AFTER
A WHOLE MONTH of running relief supplies to the north of Cebu and
elsewhere for the communities stricken by the recent onslaught of a
super typhoon, the guys deserve a break. Jhurds Neo and Fulbert
Navarro need to release some cooped-up stress and the outdoors is the
perfect venue for that. As I have done so after relief efforts (the
last time walking the trail from Basak, Badian to Mantalongon,
Dalaguete solo) I can understand their predicament.
Today,
December 8, 2013, I will tow both back to our favorite playing ground
at the Babag Mountain Range. Aside them, I will introduce Jerome
Tibon, Christopher Laugo and, hold your breath, Laertes Ocampo, to
the culture and lifestyle of Camp Red Bushcraft and Survival Guild.
Laertes is a regular hanger at the Facebook site of Camp Red but just
only a few have seen him personally as he had not joined any outdoor
sorties of Camp Red – until today.
Jerome
had gone on an earlier trip with me on this same place last October
6, 2013 and he is a long-time Australian resident before returning
back to Cebu to work in one of the business process outsourcing
companies. Christopher, or Toper, is from Ormoc City, one of the
very places which Typhoon Yolanda wrought havoc in Leyte. He is in
Cebu because he has to do a review for a licensure examination as a
mechanical engineer.
Running
parallel to our dayhike is the group of Boy Toledo, Ramon Corro, Boy
Olmedo and Ernie Salomon – all old men – who will utilize the
same place that we will camp at. Although we meet two of them at the
parking area of the Our Lady of Guadalupe Church, I decide that my
group at Camp Red leave early and, hopefully, they will come later.
We had already stocked ourselves of food ingredients that we will
prepare and cook at the Roble family homestead.
Once
we reach Napo, Jhurds take the point while I sweep the rear. The
Napo Trail is partially wet while the Sapangdaku Creek is full, brisk
and clear. It is a beautiful warm day but our pace is slow. I like
being at the tail end for there is no pressure and no worries to keep
up with the fastest walker. The only worry I will have is watching
over the injured, who will surely lag behind and needs to be
accompanied. Everyone carried small backpacks while I got the
heaviest. Jhurds, Fulbert and I open carry our knives by our sides.
Jerome
suffered cramps on his right lower leg but a little trick would ease
the pain for a while until the cramps recur and the process is
repeated. Once we reach the Lower Kahugan Spring, we top off our
bottles and enjoy the cool shades. It is a good place to take rest
and cool off for a while before engaging the Kahugan Trail. This
route goes to a small community then to Babag Ridge and it ascends
gradually.
We
follow this route that pass above four hidden waterfalls before
breaking off to a branch of a trail leading to the Robles. Some
parts are exposed to the sun while the rest are shady. The super
typhoon had not left its mark here except altering a few parts of the
trail with small landslides and breaking the top halves of bamboos in
some isolated areas. A few trees fell but only stumps are left now
as the rest of the tree are now converted to charcoal.
We
reach the Roble homestead and I instantly boil water for coffee. The
Roble couple are present but the children are absent. They might had
been part of a train of young boys carrying mangoes on baskets
hanging by their foreheads with trumplines which we had met along the
trail a while ago. The little house made of bamboo and wood is still
standing. The huge tamarind tree tower over it and is unaffected by
the recent tempest together with the Java plum tree, the mango trees
and them bamboos.
Well,
the dine shed and the benches are empty and everyone enjoyed the cool
assurance brought on by the shades of trees and the whispers of
breeze. When coffee had been served, we immediately prepare the
ingredients for our lunch. I forage three slender branches for a
tripod which the pot will be suspended from. We will utilize the
earthen hearth we set up some three months ago and we will cook our
food with firewood.
As
we were doing this, a group of four hikers came to sit on the
farthest benches. The Roble homestead is a favorite stopover for
those going to Babag Ridge with the family offering green coconuts
for just a few donations to support their children’s education.
These hikers are on the way to Babag Ridge and would probably exit to
Lower Busay. It is a route favored by conventional backpackers and
“corporate mountaineers”.
I
still could not comprehend though why they prefer that route when
going back to where they came from – which is Napo – or going
down to Kalunasan would have been more challenging, promising,
practical and economical. Anyway, they silently observe our
activities with our knives doing the cutting, slicing, chopping and
the center of our conversations. Jhurds, Laertes and Toper proceed
to slice vegetables, meat and spice. Fulbert give life to a fire
hanging on to half-dry wood as I meticulously suspend the pot with
the rice above the tottering flame.
Another
group of five hikers came and joined the first group had occupied.
Then comes Boy T, Boy O, Ernie and Ramon and they join my group in
the shed. They are old-school and they also prepare their food like
we at Camp Red do. Conversations gather up from the hilarious to the
serious. All shared their sentiments on one individual, all had
talked freely of their experiences with relief works in Leyte, Samar
and North Cebu and all are expectant of Christmas United II on
December 15, 2013.
As
we were in the middle of our cooking, another group of four hikers
arrive but the earlier ones had already left a few minutes ago and
there are ample spaces among the benches. It is really pathetic to
see these people going out with just canned goods and pre-cooked
meals to subsist on. While we were about to enjoy a feast, these
people eat cold rations! This age of “instant everything”, PSPs,
tablets and smartphones wreck havoc on old values. They cannot even
bring a “closet knife” to open their canned goods. Very pathetic
indeed!
I
used my AJF Gahum heavy-duty knife, in tandem with my
tomahawk, to chop firewood from a seasoned trunk of a Mexican lilac
wood. My Victorinox SAK Trailmaster and my small Case XX
folder were alternately used to cut and slice vegetables. This same
Trailmaster was lent to that group who failed to bring a can
opener! Fulbert brandished his Kalahi kukri to open green
coconuts and to split dry wood for tinder. Jhurds use his Seseblades
NCO knife to slice pork while Laertes has his own-made knives to
help him in his cooking.
Food
served when lunch do come for our mixed group of bushmen and old men
are fried mixed-vegetables, fern tops, horseradish soup, fried pork,
grilled pork, raw cucumber, fried taro shoots, bitter gourd with
krill and rice. We would have brought milled corn but, mysteriously,
stocks of milled corn disappeared from the market at Guadalupe.
There is, I guess, a shortage of milled corn when the price of rice
shot high in the aftermath of the typhoon since milled corn is
affordable. This is a portent of things to come which we at Camp Red
had foreseen.
Each
group now are to his own circle when the meal was finished. The old
men stayed in the shed talking among themselves with shots of Tanduay
5 Years Old Rum to coax life onto their conversations. They like
to call their activities as “boozecraft” in a funny reference to
bushcraft, which we at Camp Red are notorious of. On the other hand,
we occupy the empty benches with conversations centering on knives,
guns, Typhoon Yolanda, relief missions, water filters and Christmas
United II.
We
are the last to leave the place. When 3:00 PM came, we pack our
things and go down the trail for Napo. Our packs are lighter and our
pace are now swift. All are sweating thoroughly in the late
afternoon sky. Along the trail are folks going the other way towards
their homes from a whole day of selling their produce and a chance to
celebrate the Immaculate Conception of the Virgin Mother of God. It
is another good day to expose the “rough cuts” into the culture
of Camp Red and, eventually, make them an “island of their own”
someday.
Document
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