The Climb

When my older brother Manster declared a couple of years ago that he wanted to build his future on top of a mountain instead of the city, I laughed and thought, “Yeah, right.” No ATM, no fast food takeout, no convenience store around the corner – really, now.

We never really took him seriously until recently, my sister and I found ourselves in the middle of a jungle, trailing after Manster who was as eager as a bull to explore an undeveloped mountain property up north. An environmentalist at heart, he was already explaining to my parents how he wanted to build his house around the trees, use solar heaters and water pumps, create a state-of-the-art greenhouse, even raise livestock here and there as we trekked along.

Hearing my cosmopolitan brother talk about farming and raising cows simply boggled the insides. I won’t even pretend that I actually understood half of what he was saying. At that moment I was just trying to keep up with the novelty of being in that mountain jungle and somehow reach the top without bleeding.

Armed with only my cooling lip balm and a pair of sunglasses, I was quite unprepared by the long arduous climb, the slippery terrain, the clinging vines, and the unforgiving heat of the sun. As our shirtless guide cleared the path for us, I kept imagining an irate snake or two would suddenly belly out of nowhere, hissing for us to go home. Is this really all worth it?

Up and down we went through rocks, a hidden cave, wet grass, broken branches and clueless jungle creatures. And all the while, no matter how cliché, I can’t seem to keep Miley Cyrus’ song from blasting in my head and singing along:

“There's always gonna be another mountain/ I'm always gonna wanna make it move/ Always gonna be a uphill battle/ Sometimes I'm gonna have to lose/Ain't about how fast I get there/ Ain't about what's waiting on the other side/ It's the climb, yeah! Woooohh… it’s THE CLIMB.”

Before I could finish figuring out the rest of the song, we came to a halt. Puff, puff… we made it! And there on top of the mountain, I finally understood Manster’s vision of paradise.

It was breathtakingly beautiful. The air was so crisp and clear, my eyes begged to weep at the wide expanse of rolling fields of green below, dotted only by the occasional quaint houses. I saluted the coconut trees patiently standing guard on the perimeters, all scarred and slightly bent yet still unbeaten by the winds. This time, I listened to my mother and brother as they tried to broaden my pitiful knowledge of nature by naming trees, flowers and insects before me. Further up, the sea colored the outline of neighboring islands.

Admittedly, the only jungle I know by heart is the city I live in. But as I explored this other one, I found my world opening up to possibilities. If one survives the climb, how difficult is it really to flow from one jungle to the next? After all, when you really think about it, don’t we more or less find the same creatures in both worlds -- the cocky ones, the friendly parasites, the milking cows, the snakes, the professional night owls, the monkeys, and the occasional jungle cats like my brother?

I fell silent as I caught sight of a bird flying back and forth with dead grass on its beak. I soon realized it was patiently building its nest high on a tree. Wow. Perhaps, Manster and Miley were right. It doesn’t matter how long you get there or how impossible it may seem. If you can dream it, it will come.

-- SunStar Weekend, 8/8/2009