from jump off  (where we parked our vehicle) to the Hindang Cave was about 2 hours, including stops and rest along the way. 

Actually, I had doubts in going to the trip with them as I am afraid something might happen to me.  But Pat assured me that I'd be fine and I'll make it through.  So with Pat's confidence, I joined them, as I also wouldn't want to miss all the fun they will be having during the trip.   And at the same time, I also want so much to see the cave and the falls.   

The first kilometer of the trip was ok.   We took a rest, the first long rest, and took some pictures.  Below is one of the photos.  We are still all smiles.  

Jam and Me, taken by Pat

After about 10 minutes of rest, we continued.    After a few meters of walking, we have arrived at a steep part of the trail.  

The start of the steep slope.  

Pat said the angle was about 50degrees.   I climbed ahead of Pat.  I was faster than usual.  I don't know why but it seems easy for me to take the steps one at a time.  I didn't even feel out of breath, unlike the first kilometer or so.   So, I moved on, stopping at times to check on Pat who is a few feet behind me.  At times taking pictures of the area.     Then at one of the landings, I stopped, waited for Pat and the two guides with him.   I was taking a video of him climbing up.   The others were already up ahead resting, taking a moment to catch their breath.   I was breathing normally.   Like I didn't climb a steep slope.  Lai  even noticed and said , "mam binky o, mura lang og wala".  (It looks like the climb was nothing to me.)   I responded, "hangak biya pod".    After taking the video and Pat was already with me, I continued climbing up.  After a few steps I suddenly felt thirsty so I asked Pat for water.   But before he could give me the water,  my vision suddenly became somewhat blurry.    And I thought, "oh oh".   I signalled Pat to come faster.   When he reached me, I told him that I think I am going to faint.  The moment I said those words, I could not longer control myself.   My vision got so blurry and I have difficulty breathing.    I was like, telling myself, "please don't, not here, not now".    Even as I was on the brink of fainting, I was thinking "oh, this is so embarrassing. so embarrassing."  I was thinking of what to do so that I will not faint.   But to no avail.   My body could no longer bear it.   It gave up and I blacked-out.   A few seconds.  Came to consciousness again.  For a few seconds.  Blacked-out again.   At this moment I was still sort of standing, leaning to Pat for support.   Then, I blacked-out the third time.  This time, I think I was already really down.   Pat said, this was the time that I really passed out, for real.   He said I was so pale then.  The lining of my lips was very pale and my lips were already whitish.  Between consciousness, I could hear myself talking and the others and I could feel Pat and the guide massaging my hands and arms.   But I could not see anything as my eyes were closed.  I don't have the energy even to open my eyes.   It seems like my soul left my body.  (Well, the usual feeling I have every time I have fainting attacks.)... It was my first time again after a long while (since 2002, I hadn't had fainting attacks).

A photo of me while Pat was massaging my hand.   After a while, one of the guides helped Pat in massaging me.  Pat said it took about 10 minutes for me to fully recover and I rested for another 10 minutes before we continued our trek.    Photo courtesy of Jam.

A rest pose half way from where I fainted to the "landahan" (a place to dry the coconut meat) where the rest of the group is waiting for us.    All smiles na ulit, hehe...

Here is my pose hugging a tree.

Pat said that when they climb, they would look for a tree to hug to get the energy from the tree and transfer it to their body to help them get energized.  

A real hug with the tree. 

Finally, we caught up with the rest of the group.  Now Pat is holding my hand.   He has been since we resumed the trek after my blackout moments.   He made sure I slow down and take a rest every few steps.   We were all laughing as Lai and Jam teased us "holding hands ra diay kulang oy!".

A video recording I took before I passed out.   The area in the last part of the video is exactly where I lost consciousness.

Lessons learned?   Always listen to what your guide says specially if he is the love of your life.  He will definitely not let any harm happen to you as he loves you so.  :-)  

Next time I go trekking, I will make sure to take a rest so that the blackout moments won't happen again.  :-)