My brave friend Sarah Tajonera initiated this trip. I was iffy about it pushing through at first. White water rafting is tricky to book if you had less than the required six persons to a raft. There would only be me and Sarah, shipping ourselves off into the unknown – like Liv Tyler and Alicia Silverstone in that Aerosmith music video. Despite our lack in numbers, everything fell into place a day before our flight to Cagayan De Oro City.

From up above, Cagayan De Oro is so lush, so sensual with its mountains and waters. I had been told it often rained here. It wasn't surprising that it looked otherworldly from above.

We landed early; and already there was a flurry of activity outside the airport, where the cabbies were in line. Our cab driver was off-putting and didn't understand us. Thankfully, the roads were superb and Victoria Hotel was easy to get to.

At CDO’s Divisoria
After breakfast we looked around the neighborhood Divisoria where we found a flea market, curio shops and coffee shops. A quick nap—then we headed to Limketkai Center, where we had lunch and Bigby’s coffee. (The themed restos in Limketkai were something else. In terms of design, they were a notch above those in Makati.) At Bigby's, I enjoyed the Fudgy Sensation, their version of brownie ala mode. We were happy to find this nook in the city because it had reading materials, something we both forgot to bring on this trip. I ended up reading Ray Bradbury – I love Bigby's CDO for this.

Divisoria was but a few steps from our hotel so we had barbecued dinner al fresco at its "Night Cafe" (Fridays and Saturday nights barbecue-beer out on the street). While eating we got stuck again because of another downpour. I finished our pitcher of beer while waiting for the rain to stop. (I'd say I was trying to drive away the next-day jitters.)

Off the Ground!
Next day came; a van picked us up for the back-to-back ziplining and white water rafting adventure. We were in the van with two young couples – one newlyweds and the other boyfriend - girlfriend.

The trip out to Malaybalay, Bukidnon was long, and we passed rows of Dole pineapple and vegetables before we got to the pine-treed hills of Zipzone in Manolo Fortich Malaybalay, Bukidnon. The air was cool and crisp up there even though it was sunny that day. We would go through three ziplines, harnessed; the last of which would have us wrapped inside a wombat-like suit. We were going to fly.

At the gate before embarking on the third zipline, I felt my heart move towards my solar plexus. My reaction to the slide down was screaming AAAAAAAAAAA. Superb release! I stopped screaming as I saw my shadow on top of pine trees and hills; and I spread my arms outward. Unlike Icarus, I had a safe landing and couldn't get over what just happened. OMG, I flew!

Paddle Hard… and Smile
The ziplines conquered, we traveled back to CDO, where we were treated to a buffet in a really superb restaurant. I should've stayed away from the crabs having left behind my antihistamine at the hotel. Sarah worried about me a bit; however, my pout never reached Angelina Jolie level so I was fine. I even had the guts to eat curry and noodles, kare kare, green mango and bagoong before a potentially stomach churning white water rafting activity!

This time, our ride was a jeepney with three rubber boats stacked on its roof. Our Kagay guide asked us to sign waivers before we left to pick up the others. That afternoon, they were organizing not one, but three rafts. When the three groups were finally complete, he announced that due to our lateness and because the rafting start off points were far apart, all of us would be doing the expert course.

At the river bank, we were all suited up in helmets and life vests; and handed our paddles. The briefing took 15 minutes tops. I could never forget his words to the groups, "I need you all to paddle hard. And smile."

Unlike the previous day, it hadn't rained – thank God, or the river would be wilder. A Kagay photographer rode a kayak and took our photos. We rode the rubber boats and listened as hard as we could to our two Kagay guides' instructions. “Paddle one, two, three, four, five... backpaddle one, two, three….” My abs might just make a rare appearance after so much paddling.

The guides would pour cold water on all of us. I wanted to say "Quit it for the love of God, I could feel hypothermia setting in!!" But they had control of the entire boat, you see. And we all tried to keep up, paddling against the splashing river and the buckling rubber boat. I maneuvered my body, from head to toe, just to keep myself from falling into the freezing, raging water.

This went on for three cold, exhilarating, frightening, fun hours. When it was over, it was almost dark. We got to land, and I was thankful they had two changing rooms. The first thing I did was to towel off and change into the dry clothes we stashed inside the jeep. Though all of us were quiet and tired on the ride back, I didn't close my eyes. This was a good thing because fireflies were everywhere!

I'm happy I had this adventure with Sarah. This is one for the books. Together, we conquered ziplining heights (the 840-meter long zipline is touted as the longest in Asia), and the expert course of the best white water rafting the Philippines could offer!

Onnah Valera is Executive Producer at Dirty Kitchen Productions, and an acclaimed script writer.

Ziplining photos by Onnah Valera; Whitewater Rafting Photos by www.cdorafting-map.com.