IT
IS A COLD DAY AND IT IS DECIDED that Jingaling Campomanes, Mark
Lepon, Christian Tan and Glyn Formentera would not walk with us
today, January 22, 2017. They were planning to separate from us once
we reach the foot of Mount Kandung-aw but plans changed as easily as
water shifts its current. The artificial mood of yesterday left.
Back to reality, of walking the Thruhike with only Jonathaniel
Apurado as companion. We do not speak often because I walk far ahead
of him. We only converse during rests and with locals. The Thruhike
is not a jolly activity, it is solitude.
The
Thruhike then is a pilgrimage of silence, imposed on you by no one
else, except, by you. Seriously, the Thruhike is thought to be an
amazing journey of the self through places where your soul would want
itself to be – in the serenity of the hills. I can not yet
decipher the intrinsic value of the Thruhike for I am yet at Day Six
and the hardest parts are yet to come, although five days of hiking
are daunting enough. I will soon arrive at places where either my
will, my patience or my determination will be stretched thin or
pressed hard. I have experienced these often during the early
explorations of the Cebu Highlands Trail and I was fortunate it had a
short time frame of three to five days. But this is different. This
is 27 days!
After
saying my appreciation and thanks to the officials of Mantalongon,
Dalaguete, we set off at 08:30. The weather is almost Baguio
weather, cool and very mild. A thick cloud dropped a wispy shower
that vanished instantly as it began. Sunday is a day of rest for
most of Cebu and the rest of the world. For most people visiting the
outdoors, it is a trip to peaks, beaches or waterfalls. For most
destinations, people are expected, whether on official routes or on
“backdoors”. In a Thruhike, or for that matter, explorations,
you are viewed with suspicion since you are not supposed to be there
or there are no precedents of people turning their places into
tourist destinations.
Sunday
is then a day which I considered very much with importance in my
itinerary. This is the Thruhike’s first and I designed it that we
walk today for Balaas, Argao. Whether we arrive early or late, it
does not matter, for people there are already familiar with us. We
spent a night there last February 20, 2015 after a lengthy
explanation. We were then in the middle of the Segment III
Exploration Hike and the late afternoon brought us to there. It
ended well and, today, it would not be difficult to obtain their
goodwill again.
There
is no other way to walk the “Vegetable Highway” except on
pavements. As of today, I cannot see a good reason yet to find a
trail to Argao. I see many and they criss-cross deep valleys and
climb over hillsides, which might be romantic but impractical due to
its difficulty. Whoever designed this road was a genius and this
road was not made when things were started to be ran by people
“running the country like hell”. It was designed and constructed
by someone who belonged to a country that was supposed to “run this
country like heaven”, if you quote a dead president’s statements
which does not make sense.
However,
I see such two options in a future shift of paths. The first would
enter Argao through the Cambantug Mountain Range, cross the Salug
River over to Cansuje, Argao and go north to Alumbijud, Argao. The
other would be that you would have to go to the side of Badian from
Osmeña Peak, follow a route over the mountain ridges that connect
with that of Argao which are dotted with coal mines and pockets of
lawless enclaves. If I could have started the explorations 10 or 20
years ago, I would have not been wandering on roads but on trails.
The fact that I started this epiphany in 2011 and finished it only in
2016, is a testament of that shortcoming plus, another fact, that I
have no big corporate backing or a team of corporate personalities.
You
would have to appreciate of what I did in completing my explorations
of finding a route for the CHT, which no one had ever done before on
the island province of Cebu, without support, except from a few
notable individuals like Alvin John Osmeña, Aljew Frasco and Jose
Mari Gochangco, who believed in what I was doing. And you would also
have to appreciate me even more of my boldness to go on a Thruhike of
a CHT that was not even made and documented with the benefit of a
global positioning satellite system but on the premise of memory
borne out of the quirks of traditional navigation.
Anyway,
this memory brought me to the sixth day in such progress and
precision as good as using a GPS. The week-long rain that happened
before I started the Thruhike had left its mark on the appearance of
this road. Just repaved with solid concrete, rockfalls from above
and landslides undermining below threaten people who use this. It is
simply dangerous to use this road for the moment. We are forced to
walk on the outer edges, a safe distance from a rock fall, of even a
size of a thumbnail, could be life threatening if it falls directly
on the head.
Hazardous
that might be but one village seems to live with that. On the road
to Ablayan, Dalaguete are many small banners placed on both sides of
the road, aside from three bigger ones strung across, declaring a
fiesta celebration. People were in a festive mood and screams of
pigs were heard everywhere up a hill or down a gully. The road wove
on more hazards but not that many anymore yet this is one scenic
stretch highlighting the valleys around Mantalongon as the
“Breadbasket of Cebu”. We arrive at Maloray, Dalaguete at 10:30
and you will see many little rice terraces planted with an upland
variety.
Mount
Kandung-aw towered over us but we had been there in February 2015 and
is now included as one of the interesting features of the CHT. The
peak is a good alternative to spend a weekend in these parts and
would relieve the pressure off the very popular Mount Osmeña from
local tourists. We walk on and we see a lot of people waiting for
porters to carry their goods over the other side of the road since a
big part of the road was swept away by the rains of early January.
Likewise, farm produce were dumped here coming over from the other
side where it is loaded onto trucks while motorcycles waited on both
sides. Ah, commerce.
We
crossed the chasm nimbly as locals do while a few motorcycles braved
the slippery and steep stretch. Since we covered so much ground in
the morning, I deem it necessary to take our noonbreak as early as
10:55 since the mild climate changed into warmth. I munch on two
pieces Titay’s Liloan Rosquillos, six pieces of Park N Go Bakeshop
bread, a Nutribar and my jumble of trail food. With water I popped
in a Herbalife Natural Raw Guarana capsule into my mouth and watch
three locals walk past me with big baskets at their backs, carrying
70-80 kilos of vegetable pears, cauliflowers and carrots supported
with tumplines to their head. This road made their lives bearable.
At
12:00, we proceed up the road. We saw another road joining the ones
we are following. The junction got washed and a temporary patchwork
of rocks and concrete were arranged to hold the earth above it but
got washed again. It looks scary and that is why I saw no trucks
parked on this side from the chasm we crossed. This road goes up to
Badian while our direction goes to Argao. We stop by a new parish
somewhere in Manlapay, Dalaguete where parishioners in their Sunday’s
best just came out from a church service. The rest took longer,
since there is a shady spot and a cold Sparkle to beat the heat as
Jon enjoyed talking with the locals.
The
journey continues into the heart of Manlapay, the last village of
Dalaguete, and then into Argao. At a road corner going to Balaas,
Argao, I immediately dispatch a text message to the Argao Police
Station so they will be informed of our presence and our activity. We
arrive at Balaas at 13:40 where the honorable barangay chairman,
Ricardo Gonzaga, and the village council welcomed us. They expected
us at 16:00 since that was the one indicated on our itinerary but we
somewhat have developed wings on our heels. Or is it that I just
made this day’s schedule conservatively kind?
Why
are we expected along the way? Well I found it out the hard way
early in my exploration hikes, especially at San Fernando during
Segment II which was done last March 2012. Since then, I made it
necessary to make my activities known by sending out letters to
Capitol and to the Cebu Police Provincial Office but, sometimes, it
does not give assurance like what happened during the last day of
Segment VII last August 2016 in Daanbantayan. To make my Thruhike
seamless, I made a courtesy call on the Honorable Governor Hilario P.
Davide III last November 25, 2016 and the rest is history.
Under
the protective shelter of the barangay hall, we claimed our billet
area. We released all the stress of the day and just enjoyed the
stillness of rest. Across us is the view of the wide Salug River
Valley, the Cambantug Mountain Range and Mount Lantoy. We are
treated as guests and a plastic tray with cold Sparkles and bread
came our way courtesy of Hon. Gonzaga and the people of Barangay
Balaas. We arrived early and the early rest benefited our feet. We
are now in the middle of the southern leg and we made good progress.
Tomorrow would be different. We would be expected at Sibonga and it
would be a long day.
Distance
Walked: 13.47 kilometers
Elevation
Gained: 793 meters and a low of 502 meters
Document
done in LibreOffice 5.2 Writer
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