DBP Roro Inter-island Adventure Race - Day 7 final

There was about 1800 pesos on the clue envelope. We ran to the first jeep and headed on to the central terminal to get a bus to manila. On the way, i saw a bus with "cubao" on it. I told the group to be ready to go down. The next bus on the road, we flagged down and got on. Bad trip yung bus driver. He was deliberately taking his time and was commenting that if anything happened, he would lose his job so just took his darned time getting to manila. As we got on nga pala, team sikatuna who was strangely behind us ran into the bus too so we were sharing it on the way to manila. They were in the back talking to the conductor the whole time. We were concerned about the stops and the other two teams in front. We saw a bus that was faster and will saw a camera man in it. Now we know that there was at least a team ahead of us. It was a nervous 4 hours on the way to manila. I tried to relax as much as i can. Will got reprimanded by the marshal because he took out his phone to check some info. He didnt really have time to do anything since the marshal was fast but it was really stubborn of him to do so.

We were being told by the conductor to get off mantrade and then take the ayala bus and then get off there to take another bus. That was nasty advice. Luckily i remembered the times that i commute to makati. At mantrade the two teams were off and running. I didnt mind them anymore and just told my team to follow me. I flagged the first bus and got in. The other team didnt go with us this time. (They decided to go up the MRT and take the train to buendia station) The bus was faster :) We got off the MRT station in buendia, ran up the stairs and then down the other side to go to the jeepney stop. There was a jeep just leaving as we arrived. I flagged it down but it only slowed since it was full. I took into consideration that we were 5 so i decided to move on just as we saw the light blue team grab the back of the jeep and hung on. Will wanted to join but i told him to get off. I saw another jeep, empty, moving along. He was on his way home but was heading towards the direction of makati ave. We said we'd pay him just to get there. We managed to talk him into overtaking the other jeep and drop us off near the DBP building. At the intersection, we ran across the street and headed towards the waiting tables where we got the 2nd to the last clue.

We were to arrange the tokens we got from each leg of the race and write them down. Ryza and will struggled with the written thing. I opened my bag and since i was the token keeper, i arranged it in order quickly and they just copied it. We got cleared and was given the last clue. The task was to climb up to the top of the DBP building in makati, get on our harnesses and rappel down the side of the building!! Ive never done that. Ryza is ok with heights but have not done that. Will said he rappeled before. So it was a foot race up the stairs. Yes, no elevator. We got to the top to see the blue team getting on their harnesses. The light blue team was just steps behind us. Ryza said she cant go but i managed to convince her that it was just down the building and a quick run to the pitstop down below to take the win. I dont know why but the "leader" insisted that the most inexperienced and height scared guy should go first (thats me) then ryza then him. Labo since it would have given us confidence to see it done first but i didnt have time to argue. I got down to the cheers of friends. Then Ryza was racing Zaira side by side and then will came down. We then ran around the path around the building and finished... second.

It was an amazing week. I will remember it forever. There was a series of parties with the other teams after and a christmas party on Dec.1. We bonded in our bus and roro trips despite the competition. I miss those guys and im glad we were chosen to be among the 10 out of over 500 teams who applied.

DBP Roro Inter-island Adventure Race - Day 7 part 1

We traveled to Camarines Sur and had late dinner in Lucban, Quezon.We werent told what time to get ready so we were all on edge. We slept after dumping the clothes that we didnt need and after getting the hotel staff to dry our shoes.In the morning, the last day, we were given breakfast and then brought to this chemical plant. After going into the depths of the area, we were released for the last elimination leg. We were third to leave. The task was to grab one of the available vans and run to the market. At the market, our task was to grate out 3 kilos of coconut. Mind you, we need to get 3 kilos of shredded coconut meat and not just grate out 3 kilos of coconuts. It was slow going at first since we didnt know how to do this. I had to keep going since ryza could grate out at a slower rate and williamson was even slower than she was. After a while, through my faucet like sweating, i managed to get the right technique and finished the 3 kilos. We were then supposed to run to the DBP office nearby and finish. We were still third. The last team got eliminated and we were among the final four to compete for the million. Ryza was feeling bad i think because only Randy of team sikatuna was there for her to help her get her bearings and breath. I only got to check up on her after i myself recovered. Siguro naman i deserved to rest since i did most of the backbreaking grating. Gulo na yung team namin. I was afraid that Ryza would throw in the towel. Will was messing with the cameras again and just having his own fun. I was so tired that i could barely eat and drink. I just slept and slept until the next and final task.

After some time, the other people and other eliminated teams were sent ahead to manila via a bus. We were isolated on the grounds and had guards on us. We werent supposed to talk to anyone or call anyone. Then we were given our 3rd to the last task. Prior to that, we were assigned a 5th member of the team aside from the camera man. The guy was to make sure we didnt get lost or use our phones or use any money other than what we were given. The task was to commute to manila via jeep, bus or tricycle only.

Third to leave and then we were off to head home :)

DBP Roro Inter-island Adventure Race - Day 6

We arrived at Camarines Sur in the middle of the night. We went straight to the CamSur Watersports Complex. We had a good buffet dinner there. It was all good except when Will and i talked, he started shouting again about how he doesnt care about Ryza and I after the race. The other teams noticed. Hay nako. I was telling him to calm down and that it was just a request to tone down on the orders. Anyway,we got our keys and headed off to our room. I was so tired but the luxury of a nice warm bath beckoned me to the bathroom.

The call time in the morning was 6:30am. It was a drizzling day. Dismal time to race. We were given some snacks and then it was race time. We left 3rd. The task was to run to the dragon boat area and then two will paddle as one beats a rhythm. On the way, we ran across Jai from team Agila who was berating himself for going the wrong direction. We overtook them and ended up first. I took the position in the middle, will near the front. He kept shouting to steer and was stopping his paddling every so often which pissed me off a lot but i just had to do my best. We sped ahead of the other teams and landed first. We were then supposed to run to the water sports lake and grab some life vests. I hated all the running!! After getting the vests on, we were supposed to swim across the lake to the pitstop in the middle island. William went ahead as usual. I had to deal with Ryza who didnt know how to swim. I forgot the life saving technique of just letting her get on her back. She grabbed my neck as i struggled to swim across. In the middle, which was soooo deep, i asked her to lie on her back and relax. Luckily she followed and we back stroked to the end. Team Sikatuna overtook us since they were really strong swimmers and the blue team of the twins and Zaira came before us too. We retained our third place.

Irritating thing was that each time a camera points at will, he starts blabbering about this and that. He started talking to the camera about how his team mates were all full of drama and that if it werent up to him , we wouldnt be where we were. Kapal right? Worse was that Ryza and i were a few feet away and we heard it. Thats me in the picture after the leg. We were given free few hours to wakeboard but i was too exhausted. We managed to arrange for a massage and just recovered from that race. Will went wakeboarding which was fine with me. I didnt want to see him for some time.

DBP Roro Inter-island Adventure Race - Day 5

From Sorsogon, we took the roro west to Masbate. Come morning, we landed and was herded in pickups and SUVs to this small resort where we got to eat, wash up, do toilet stuff and change. Some swam. More photos were taken and since we were warned of getting dirty during the next challenge, i didnt shower na muna. I took a bath in the roro anyway.

Soon after, we were in the trucks again and brought to the Masbate Rodeo Pilipinas Paddock. There was a crazy bull tied at the corner so things were a little nerve wracking. After being organized, we were asked to go to the center of the fenced off area and the cowboys taught us how to hold a rope and how to throw a lasso. Another guy did whipping but after hitting myself in the body and head a few times, i stopped na and focused on the lasso. After being given a few minutes to practice, we were asked to go outside the fence so that the cowboys can do a demo of how to lasso. They let loose a young bull. Three cowboys were around. The lasso guy caught the bull around the neck who then ran after him with a hornless head. The other guy ran behind, grabbed the tail, looped it under the crotch and held the bull in place. The lasso guy grabbed the bull by the head and turned the neck so that the bull was forced to go lie on its side. We were so nervous since it looked dangerous. I told will to do the tail which he gladly accepted and i prepared myself to wrestle the bull. Ryza was to just stand aside.

Again teams were released in order. The good news was that we were to just lasso a bull from outside the fence while the cowboys drove them around the paddock. I got it in 3 tries and was then given my pass to the next clue. The next task was to get this sack of gravel across the other field to the marshal. I grabbed the sack and threw it across my shoulder. Ok lang. It was really heavy but i could handle it. Kaya lang when i was in the field, there was a pothole that twisted my ankle. I couldnt carry the sack anymore. I grabbed some rope in my pack and tied it around the sack so we each carried a line. We got it to the marshal who let us go to the next task. We were worried that it would rip but it didnt. It only ripped when the marshal lifted it from the other end. Swerte! We were then to race to the Municipal building on foot. The other teams were heading back to where we entered. I saw a small gate and the street beyond it and when we asked two teacher looking women for directions, they pointed us to the street and left. We ran through the short cut and straight to the pit stop. We gained a spot to 3rd. A shower and bandages on my ankle followed at the DBP office nearby.

We were then brought back to the port to go back to Sorsogon via Roro and then from sorsogon, a long bus ride through the night to Camarines Sur. We could see the Mayon volcano from the distance. :)

DBP Roro Inter-island Adventure Race - Day 4

Leyte leyte leyte.

This place will forever be quite memorable to me. There was a 4 hour or so bus ride from the cebu port of leyte to the city. We settled at the DBP Office of leyte and was released there after some photo sessions. We were again released according to rank so we left the place 2 minutes after the first team.

I got the clue and read it. "What is the connection between Leyte and Samar?" I just thought of a bridge and the tricycle driver said San Juanico bridge. Our "leader" (since he said he wanted to be the leader.. go figure) asked the tricycle driver the fastest way to get to the bridge. The driver said to take the jeep while trying to get lots of money from us. We wasted time going to the jeep when what we should have done is gave the 100 peso transport budget to the tricycle driver to bring us directly to the foot of the bridge. It was a crazy time at the jeep. First, we had to push the jeep to start. Second, Ryza charmed the driver to letting us ride for free and the passengers to give us more money because we thought we would need more. Third, we were shouting at people at the intersections to let us through. When we got to the checkpoint, we got our clue. Run across the bridge from the leyte end to the samar end. I didnt even know that the bridge connected those two provinces. Anyway, i didnt know how long that bridge was. All i saw was that there was an uphill climb to the top. Our spirits were buoyed by the fact that we saw some people in the organizer yellow shirts at the top of the climb. Just a few meters more to the pitstop!!!... not. It was just a bunch of medics doling out water. At that point, we saw what lies ahead, another 2 km of bridge. It was a really beautiful bridge with an amazing view but since we have to run the stretch and seeing the 3 other teams ahead of us with another team behind, we didnt have time to look at the sights. Peaches said she saw whirlpools in the water. All i saw was that nice tree lined island :) Near the middle, Ryza was saying she cant continue anymore so i told her to ride on my back. For short stretch, i ran with her on my back until i cant anymore. Williamson just kept running ahead and shouting at us to hurry. Great leadership skills. Anyway, Ryza ran some more until she asked for another "lift" which i did but only for a short distance. I looked back to see that the team after us was far so i told her to walk instead of run. I knew that it would suck if she gave up. A team is only as fast and strong as the weakest member. We got to the samar end where the pitstop was after a grueling run. We didnt catch up to the others. Nobody caught up to us also so its ok. We were 4th to finish. The awarding night video showed me running a bottle under Ryza's calves. Elyza saw it and it started a long time of trying to reassure her that it was just work since i am a doctor and if this teammate succummed to pains and stuff,were dead. During the run, Will was telling.. shouting at Ryza a bunch of stuff like how to breathe and to push and stuff. That was when Ryza stopped talking to Will. She would only tell me stuff and i have to tell Will. During the bus stop, i asked Will to try to be more diplomatic and he started raising his voice na which other people saw. Sigh. Can you imagine how much harder the race is from that point on? My two teammates wont talk to each other and i was stuck in between. Good thing was that most of the other teams had aches and pains, my charges were pain free and still in top fighting condition.

Another long bus ride (about 7-8 hours) brought us to Sorsogon where we were to head off to Masbate through a roro ride.

DBP Roro Inter-island Adventure Race - Day 3DBP Roro Inter-island Adventure Race - Day 3

Day three started really early. After the relatively short (around 2 hours. relatively short compared to the 7 hour ones we had) bus ride to the Bohol port. We went to this restaurant where we had a late dinner. The mayor spoke to us about Bohol after dinner while waiting for the midnight roro trip to cebu. Ian has this imitation of the mayor where he discusses all the little islands in the area which the mayor did haha. There were a lot of people waiting to see the celebs we were with. Ryza's pack was still quite heavy so she took out 3 of her shirts and 3 sandos, signed it and went to town giving it away.

After dinner, we went aboard our first roro ride headed for Cebu. Long stop over at the terminal since we were waiting for the roro to arrive. Then we loaded up and at around 1am, we had our first elimination. We were tied around the waist and then asked released according to the ranking of the last leg. Due to a penalty, we became the second team to be released instead of third. Two minutes after the first team was released, we were given our clue. The task was to solve a slide number puzzle. It would have been harder if it was a picture puzzle but since it was just to arrange the numbers, i quickly solved it so it was then time to look for the marshal. We ran out just in time to see Bea's team go down from the upper floor with a lost look on their face so we decided not to go up yet. We saw the marshal in a narrow walkway behind the engine room. We got the clue to proceed to the pitstop at the Captain's deck and so we headed up and forward. We found it and jumped onto the pitstop mat. Strangely, the race director, Ige, and Mitch, the host kept looking at us weirdly and was asking us "what else are you going to do?" We reread the clues and since they didnt declare our rank, we went off to find the captain. The other teams started arriving and was following our lead. We checked out the captain's room and stuff for more clues. We even talked to the captain and looked under his chair. Crazy captain talked to us as if he was about to give a clue pero wala naman. Later on, we found out that we already did what we were supposed to do and they declared us the winner of that leg.

We arrived at Cebu near dawn. Just as the sun was peeping out, we were released into cebu. As leader, we were released first. Our clue was that our next destination is at the back of the "50 peso bill" which we were supplied with. We were to commute there for our next clue. The picture of the place we were supposed to go to was included. Will and i asked around for what the picture was and where to find it. We grabbed a jeep and headed off to Puente. At puente, we ran to get our next clue from the marshal there. He said to commute to Colon St. and have a slogan translated into Cebuano. We grabbed the next jeep with the right number headed for colon st. We asked a scholarly looking lady in the jeep to help translate. Since she missed her stop, we asked her to accompany us to the pitstop. She messed up the translation of one word. We had to keep trying until we got it. The blue team overtook us in the foot race to the pit stop at the DBP Cebu office. We finished second this time just as the rain began to pour. Charee's team with Chad and Roxy got eliminated because they got misled by the 50 peso clue and failed to note the picture.

After breakfast,we were herded off to a waiting bus and went straight to the port headed to Leyte. Since there was a storm, the coast guard didnt clear us to leave so we got to spend a few hours at this brand spanking new luxury roro. That boat rocked! We got to shower and lounge around. There was a crazy challenge that day. We were tied wrist to wrist and then released one after the other. We were supposed to find the tables and then eat what was in the packs. Those darned cebu corn delicacies were hard to swallow!!! Daya ni Williamson because he barely ate any since he gorged on some before the challenge. Then, once done, we grabbed the clue which was to paint our faces like the indian in the picture included. Then we were to look for this guy in the roro who will give us our final clue. We couldnt find the guy until Bea pointed him out to us. We finished last but luckily, it was a non elimination round and non-bearing, too. We kept our 2nd place but i think that was when Williamson's bossiness peaked haha. Too much stress got to him. Still,we were still in the race and we headed out to leyte in the middle of the night.

DBP Roro Inter-island Adventure Race - Day 2

Ryza woke up at around 5am. I woke up soon after and Williamson woke up last. We dressed up in our jerseys (which i had to sew up because it was too big) and headed out to look for breakfast. We were the first out again. Excited talaga. Soon after, Roxy, Chad and Charee came out and then Peaches and Derek. The others came soon after.

Breakfast was a simple affair. The photo shoot after was not. It was hard to figure out where to look with all the cameras pointed at us. The different colored jerseys were cool though.

We then got herded off to the waiting but with our Oakley packs and brought to the first stop in our race, the DBP Office in Bohol. We were asked to wait inside the building after a short photo shoot at the foyer. Bea told people via radio through a phone link and the celebs visited the DBP officers. Soon after, each team was given little flags and we were placed in a mini-cab vehicle to be paraded around the area and around the plaza where people waited. After some tinikling and other dances, the DBP president gave a speech and then we were introduced. More pictures were taken then our first clues were given.

After Mitch said "Ready, set, Roro!" We were off. We had to figure out where our bags were (i figured out where ours were since i took note of it after they started arranging our bags near the monument) and catch a tricycle to get to the DBP Office. We were the first to arrive. We got confused by the marshall who asked us to go around. Team Sikatuna just went straight for the waiting mini-cabs as we ran towards ours. It was then a race to get to Alona Kew Beach in Panglao Island for our next clue. It was crazy as we had to ask people to move out of our way in the narrow streets of bohol. Once we got there, we had to run into the resort and straight onto the beach. There were 3 teams there at practically the same time. Jen Rosendahl was leaving her teammates as she sped ahead of them.

Our next task was to dig-swim-kayak. Each member must perform one of the tasks. Ahead of time, Ryza said she cant swim and Williamson said he wasnt a good swimmer, too. That left the swim part to me. I assigned Ryza to dig and Williamson to kayak but for some strange reason, Will asked Ryza if she knew how to kayak and when she said yes, he said he will just do the digging. Big mistake. The dig was easy. The swim was more a walk because they told us to wear booties due to some sea urchins in the area. The water was too shallow so i decided to just wade. Ryza did the kayak but since she was light and the winds were strong, she had some difficulty. Nonetheless, she tried and succeeded and we then got our next clue which was to head on to the place indicated on the picture we just pieced together from the bags we got from doing the task. It was in Bool, Bohol and it was the place where the Blood compact was done. We had another race and then the rush to the pitstop and voila, we ended up four.... third. Third because the first team forgot their clue and had to go back. Luckily, it was a non-elimination leg and all teams just had a taste of the pressure and thrill.

Another mini-cab ride brought us back to Alona Kew Beach resort where we ate, swam a bit and freshened up before a long bus ride to the port where we were to ride the roro to Cebu.

DBP Roro Inter-island Adventure Race - Day 1

On October 6, 2008, I embarked on a once in a lifetime adventure that i will treasure and remember. Among what the organizers said was over 500 applications, my team was chosen to be part of the ten who will participate in this amazing race. The prize is 1,000,000 pesos tax free. It was all expenses paid and we visited 9 provinces, crossed miles and miles of ocean and road, hung out with the best bunch of people around, got treated like VIPs because of the celebrities we were with, LOST 2 inches around the waist, got a tan, and basically had fun doing all the challenges (well, stressed and tired a little too but im the silver lining kind of guy :).

I woke up at 4am that morning because i still need to finish packing, fix my BIR papers for the month, and generally get ready. Elyza picked me up from the house so that i dont have to commute to the airport (sweet no? :) We picked up Williamson on the way. I should have gotten an idea of how things were going to be when 15 minutes before we were supposed to meet, that is when he decides to take his shower. After waiting for him by circling around the block a few times, we went to the airport. I received my nice, FREE, 6 thousand peso Oakley backpack from Will who had his messenger get it. I had my stuff in a plastic bag prior to it haha.

We were the first team at the airport. The other teams recognized us because we were all wearing the same bags. The other bags were red, ours were green. We got to know each other while waiting. Peaches and Derek were the first to arrive after us. They are the nicest, friendliest and charming couple ive met. Then came Jenny and Nitoy, Kat and Kristine, Roxy and Chad, Geoffrey and Geffrey. We got our air port tax stubs and checked in. My pack was 7.4 Kg. Others were over 8kg.

After a few more minutes,we boarded our PAL flight to Tagbilaran, Bohol. First challenge was to endure the body odor of this foreign guy who sat near us. Derek got the worst of it since he sat beside him. Anyway, after over an hour, we were in Tabilaran. The ones who checked in their stuff collected their bags and from that time on, we were herded around like a bunch of kids on a field trip. We rode our first bus to the resort in bohol.

At the resort, we were introduced to the celebrities who will be a part of our team for the next 6 days. Ryza Cenon was assigned to us. A petite, seemingly soft spoken, slender girl from Starstruck of GMA7. We were joined by the team from Bohol and the team from Cagayan de oro. The team from Cebu couldnt fly in or take the roro to bohol due to the storm so they braved the sea by riding in a small fishing boat. They were late but talk about determination! We then checked into our room which had 4 beds, one for each of the team and one for the camera man who will be a silent partner of our team. After settling down, we went to the dining area looking for food. Since the food wasnt available yet for another hour and a half, we ordered some sandwiches and water. The other teams joined us. An hour and 15 minutes later, the sandwiches arrived. Go figure.

After dinner, we settled around the center table and introduced ourselves team by team. Our camera men were introduced to us and the race manual was discussed. After that, we were sent off to get some rest and prepare for the first day of the race.