Team DJ Will Go Places: Wedding Proposal on Mt. Batulao 1

Brief Background

We were in college when this gorgeous woman caught my attention, she was simple and humble. I admit I cannot get my eyes off her when I saw her the first time, I guess my eyes were wired up with built-in standard of beauty that she possesses. The heaven whispers to me like a piece of revelation that someday she will be my wife. I could only pray that divine setup will make it happen that someday she and I will become friends to begin with.

This is how our relationship started, the beginning of Team DJ - the love story of two different people named Dan & Joh. Perhaps, a story that has begun sailing from the attraction that I felt for her, but more than her physical attributes, her personality from the inside makes her radiate and glow her true being.

It all begun when we had our election on one of our subjects during our freshman year, which I don't know her yet during that time. It was participated by all students taking Mathematics subject, allowing us to occupy the bleachers on one side of the gymnasium. I cannot exactly recall what all happened that day, but she was elected as Muse, and I was chosen as her Escort. What a typical roster of officers. This is the very first time that I saw Joh, I don't know her yet so I didn't put much attention to her.

Summer vacation break is approaching, I may not see her for quite sometime. I was shy to get her number directly from her so I asked it from her best friend which without any hesitance she gave it right away. It was the first time that Joh and I had a conversation, we talked about anything under the sun. Then I realized this is one of the most beautiful experience in my life. It's beautiful because everything is new, it seems that "kilig moment" exist. Knowing her exposes her inner beauty that you will only encounter when you are having a vivid conversation with her. We talked about our childhood up to our dreams and ambitions.

Until we went advance in our studies, we are still communicating constantly. We are in our junior years that I told her my intention to court her. It took a little over a year before I received the sweetest "Yes!" from her. Its kinda funny when I asked her, "Will you be my girlfriend?" She paused for a minute then she replied "Okay! if magwork-out eh di go, if hindi eh di let go!" Hhhhmmm, I think the answer to my question is only a yes or a no but how come she reasoned out. Lol

Maybe its the best 'yes' there was in her mind. :) We were finally in our relationship as boyfriend - girlfriend as Team DJ last October 17, 2008. Probably, this was one of the most exciting and happiest of my life.

Planning and Preparation

And so the years passed, trials made us strong and love compels us to continue our journey to make it right before God. When I told my parents and siblings about my plan of getting married, they were all excited and wanted to get the details of the date and place where I will make my wedding proposal. Since we are both active in outdoor activities, it will be easy for her not to be suspicious of our plan for the event.

I created a chat group with the Filipino Recreational Outdoor Group (FROG) - our mountaineering team, my girlfriend's high school colleagues and some common friends. Last November 23, 2014, I told them about my plan that we will be having a dayhike climb on Mt. Batulao for a reason that I will be proposing to Johnna. Overwhelmed by their support and encouragement, they were happily cooperative to share their ideas and making suggestions on how the proposal will be better. As a normal process for the team, we held our pre-climb meeting in Guadalupe, Makati City to thoroughly plan the event. I am grateful to know someone who can be trusted with your life event and make the best of it. We discussed about the time of departure, the assembly venue, food to bring, what trail to take, how much budget will be spend, etc.

Some awesome suggestions that were made:

a bouquet of beautiful flowers
a card board with "Will You Marry Me?"
colorful balloons
musicians and singers
a bunch of photographers
some props for mini - photobooth

November 22, 2015 - The Climb Proper

Destination: Mt. Batulao

Altitude: 811+ MASL

Location: 14.0408 N 120.8011 E

We woke up around 5:00 AM, after a short coffee and last minute backpack loading we immediately went on our way. We rode a bus to Nasugbu, Batangas which took us almost 2 hours on a regular commute. But along the way we decided to drop-by at Tagaytay to have some bite - rice, bulalo, boneless bangus with free pineapple and coffee. Anyway, we will be needing a ton of energy when we hike Mt. Batulao few hours from now. During this time I have a constant communication with my kasabwat (accomplice) regarding their whereabout.

Travel time again. We ride another bus to Nasugbu, Batangas and luckily we were able to meet with our fellow climbers and Johnna's workmates on the same bus. All of us are very careful not give any hint to her about what's going to happen on mountain peak. We arrived at Evercrest Golf Course at around 10:00 AM already.

The rest of the team arrived at 10:15 AM, after just 15 minutes of preparation, we went to the jump off point via trike right away. Everyone is excited to climb so let's get it on. Put your game face on, we have a long way to hike. We have multiple instances of "Take 5s" - mountaineer's term for taking 5-minute rest after a long stride which is usually done in group or individual. We don't have much time to waste so we proceed to our trail.