So Who Says Seniors Can’t Go Canyoneering!?!!

My wife and I went canyoneering in Badian, Cebu recently. It was a fun adventure, even for a relic like me. Yup, this is for all the senior citizens out there. You can be young again and have fun canyoneering in Badian. You just have to go try it, guys!!! Remember, we only live this life once. So get off that bed, savor that bright new day and enjoy yourself!  🙂

There’s a line that goes: Life begins at 60! Haha! Yup, I guess that sounds good enough for me.

As a card-bearing senior citizen, I automatically looked for the senior citizens’ lane when we arrived at the Tour Center. No such thing. I was not getting any senior citizen perks here. So I listed my name on the registry. And I noticed that all the rest of the guys there were younger – no, make that much younger – than me. Yup, there I was, getting myself all excited to try out the well-renowned canyoneering experience in Badian, Cebu; and for a brief moment, I felt like I was the odd man out there.

I checked out the ages of the day’s canyoneers in the registry book. What I saw made me smile a bit. I couldn’t find another guy older than 40 in the 4 pages I scanned. I found out that most of the guys who registered were ages 20 to 35. Matter of fact, I didn’t see anyone older than 50!!! Except for me and my wife. I was by far the oldest in the list, and I was beaming with pride at the thought that we were taking on this new adventure with such youthful demeanor and exuberance. Yeah, I gotta salute my wife too. She had no hesitation in taking on this adventure that was supposed to be for the younger ones.

And then I remembered, having had a heart bypass a few years back, people have been warning me about taking extra-strenuous and extra-exciting activities such as taking long hard walks or jogs, or even watching horror movies! Hmmm,  would throwing myself off a cliff count as one? So, should I proceed or not?

Hell, yes!!! Me and the wife, we must both be crazy. We put on our gear, and tried to make like 2 young giggling teenagers ready for some big-time fun and adventure.

And we didn’t regret it. Boy, I kid you not, we sure didn’t regret it! Not one bit!

After a short briefing at the registration area, we were whisked away by motorbike to the starting point up the mountain. We were then provided with headgears, life vests, and the proper footwear for those who needed them.

After a brief inspection, I made a good old military note of the safety protocols: helmet – ok, chinstrap – ok, life-vest – ok, ballstraps – ok, shoes – ok, all ok, suh!!!  So now, I declared that I was ready to conquer the crazy canyon with its creepy creatures!!

And now, it was time for my sexagenarian legs to stretch and overcome this wild new frontier. Ha, I said to myself, if I had made it up Mt Kinabalu in Sabah, this should be a breeze. (But then again, that was a few years back.)

It was walk…

and jump…

and swim…

and slide…

It was slip and shout…

It was wet and wild…

I felt like a shivering wet pussy, of the cat variety, you with the dirty mind!!!

But it was fun! God, did we have so much fun! You get to experience the cliffs, the falls, the wild rush. There were different jumps at a dizzying 80 feet, at 50 feet, 42, 30 and more. (The high dives are optional.) Then there was nature and the quiet serenity of the forest and the wildlife. And you get to marvel at the stalactites and stalagmites. The cool, fresh waters. Communing with nature. Life is good. Thank God for the abundant blessings here.

At 60, I felt just like a young kid again, lining up patiently with the teeny-boppers for a chance at the high dives, eager to  challenge myself, silently praying that I didn’t embarass myself.

Yup, those jumps were quite challenging too. But as my old master-sergeants in Airborne School used to say: “di bale nang mamatay, sir, wag lang mapahiya!!!”  (Better to die than to live a life in disgrace!) Haha! And this old Ranger-Airborne trooper showed them a trick or two. Notwithstanding the grey hair, the creaking knees and the fragile heart.

Sure, there were anxious moments. And tiring times too. But Wit and I trudged on. Or swam on. Backstroke was the best. On land, we lifted those knees higher. To walk the talk. To prove something to ourselves. But most of all, to rediscover and play with the child inside each one of us.

Yes. For once, I felt like a child once again. Laughing and loving every minute of it. There was that adrenalin rush. So that I could barely feel the aches and pains until we finally got home late that night. As I lay down to sleep.

For those seniors who are still young at heart, Canyoneering in Badian is definitely a blast. Just make sure you specify you want to take the downstream course, and not the upstream one which is really more strenuous and challenging. Once you’ve done it, it’s like you’ve taken the potion of youth. I kid you not. You’ll feel young again. And fresh. And full of boundless energy.

And while you’re at it, you can also visit nearby Oslob to go whale-watching!!! So what are you waiting for? Go have some fun at Badian!

Ahhh, to be sexy at sixty…. 🙂

More pics of Canyoneering in Badian: (courtesy of carlo holganza, vertica outdoors, badian info, trip advisor, youtube.com, choosephilippines.com, captionthisadventureblogspot.com, turtlebaydiveresort.com).

Enjoy the pics with Taylor Swift’s ‘You Belong with Me’ right here. Just press on the video, and as you enjoy the music, click on the pics. Whatcha waiting for, come have fun in Badian!!!