The Beauty of Mt. Pinatubo Crater Lake

With its turquoise and emerald placid waters, the majestic view of the 800-meter deep lake found in the caldera at the summit of Mt. Pinatubo will make any visitor forget the three-hour traverse on rough terrain that is required to get there. One can only be amazed at how a destructive force of nature can produce something so breathtakingly beautiful. Despite the aftermath of the volcanic eruption in 1991 and its staggering impact on the environment as well as the global climate, the crater lake became a popular destination for trekkers more than a decade later.

Day trekkers, who are either in it for the bragging rights or the change from the usual forested mountains, would roll in as early as 7 am on any given day. They start their journey with an hour-long dust bath through a dry, stony river valley by 4x4 jeeps and then continue on foot in the searing heat. There is no comfort in this wilderness of sand and pumice rocks, steep lahar hills, and orange-streaked sulfur streams, yet the visual intensity created by the sky and sparse greenery would surely keep the photo-lovers engaged.

Only a few people do realize that Mt. Pinatubo is mercurial as much as it is approachable.

Sweating It Out on the Anti-Aging Treadmill

"You're not 40, you're eighteen with 22 years experience." -- Anonymous

I am at the gym, listening to the thump-thump of my feet as I am running 7.8-8.0 mph on the treadmill. To my right is a fragile sixty-ish woman sweating profusely as she briskly walked while keeping her back straight. To my left is a bursting bundle of energy in her early twenties, ponytail whipping madly behind her and moving as if a spring went with each step.

Though my breathing and heart rate are even, a dull pain is starting to grip my quads. I focus on the dashboard, calculating how much time was left until I hit the 3K mark. I usually don’t like doing the same routine in one place. I could be better off being in the zumba or yoga class today, but I particularly chose this exercise to be prepared to join a fun run a couple of weeks from now (I am convincing myself that it would be FUN).

I have never joined a marathon (do TV series marathons count?) before. Well, there was this sports fest in third grade when I stumbled the moment the race started. I remember getting up, scraped knees and all, and tearfully going back to the starting line where I waited until the event was over. Never liked jogging, either, since I used to experience some slight pain in the knees and up to this moment I tell myself that I am not cut out for this sort of thing.

My red-hot iron will is what’s making these legs submit as I am dreaming to be among the top 100 runners of the upcoming event. A medal (better yet, a great snapshot of ME holding up a medal) at the end of the day will be evidence that I still have the upper hand in this fight against aging. Another badge of achieving a physical feat(only in my dreams).

As my attention shifts between my fellow female gym warriors and the blinking dashboard, I glance at the mute flat screen TV monitors showing Tyra Banks’ Next Top Model and the movie She’s Out Of My League. The scenes of the insecure youth taking the condescending remarks of fashion critics or searching the missing pieces of the romantic puzzle hardly pique my interest at the moment.

As I think about when I can squeeze pole-dancing lessons and radio frequency slimming visits in my hectic schedule, I find the real life story of the 40-year-old urban working single mom bending the aging curves of impending decline much more entertaining.