A Sick Day in the Phillipines

Yesterday I woke up with a fever, sore throat, and an upset stomach. So naturally I got up, ate breakfast, and got on the top of a car to travel up a bumpy dirt road into a mountain in the middle of nowhere. Once we got to the point where we couldn't travel any farther we hopped off and went on a hike with our school (Igpanolong) to a thin green peak of a local mountain. At first my natural instinct as a teenage boy made me want to whine but the hike soon became too beautiful to complain about. The entire way up I was surrounded by the greenest plants I had ever seen. I apologize for not having the ability to describe it but I don't think anyone has the vocabulary to do justice to the beauty of this trek. Once we hit the the peak the whole world opened up to us. Mountains, jungles, and rice fields spread out as far as I could see and clouds rolled by our heads and over the mountains. Everything was bright and green except for a little village below with red roofs poking through the dense forest. The peak was a thin long line with drop offs into a thick patch of jungle on either side. The "line" was approximately the width of a small car and to have more than 2 people standing next to each other seemed risky. I have never felt so high up on any Utah mountain. After eating a brief lunch of some sticky rice and some sauce that tasted like sweet barbecue we tumbled down the mountain and walked to our school. I will never forget that hike or that view and how amazingly happy it made me feel. All in all it felt pretty great for a sick day.

-David Macey