BACK
IN SEPTEMBER 2009, I met two grizzled veterans of the outdoors at the
Gustavian, a high-end restaurant in Banilad, Cebu City. We talked in
the noisy and smoky part of the Gustav – The Taproom - where expats
gathered, talking about women and football in the same length and
breadth with beer-laced breaths reaching you from a mile away. I did
not know, at that time, that both have been following my blog and
have arranged for this meeting.
That
was long time ago and both have gone on separate ways afterwards.
The American, Tom Moore, went back to Etats Unis to embark on his
high-profile adventures and even got cast in Discovery Channel’s
“Dude You’re Screwed”, a high-rating survival reality
show which debuted in 2013 and which went into its second season in
2014. Wil Davies – as Welshman as rugby – hopped to and fro Hong
Kong and Cebu and, ultimately, settled here chasing that elusive
sunset. He is a highly-experienced outdoors educator.
I
worked under Wil in Jungle Wild Adventures and, later, teamed up with
him to establish the Snakehawk Wilderness School in 2013. It was
with Snakehawk that we both got cast in “Native Instinct”,
which brought both of us to Guintarcan Island for a “desert island”
scene in Cebu and to the Pastolan Aeta village of Hermosa, Bataan for
a jungle shoot. The production staff encountered severe technical
problems and the show never went on the air.
Except
for a brief moment in 2012, we three met again at the Sandtrap in
Banilad but that was not the outdoors. That time, Tom was riding on
the euphoria of his casting in DYS. Anyway, back in 2009, both were
eager to spend the outdoors of Cebu together and they contacted me on
the possibility of leading them to our mountains. It did not
materialize as extreme weather conditions would not permit it
although Wil had, for many times, gone with me.
Today,
September 20, 2015, however, things changed favorably for both. Tom
and Wil are on the forefront, leading me and the rest of the guys of
the Camp Red Bushcraft and Survival Guild into our favorite
playground of the Babag Mountain Range. Yes, Tom, Wil and I are
finally in the outdoors after six long years when they had first
suggested that to me in that smoky and noisy room. That long.
Listen then to the values of old men telling tales.
Tom
would be showing us how to prepare and cook desert fare and the older
Wil, now beginning to reveal feebleness of body, is ecstatic over
this rare chance to rub elbows again with his old buddy in their
hallowed place and, for both of them, on their much younger
counterparts at Camp Red. Camp Red is really anchored on their idea
of how the outdoors ought to be enjoyed and it is, in a way, their
descendants. I am just the conduit of that idea and nurtured it to
what it is now.
For
the bush-crazy Camp Red people, it is also a rare chance to shake
hands with and engage in conversations on the DYS
celebrity - Tom aka Col. Tomahawk and Pathfinder Tom - and, for those
who have not seen Wil in person, another culture shock. Wil or
Jungle Wil, by the way, have appeared together with me in the only
surviving video clips of NI
posted on its Facebook page and on its Vimeo account. According to
producer Matt Everett, it is sort of a “Ray Mears-meets-Bear
Grylls” show. Guess who plays “Bear Grylls”?
Tom’s
coming is grounded on a survival-reality show which he is planning to
produce, direct and participate in and which he intended to shoot
entirely in the Philippines for its first season. Tom, Wil and I
would each have our own episodes for this show called “Expedition
Philippines”. It would have a total of 7-8 episodes which
would be participated in by other international survival celebrities
as well.
EP
would be a real expedition, as what its name suggest, and Tom would
be leading this while I would be his second. We are starting our
groundwork today to identify and meet the very people who would
compose part of the team, based upon my recommendations. Cebu will
be our base and possible locations where the team, along with the
production crew, would be are the jungles of Bataan and Palawan,
islands off Cebu and Samar, and the highlands of the Cordilleras.
After
transferring from Guadalupe to Napo, we walk the trail in a long line
to the Lower Kahugan Spring, our first rallying point. Everyone got
there, including Glenn Pestaño and another heavy guy. Tom, who have
grown fat, got there without any problem but that is the better part.
The other half of our route would end at the abandoned Roble
Homestead and it would be a bit steep for comfort but it is shady.
In the tropics and deserts, shade is your ally.
In
spite of that, people got there earlier than expected. Tom had
already kneaded the flour for the tamale that he intended to cook
when I got there. A fire is born and so is water warmed up for
coffee. I never start my work in the outdoors without coffee and
coffee tastes better there, be it brewed, in 3-in-1 sachets or
anything that tastes like one. The empty homestead got peopled in
due time, including the bulkier guys.
Ernie
Salomon gets to work in his kitchen without walls. His outdoors
experience, his expertise and his resourcefulness to get food fixed
in time gets him a slot for EP as the camp fixer. Tom had seen that
in photos and now he sees Ernie this close. So is Jhurds Neo, as the
expedition officer in charge of logistics acquisition; through his
experience with ships, by his integrity and leadership qualities.
Both he and Tom got a talk and it is a cinch for Jhurds.
The
distaff side among us like Mirasol Lepon, Faith Gomez, Locel Navarro
and Francelyn Quijano helped in the meal preparation, together with
the guys. By the way, Tom is eyeing a conventional Filipina to work
with an international female TV celebrity and an Aeta woman in one
episode. There will be auditions for this part and I have many
possible candidates who learned from me in the Philippine
Independence Bushcraft Camp and similar trainings.
Big
cauldrons are used, provided by Zene Roble, for cooking the pork
adobao and the mixed-vegetable soup. Tom had already cooked the
bread in cooking oil and looked more like fat pancakes instead. Me,
I rather slurp my warm coffee and choose a spot to talk with both Tom
and Wil. Zene offered them native cigarettes made from dried leaves
of the Java plum tree (Local name: lomboy, duhat) and
the duo smoked it like it is a Chesterfield.
The
best part of the activity are the tales which circle around blades.
Glenn, as always, is the celebrity when it comes to this. His
collections and even his present possessions are the envy of
everybody’s. There is no one, when comparing knives with matching
history to tell, can match his except, perhaps, Aljew Frasco, but he
is hot here. So Glenn claims that honor today. Around him are
Jhurds, Dominik Sepe, Johnas Obinas, Justin Abella, Justin Apurado,
Jonathan Apurado, Mark Lepon, Nelson Tan, Richie Quijano and a couple
of the new guys enjoying the repartee.
The
fire is supplied by abundant firewood that are sourced from dried
branches and bamboos which the guys efficiently cut to pieces with
their blades. Tending the fires are Ernie, Fritz Bustamante and Nyor
Pino and an initial shower that did not last for more than five
minutes visited the cooking. Fly sheets are hastily cast overhead
the hearth and over a table. Cooking is ongoing on a soup of Lima
beans which took Ernie longer than usual. Tom helped in the
softening of the steaming beans by crushing it with a stainless
bucket.
Another
torrent of rain visited us, this time it is stronger and it stayed
longer. We brave the shock of cold and eat the hot meals at 12:45
under the protection of fly sheets, tarpaulins and the roof of an
unfinished house. I always love the rain and embrace it by
completely going wet. Why make life difficult by going half-wet and
half-dry and, just the same, get drenched when the wind blows in
another direction?
It
seems Tom has an appointment and he has to go sooner than we expected
him to be. We have to fill up then of a ritual which now is standard
fare in all Camp Red activities: the blade porn. One by one, a
wooden bench becomes a porcupine as all blades are pierced standing
up on its point. This is the exclamation point that ends dirt time
at Camp Red to the astonishment of Tom and Wil and the new guys with
us. They never expected that many!
Tom
and Wil went downhill which nobody noticed during the time we were
busy packing all our things back to our bags. I follow their wake
and sees one set of deep footprints that is pronounced at the heel
tips. It belonged to Tom and he is in a hurry. Another set of
footprints which imitate the characteristics of a ninja belongs to
the much lighter Wil. Both has a five minute headstart. I overtake
them on a bend before the path goes down to a depression some meters
the footbridge at Napo.
We
all transfer to Guadalupe and, from there, to our watering hole in
Red Hours. Wil had to go to take his medications which he failed to
carry and Tom got hold of a cold glass of the coldest Red Horse beer
that we could possibly purchase. Tom eventually says goodbye to that
appointment of his and made love with his Red Horse instead. Welcome
to the Philippines, colonel!
Document
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