Don’t go if you’re expecting a run-of-the-mill tourist experience. Don’t go if you don’t want your endurance and patience tested with muscle cramps during the long hard trek. Don’t go if you think it isn’t going to take you at least half a day to actually get to your destination. But hey, here’s another don’t: don’t knock it until you try it. It’s been almost 20 years since the most significant geological event of the 20th century, Mt. Pinatubo’s eruption. See full story: goo.gl/9I0sEQ

1. Journey to the Crater
Story by Karen
Bolilia Photography: Filbert Kung & Glenn Peter Perez of Blackfox Photography
Styling: Mike de Guzman & George Palmiano (MGP)
Hair & Makeup: Nanan Villaba
Model: Carlo Ian Adorador
Source: Illustrado Magazine

2. DON’T GO TO PINATUBO.
Don’t go if you’re expecting a run­of­the­mill
tourist experience. Don’t go if you don’t want
your endurance and patience tested with muscle cramps during the long hard trek. Don’t go
if you think it isn’t going to take you at least half a day to actually get to your destination.
But hey, here’s another don’t: don’t knock it until you try it.
It’s been almost 20 years since the most significant geological event of the 20th century,
Mt. Pinatubo’s eruption, and along with it came a decade’s worth of substantial
environmental collateral damage. But perhaps, what nature has taken away, it gives back
through breathtaking landscapes, covered in Mt. Pinatubo’s ashes – majestic,
postcard­perfect
deserted lands clawing their way back to life, rugged, raw, and
determined. Under the heat of the summer sun, the scenery is bursting with the hopeful
hues of ‘feast­your­eyes­on­this’
kind of promise.
If you were to explore this promise, you might as well do it the right way.
On all fours
We were ushered into the first leg of our Pinatubo adventure by rugged 4×4 trucks. Travel
Factor’s use of the hardwearing vehicle provided an intimidating yet accessible ride. The
4×4, a master of all terrains that seemed to recognize the topography like an old friend.
Once you get over the mandatory jolt, thump and crash, it’s unlike any other terrestrial
transportation you’ve ever been on. It’s the ultimate compromise between the tourist and
the adrenaline junkie, which appeases both the sightseeing and the thrill­seeking
requisites
of the trip.

3. Sheer printed top and harem pants, both by Gerry Katigbak; leopard­printed
shawl by Tango; silver chain necklace, dried
waterlily sandals and striped blue shawl used as waist wrap, all by AC+632; silver cuff and red Ifugao band, both by Tesoro’s

4. At our truck stop mid­way,
we were able to admire the beauty on
standstill; untapped and wild.
Here, one can’t help but be in awe. Some of the locals may have already pegged us as
peculiar, for taking photos in a place they consider merely as home. Halfway through our
journey, we encountered an incline, a treacherously steep one, and even before we could
weigh in on the odds that our trucks won’t plummet downwards, we were back on our
seats, moving towards the aptly named route, the Skyway.
It was a one­way
alley that could only fit one truck, sandwiched between elevated plateaus.
The repetitive uphill­downhill
movement makes one think that the excavated road is
limitless or maybe a result of some paranormal activity where you just keep going back to
where you came from. It could be that the ashes had obstructed a portion of our vision, but
doubt inevitably creeps in when, for over 25 minutes, there was you, your companions, and
your truck­against
the vast territories of nature, impeded by the limits of the human senses.
Thankfully, the endlessness did have an end.
See full story: http://goo.gl/9I0sEQ