After a couple of days of
island hopping exploring the many white sandy beaches and hidden lagoons of
the Bacuit archipelago, another adventure awaited us the next day. The previous
night’s rain worried me a bit, as I expect the jagged trail to Taraw Cliff
to be extra slippery. Despite being my second time in El Nido, It’ll be my
first time to scale Taraw Cliff. Making the short but arduous scramble to the
top extra special is the company of my girlfriend Monnette.
We woke up just before sunrise still hearing the faint drops of rain. “Are we going, are we still going?” we both
asked ourselves as we fuel up with fruits and coffee. It wasn’t a debate as we
both agreed to pursue our plan of seeing the town of El Nido from the
acclaimed viewpoint of Taraw Cliff.
We met our guide–the
amiable–Reckniel, a 22-year old student who moonlights as a tour guide on the
side, at the town of El Nido. He pointed to us the tip that is visible from the
boat coming in from the mouth of the bay. During my first visit to El Nido, I
remember wondering about climbing it each time I would see it as our boat approaches
the town after a day of island hopping.
After making our way through
the back houses of a small community, we reached the jump-off part.
Immediately, we had to use both our hands and feet to start our ascent. There
were no relaxed hiking, its mad scramble from the get-go. I worried about
Monnette knowing she’s got no prior rock climbing experience, but as I see her gain
elevation with such ease like Spiderwoman, I could only remind her to take her
time and not hurry.
One careless move can cause a
slippage that will catapult you at the mercy of the sharp tips of the limestone.
I can already imagine a dreaded scene if one actually suffers an accident while climbing Taraw Cliff. A
huge ghastly wound would be the best outcome otherwise, the worst case would be
broken bones and even death.
The more we advance vertically,
the more concerned I become. I see the smile on Monnette’s face disappearing into
a look of unrest. “My hands hurt” she tells me. It’s from the amount of holding
into the sharp edges of the cliff and even my left knee were scraped opening a
small wound.
Our guide Reckniel would assure
us that if we take slowly but surely we will be fine. We did just that and soon
as we start to see the apex of the peak, smiles returned to our faces. Well,
mainly on Monnette’s.
Echoes of jubilant screams of “Yahoo”
filled the air as we high-fived each other after almost 40 minutes of laborious
free rock scrambling. The picturesque view of El Nido town and Bacuit Bay
opened up to ours. Sitting on protruding spikes of the limestone peak, we sat
like we are on the front-row watching a spellbinding musical show. The curtain dropping
revealing a splendid scene of crystalline waters and the far-away movements of boats
appearing like choreographed dances.
The weather came to cooperate with us as well. As if sensing our difficulties during the ascent, it paved the
way for us to fully embrace and enjoy the quite moment we had atop Taraw Cliff.
After the initial burst of
excitement, we were rendered speechless by the view laid out in front of us.
Even Reckniel, who have been here dozens of times, is still left astonished by
the scenery from Taraw Cliff. “I will never get tired of this view” Reckniel
told us in Tagalog.
I held Monnette’s hands and
without speaking to each other, the glimmer in our eyes tells us that we couldn’t
be bothered of being someplace else that moment.
Check out the rest of my El Nido, Palawan post here.
