Discrimination! (Rey de la Cruz Jr.)

About a month ago my friends and I went on a hiking trip to Mt. Maculot in Batangas. While you can’t really consider me as the “man of the outdoors” type, I am also not one who shies away from these activities. In fact, I even look forward to these things if only to get away from the drudgeries of everyday city life. Sometimes you just have to stop and smell the roses. Sometimes you realize that the usual beer-in-the-bar routine just won’t do it for you. So you try to explore other activities that seem more meaningful, like getting drunk on top of Mt. Maculot for example.

Needless to say, I was really excited to go on this trip. It’s unlike anything I have ever done before. When I was in grade school, we never went on camping trips because I was lucky enough to be enrolled in a Chinese school where everyone was afraid of being kidnapped. Just think about it, a weekend away from Ateneo schoolwork. I don’t know about you, but for me that’s enough incentive to climb a mountain!

The climb wasn’t as bad as I expected it to be. I think I slipped a couple of times but my butt remained unscathed so that’s good enough for me. The view was utterly breathtaking. Words alone won’t do it any justice, you have to really see it for yourself. If you looked to your left you can see the Taal Lake for its entire splendor. When you look to your right, you get to see the beaches of Punta Fuego. We also met other climbers and foreigners who were already on their way down.

It probably took us close to 3 hours just to reach the top. But when I finally got there, I was not prepared for what I saw.

May mga sari-sari store sa tuktok! Kung alam ko lang hindi ko na sana binitbit yung 4 litro ng mineral water pataas! Apparently, they sold the products for much higher prices. For example they sold a 1.5 liter bottle of Coke for 90 pesos. Which is actually understandable since you have to take into consideration the amount of effort it takes to lug bottles of Coke up the mountain. The stores can also dictate their prices because the consumers seem willing to buy the products despite their relatively high prices. If you're really craving for Coke, and you have to trek a jungle for atleast 3 hours in order to get to the nearest 7-11, I think you wouldn't mind having it for 90 pesos.

I was really yearning for the sweet taste of Coke especially after going through the kind of terrain we went through. But 90 pesos was just too much me. Which made me wonder how much profit these stores were able to make. But then I remembered the foreigners we met on the way up. Surely these Japanese and Korean tourists wouldn't mind the price. In fact, it's actually lower compared to what they have back home.

Marunong pala sila ate ng price discrimination!