Mt. Samat, Pilar Zip Line, How It Was For Us

Angry birds shoot from here

 

Then fall here

We took a trip to the newly remodeled Pilar Municipal Hall and the Flaming Sword before going to the zip line. I figured we could ask about the zip line first, rather than heading there not knowing what to expect, and the buildings were worth at least a shot or two; but it was high noon and the Chinese New Year, so the offices were closed and the streets were empty. I should have considered that.
We took a tricycle and told the driver to take us to the new zip line. I knew it was at the base of Mt. Samat but I didn't know where exactly. Curious as it may be, we had to explain to the driver what a zip line is. I assume his lack of knowledge was because the zip line is new attraction to their place. When we reached the Mt. Samat Entrance Arch, we had to take a different tricycle because according to the drivers waiting around there, the tricycle we were formerly riding in wouldn't be able to climb the incline of the Mt. Samat Road. Honestly, it just seems like a ploy to make us pay for another fare. As it turned out, the parking lot of the zip line wasn't too far from the entrance arch, which made me regret taking that second tricycle. Nonetheless, the "The Zipline" poster board was in sight, and my excitement took over the other thoughts in my head.

Parking lot

Welcome desk 

We were greeted by a fellow who was manning a table with signs regarding the fees we were needed to pay. We also learned that aside from the zip line they also have a gun range. The parking lot lead to a dirt road that lead to the launch point. No other vehicles are allowed to traverse this road for safety reasons so they have people ride their 4x4 shuttle for P30 along with a P20 environmental fee. We were told that the shuttle needs to have a few more passengers before coming up, so we waited for another 15 minutes or so. True enough more people came and after signing in our names in a logbook, we were off.

4x4 with no seat belts = hardcore

We reached the launch area a couple of minutes later, and just like the parking lot, it was nothing special, just another tarp roof with a couple of benches. What surprised me though was the group of people waiting under it. There were quite a lot of them and with the group that came with us, it was getting quite crowded. All the seats were taken so we had to wait for seats to free up. For the time being, we busied ourselves by reading the waivers the lady at the desk had us sign.

It didn't take long before I realized that our group wasn't thinning out and more and more people are being brought up by the shuttle. After countless questions, I learned that there is only one track that serves as both the zip line and the service line to bring the equipment back up. Aside from that, there is only a small number of gears and harnesses available, so after 5 or so people have descended, they would need to stop and pull the gears and harnesses back up. It makes for a terrible bottleneck at the waiting area. Hours pass by and  I now regret not making all the necessary preparations for the trip. I thought that it wouldn't take more than 2 hours or so to do the zip line and get back to the city, and that I wouldn't need to bring food or water. I now know better.

Boredom, the mother of all great scribbles

I busied myself by drawing the scenery with a sharpie and the small sketch pad I brought along, but that too cannot keep my mind of that fact that I felt hunger three times while waiting for our turn. If not for the fact that we had already paid and that we were already there, we would have turned back and called it a day. We started the trip right after our lunch and it would take four and a half hours before it was finally our turn. By this time, all sense of excitement I had had been erased by an overwhelming feeling of hunger, thirst and exhaustion.

Miko Legaspi: Superman

Nicko Decano: Sitting

We geared up and headed to the launch pad. There were a couple more people before us but our eagerness to get the ride done with pushed us to stand in line under the blaring heat of the sun. I was doing a sitting launch because I carried a bag while my friend was doing the superman, because he doesn't have a bag and has his stuff in mine.

I was horrified when I reached the launch pad. It's not because of the height of the launch pad, or because of the blaring heat of the sun, but because the people ahead of us were stalling for time. A girl who was already attached to the cable was crying out in fear of the zip line. I couldn't believe what I was seeing. Did this ride took all this time because people were stalling for time when their turn came? I wondered how a zip line that took only 40 something seconds could take me four and a half hours to do. I now know why.

A TBT Public Service Announcement: If you are ever going to do a ride where people will need to line up and wait for their turn, do not cry and stall for time when its already your turn. If you really can't do the ride, give up your turn and go home.

Can you take the plunge?

My friend was up first when our turn finally did arrive. The zip line personnel were discussing over the radio whether he should have a "parachute" to slow him down or not since he's quite light. Someone on the other end insisted that he should and did they put it on. Sure enough, he stopped just short of the landing pad. A few more minutes pass by and they did get him on to the ground, and it was finally, FINALLY, my turn.

I would admit that for a second my heart beat harder than it did a second before that, but that second passed and I was all too ready to get this over with. I went down slowly. Slowly building up speed until the lush landscape under my feet was just a flurry of green. Forty seconds later, I hit the end with a hard thud on the stoppers, and that was that.

Dunsulan Falls, Brgy. Liyang, Pilar, Bataan

The landing zone, is located at a different barangay, Barangay Liyang. It is also the site of Dunsulan Falls. The area certainly looks like a decent picnic ground, but the water of the falls is just too murky and ominous to swim in. I could imagine that this falls once had crystal clear waters, but people settling above stream had made the river both their water source and their waste disposal. I could see foam on the surface of the water, evidence that someone upstream was doing laundry. Something must be done about this if the local government intends to profit from this costly venture.

All too ready to call it a day, we waited for more people to take the ride back out to the parking lot. We alighted by the Mt. Samat Entrance Arch and we stopped by a local store to grab some much needed fluids and food.

This certainly was not the experience I was expecting, but at the moment, I was just glad it was all over.