MAT 2005

***From blog posted Sept 05, 2005. More pictures at my fotopic site, and at mat2005.multiply.com. Also at wesley's multiply site. And ruslan's site.

For those of you who didn't know, I won this contest which enabled me and four other Pinoys to fly for free to the US and experience the great outdoors in Moab, Utah, USA. We mingled with participants from other countries as well -- participants from Germany, Russia, Latvia, Lithuania, Spain, Portugal and Ecuador. The event was sponsored by a big tobacco company, but even though the event was held in the US, there were no US participants -- strict tobacco advertising laws. There were no slogans or labels in the gear that were used or given way -- smoking kills and well, it's not legal to advertise this activity in the US (wow, exciting, haha).

This is a rather long read. This is the rest of the story.

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Aug 19, Friday
So anyway, our adventure starts on the morning of August 19, Friday. We took a Northwest flight to Minneapolis, with a stopover at Narita, Japan. The agency booked us with Business Class seats, and it sure was posh and comfy! At Minneapolis, there was a booboo caused by me rebooking my return flight, and I lost the business class seat and was bumped to economy (it could only happen to me). Well, for the inconvenience, the airline did give me $35 dollars off next time I book a flight. Hmmm, like I could use that. Haha. At least that was only for the Minneapolis-Salt Lake leg of the flight. At Salt Lake, we had to take another plane to Grand Junction, Colorado, where we spent the night at a Ramada Doubletree Inn with the other participants. All in all, it was almost a 28-hour journey, but the time difference made us arrive in Grand Junction Friday evening Colorado time.

Aug 20, Saturday
We travel around an hour to a warehouse in the middle of nowhere. Dixie Chick's "Wide Open Spaces" plays in my mind. Here, we were shown our gear, and were told to leave behind our suitcases, and stuff our clothes into the supplied dry bags. There were maybe about 40 participants from different countries, and we were divided into three groups -- one group will go rafting for the next two days, the other group will go horseback riding, and another group will ride the ATVs.

We rode the ATVs through canyons and streams and dusty roads. It was awesome. The view was amazing. At night we camped out somewhere near Butch Cassidy's hideout, and cooked some pasta for dinner. Hindi kasi uso kanin dito...

The other groups had fun though -- they rode the little charter planes, flying into their destination where they had steak for dinner! Awww.

Aug 21, Sunday
We continue riding the ATVs into the horse ranch camp. Along the way, we stop to view some abandoned mines, and some alleged dinosaur tracks. By evening, we meet up with the other groups, and were told what the groups were gonna do the next day. We spend the night drinking (and smoking) and singing by the campfire. Camera conked out here.

Aug 22, Monday
Our group went white water rafting at West Water Canyon along the Colorado River. On the way to our new campsite, we stopped over at this cute house where we were treated to home-made Apple Pie. It was actually the house of one of the event organizers, a guy from Switzerland who participated in the same event years ago, fell in love with the place, and moved to Utah. We slept in teppee tents set up by banks of the Colorado River. Here, for a few minutes every sunrise and sunset, the cliffs turn a glowing red, reflecting the rays of the desert sun.

Aug 23, Tuesday
We drove the 4x4 jeeps for several hours until we reach this stone quarry somewhere in the middle of nowhere. We have a quick lunch, and we hike for around an hour until we reach the river. Upon reaching the river, we rowed/paddled/swam/whatever to reach the river camp. At night, it was announced that we were again being separated into five different groups, each group different activities. The other groups sounded interesting -- one group would do canyoneering and exploration, another group would concentrate on kayaking through the rapids (Lizards), another group would do motorbikes (Scorpion), and another group would do ATVs and sandbuggys (Falcons). Me, I was assigned to the group that would do climbing and rappel. Interestingly enough, the name of our group was "Rattlesnake" (a snake), while my team in the Manila finals was called "Sidewinder" (another snake), and I was also born on the year of the snake.

Aug 24, Wednesday
All of the teams slide down the 400-m zipline (a.ka. Tyrolean Traverse) setup by Victor, the guide from Costa Rica. The Rattlesnakes team drive the jeeps to Capitol Reef National Park. We do a quick stopover at Green River town (ice cream!). At the Capitol Reef National Park, we visit the Fremont River, and view the pteroglyphs left by American Indians. We spend the night camping out with RVs and deer at the Fruita campgrounds inside the Park.

Aug 25, Thursday
We drive out to somewhere, and hike to the canyons somewhere within the wide expanse of the Capitol Reef National Park. We do some rappeling, then it rains briefly and hail falls. Masakit pala matamaan ng hail, parang binabato ka ng mga maliliit na mga bato. Because of the rain, the rocks that we previously walked on quickly became water pathways. Spent the night (with no tents) somewhere in the rocky shores beside the river.

Aug 26, Friday
Wake up, cook some breakfast. We have no more water left, so we cook with water from the now muddy river (because it rained the day before). We do some rock climbing, hike out, then eventually we drive out to the Cedar Mesa campsite, a "primitive" campsite according to the website, but it does still have a latrine (they call it a 'pit toilet'), tables, chairs, and bbq pits.

Aug 27, Saturday
We drive to our hike's starting point somewhere in the Arches National Park (am not sure of the name). The trail is a bit steep, it passes through sand, slick rocks, and even a small pool of water that you have to swim through to get across. Had lunch overlooking a "bridge". Learned the difference between an arch and a bridge -- though they may look alike, a bridge was formed when the river (now long gone) rushed through stone formations.

After the hike, we drive towards the Bullfrog Marina on Lake Powell (Glen Canyon National Park), where we take the motorboat to meet up with two other groups. Spent the night partying on a houseboat. There was even a free striptease. Wee.

Aug 28, Sunday
John, my Pinoy teammate, cooked breakfast. I washed the dishes. Also learned that some people don't really care about cooking or washing dishes when camping out. Each group had guides however, and the guides really did a great job in setting up camp. Spent the day trying to wakeboard, kneeboard, and any other board sport that involves a speedboat. Basically, it was a free day to spend playing in the water. The other teams arrive (Teams Lizard and Scorpion), and now everyone will spend the night at a new campsite, still by Lake Powell.

Lake Powell, by the way, was formed because a dam was built to hold the water that rushes in from the canyons everytime it rains. For things to do in Lake Powell, you can check out powellguide.com.

Aug 29, Monday
We leave the campsite, acknowledging that yes, this will be the last time that we will all be together. We all drive back towards Moab, a bit of a long drive back. For lunch, we stopped over at Stan's Burger Shack in Hanksville, Utah. It's a miracle -- I think it's the first time I stepped foot in an actual US restaurant on this trip. And to think this was just a burgers-and-fries place in the middle of the way to Lake Powell.

After lunch, we take the I-70 back to Moab. Afternoon was "shopping time" -- we were allowed around 2-3 hours of shopping around tiny Moab town. The town itself is actually cute and small -- the art scene also seemed to be alive and well around the area. Nothing much to buy here though -- just T-shirts and magnets and $60 cowboy hats. Some interesting pottery pieces though, and lots of American Indian crafts too. One of our teammates went looking for an American football -- there were no American footballs in Russia, and we had to do a special stop by another store to buy the football. Another Russian guy bought a kayak. By 5pm , we all drove back to the teppee tents where we camped before, and tried to have a decent shower before the "party".

The party was held in a strip of land near the teppee tents and the cute house where we ate apple pies before (sorry, difficult to say where it actually was). All I know is that there's this rustic movie set, where the movie Geronimo was filmed years ago. They left behind the set (facade of a chapel, etc), and with the lighting that was done to the place, the venue really seemed romantic and amazing. We had great food and bottomless drinks as well -- there was a bar complete with sexy barmaids.

The party itself was supposed to last all night, but we (Philippine people) had a 6:30 AM flight the next day, and we had to leave and say our goodbyes by 1AM. By 2, the Philippine and Israeli participants were driven to nearby Red Cliff's Lodge, where we all had a decent shower in an actual shower with an actual bathtub and an actual inn (actually, the Red Cliff Lodge did look pretty nice and homey). By 3AM, we take the shuttle to the airport. It's actually a 2 hour drive back to Grand Junction, Colorado, and we sleep along the way. When we arrive at the airport, it's almost last call for boarding, and our journey back home begins.

Aug 30, Tuesday
Three of us fly back to Manila. On our way back, since our "bantay" was not around, we snucked out of the airport during the 2.5-hour stop at Minneapolis. Took the train to Mall of America, where we did a quick lookaround and window shopping.

Aug 31, Wednesday
Arrived back in Manila, around 11PM Philippine time.