BEBUT’S TRAIL XVIII: Jute Leaves

IT IS ALWAYS A GOOD THING to go out of your comfort zone, hike outdoors and do dirt time. Yeah, dirt time. That is what we called our activity in the Camp Red Bushcraft and Survival Guild. We stay in one place and make wonders. Dirty your hands, do manly work, use a blade or cook something unfamiliar using indigenous material.

After meeting up with the guys at the parking lot of Our Lady Guadalupe Parish today, August 13, 2017, and buying the ingredients we need for our cooking session, we hiked towards that hill which I liked to call as “Heartbreak Ridge”. It is not heartbreaking when you are hiking down it in the afternoon. Just do not do that uphill starting 07:30 and upwards.

 

At 08:30, the hill was very warm. The rising sun is at its most intense here because it is bare. The secret to surviving “heartbreak” is to take it slow. Do not mind the heat and ignore it. It is at your back anyway. Just do not hurry. It would help you much if you travel light. Bring just a day pack. If you heft a big one, make sure you start early.  

The hike on a very warm day on a very bare hill, gave me the opportunity to test my theory on food preservation, especially of leafy vegetables. I bought a bundle of jute leaves (Local name: saluyot). For those who do not know about this plant, jute leaves has antibacterial property. It is also anti-convulsant, anti-oxidant, anti-inflammation, antipyretic, anti-obesity, anti-fungal and anti-microbial. (Source: StuartXchange)

A hundred grams of jute leaves yield 43-58 calories; 80.4-84.1 g H2O; 4.5-5.6 g protein; 0.3 g fat; 7.6-12.4 g total carbohydrate; 1.7-2.0 g fiber; 2.4 g ash; 266-366 mg calcium; 97-122 mg phosphorous; 7.2-7.7 mg iron; 12 mg sodium; 444 mg potassium; 6,410-7,850 µg beta-carotene; 0.13-0.15 mg thiamine; 0.26-0.53 mg riboflavin; 1.1-1.2 mg niacin; and 53-80 mg ascorbic acid. Leaves yield a significant amount of mucilaginous polysaccharide, therefore, a source of energy.

 

Forgive me for speaking Russian but jute leaves are my favorite and I will be cooking this later when we reach Sibalas. Meantime, I have to protect it from the wilting power of the sun on vegetation that is cut from its main stem. What I did was sprinkle water on the leaves and wrapped it with leaves from a parasol tree (binunga). Then I turn it upside down and place it inside a plastic bag that I hand-carried.

When we reached the safety of the woods, the pace of our walk began to slack a bit. We simply enjoyed the cooler ambiance that a shaded trail offered to superheated homo erectus. We do not have a timetable for this day hike. We just have a destination and that is it. We sit there, stay for two or three hours, prepare our food, cook it and eat it. In between will be the tales about the recent activities and of future projects.

The woods would also lessen exposure of the jute leaves against the heat. That also goes with the other vegetables, sold and already sliced in bite sizes, like red squash, string beans, okra, white squash and shreds of cabbage leaves, ingredients for a soon-to-be Cebuano culinary called sinagol-sagol (English: mixed vegetable soup). Once we get to Sibalas, I would personally supervise the cooking.

We arrive at 09:50. A shed welcomed us and we rest for a while on its split log seats. A center table accommodated the things from our bags that we unloaded. Blades are normal sight for us and they are handled with so much care, not for its sharp edge but because these are special properties which tell so much about the owners. These are extensions to our personality.

I set up my Swiss Army Wood Burner and went on the process of collecting as many dry twigs as I could for fuel. Boiling of water for coffee came first and is mandatory. Coffee, whatever its form be, and whatever weather, is always perfect outdoors. Then rice was next.

My companions prepared a hearth on the ground and started a roaring fire with firewood. Stones are placed along each side and an iron grill is laid across the fire. While waiting for the coals to glow hotter, the meat are immersed in a mix of soy sauce, vinegar, crushed garlic and sliced onions. Once the coals would be ready, marinated meat would be grilled over it.

The jute leaves remained fresh although the moisture I provided has already evaporated. Its being loosely encased in a layer of bigger leaves from the parasol tree helped its preservation. The same with placing it upside down as all the water it preserved went to the extremities of the leaf capillaries.     

I picked the leaves one by one from the stems and it should be about 75 grams in weight. When the rice got cooked, I replaced it with a small pot containing water and the raw vegetable mix, with a piece of ginger and slices of onions, green pepper and tomatoes. I let boil for eight minutes before I placed salt and black pepper.

When I got the taste right, I add the jute leaves and leave it simmered for just a minute before I remove it from the burner. The soup and the rice are now ready for the eating. The grilled meat is now almost at its last pieces and, probably, we would have our lunch at 13:00, which is just about fine. By now, everyone should be hungry.

After the meal, we washed our pots, spoons and plates from a nearby well. For the rest of the day we just talked and enjoyed the wonders of the outdoors. The shifting shadows under a forest are so strange to watch. Sometimes, you get small doses of filtered sunshine and it does not hurt you. The forest heals your body, mind and your spirit.

Sitting for most of the time, feeling and examining the edges of your blades, is a relaxing moment for me. Perhaps, for the others too as I see one of them finishing a chunk of wood into slender pieces and another one having a grand time shaving feathersticks. What would be your afternoon be like in the outdoors?

When 15:30 came, we packed our things and walked a different trail going to Baksan. We reach a road and followed it for 45 minutes until we arrive at the Sapangdaku Spillway. A small Suzuki Scrum is parked in the middle of stream while children are around it, splashing water into the tires, underchassis, hood and everywhere. An adult seemed nonchalant of the turbid color of the water.

Fortunately, there is a new pedestrian bridge constructed and we walked it instead of crossing the stream on the spillway which we did in the old days. In another 45 minutes we arrived at the Our Lady of Guadalupe Parish. We called it a day and that is the trademark by which I and the Camp Red Bushcraft and Survival Guild spent our weekends.    

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THE TRAILHAWK JOURNEYS: AkyatCon 2.0

UNIVERSITY OF THE PHILIPPINES MOUNTAINEERS, Inc. introduced AkyatCon in 2016 to the outdoors community. This was a national convention for responsible mountaineering and for the conservation of mountain environments. It is where professional and leisure hikers, local communities, conservation workers, students and academics, national and local government agencies, and other stakeholders share their accomplishments, projects, technology, information, knowledge, and experiences.

The following year – 2017 – the UP Mountaineers celebrated their 40 years as a school-based mountaineering organization, and as an advocate of responsible mountaineering and environmental protection. Running parallel to that was their hosting the second sequel and highly successful AkyatCon, in cooperation with the UP-Diliman Institute of Biology, on the dates of July 28 and 29, 2017, at the Institute of Biology Auditorium, Diliman, Quezon City.

AkyatCon 2.0 featured discussions on mountain biodiversity and conservation, outdoor ethics, mountain-related policies and implementing issues, cultural and gender aspects of mountaineering, explorations and expeditions, emerging/current mountaineering techniques, technologies, issues and trends in mountain sports. UPM aimed in enlightening participants of such topics especially with the growing popularity of mountaineering as a sport and as leisure activity available for everyone who wishes to experience the outdoors.

From out of the blue, I was invited to give a talk about the Cebu Highlands Trail for AkyatCon 2.0, which I accepted. I could not believe it then. No less than the UP Mountaineers extending that invitation to me even when I have not submitted any abstract nor an application. It was beyond my expectations yet I had to honor that and prepared my presentation and sourced funds for my travel to UP-Diliman in the National Capital Region. This was something big which I did not let pass away.

I did not know that the AkyatCon 2.0 organizers have taken an interest in my Thruhike of the CHT – all 400 kilometers and 27 days of that – and it took place on center stage, which is one of several plenary talks scheduled for two days inside the 150-seat auditorium. I added more spice to that by mentioning the explorations of the eight different segments for almost six years and the difficulties of engaging an expedition without support from big corporate names. These were the very ingredients that the CHT came to be.

I forgot to tell you that I am not a mountaineer. I am just an ordinary outdoorsman who walked and ranged mountains as a form of exercise, as recreation and where I earn my keeps. I am a bushcraft enthusiast, a wilderness guide and an experiential educator specializing in the outdoors. The CHT is just a by-product of my creative mind. I just want to inspire people that you can make your dreams come true with hard work, patience, persistence and a dash of audacity.

I arrived at NCR by plane on July 26 in a very dour morning. There was a tropical depression and it was raining hard. I need not worry about AkyatCon 2.0 since it is mostly indoors. I availed of the offer of a mining executive and friend to enjoy the privilege of staying at the Holiday Inn Manila for a day. Yes, for a day, this lowly bushman lived like a king and I took advantage of the uncooperative weather by exploring every nook and cranny of my comfortable kingly chamber.

 

On July 27, I transferred residence to Navotas City. The couple Jay Z and Carla Jorge have hosted me several times when I visit Luzon for my training sorties and I took this opportunity again. Carla is a public teacher while Jay Z takes care of their startup business – Pacing’s House of Barbecue. They are very generous when it came to sampling their menu to me. I could never say no for theirs is the most delicious fare on this side of town. This time, I dined like a king.

Then came the BIG day, July 28. That was my schedule and I was the second speaker. The AkyatCon 2.0 have already started when I arrived and the first of three plenary talks for this day – Eco-Climbing in the Philippines by Anthony Arbias – was now in its infant stage as I settled in one of the cozy seats of the auditorium. Listening to Mr. Arbias, I began to learn many things. AkyatCon 2.0 was a very good event for improving your stock knowledge and I commend UPM for this idea.

My turn came and I talked casually about the CHT without any script. The slides lets you in on the groove naturally. Did you not know that long ago I have this fear of speaking before a crowd? I do not know what happened in between but I found out that I have this natural gift later in life like wine when it goes through its aging process. Yes I was quite aware that I was in a bigger stage. I was in UP-Diliman! Right before me were authorities in their own right, academics and idealistic thinkers. The best in the land.

 

I was given an hour for my discourse and that was fair. I just add incongruencies to elicit laughter so I could steer my presentation back and forth without interrupting the natural rhythm of the slide sequence. Adding icing on the cake, I talked about my recent Camino de Santiago, which overlapped some of the routes of the CHT. Questions came my way but they were the merciful kind and I was able to satisfy people. A token of appreciation, a terracotta plaque designed by Roberto Acosta, was presented to me after my talk.

With my talk over, I went back to the lobby area so I would meet the very people who made possible my participation in AkyatCon 2.0 and they were Leonard “Bunny” Soriano and Jom Daclan, the UPM President. Tope Ordoñez, also of UPM, informed me of a room reserved for me. I returned to the auditorium to listen to the last plenary talk – An Everest Base Camp (EBC) Backpacking Experience by Ed Magdaluyo and Doreen Candelaria.

Lunch got served in the canteen of the Institute of Biology Building for the registrants, organizers and guests. Bottomless coffee was available provided you brought your own cup, this is in line of UPM’s pro-environment advocacy: Green Is Good. UPM was generous of my participation that they had provided me free stay for one night at the UP NISMED Hotel, where I headed that way on foot. The weather was still gloomy and the star gazing session at nighttime was now in peril.

 

In the afternoon, breakout sessions were held. There were three topics each hour and you have to choose one and you have all the four hours of the afternoon to navigate your way from one topic to another. For the first hour alone you have the following subjects to choose: 1) Down-to-Earth Approaches to Light Backpacking; 2) Speed Ascents; and 3) Top of the World: Identifying Factors that Influence a Person to Become a Mountaineer.

For the second hour: 1) Mt. Maranat, Mt. Balagbag, and Oriod: Forest Protection Activities and Rules and Regulations for Hikers; 2) Wildlife Act: Reporting Protocols and Do’s and Dont’s; and 3) Mountains on Hiatus. The third hour was this: 1) On Philippine Caves; 2) Open Source Mapping, GPS and the Mountaineering Community; and 3) Friend or Foe: Introduction to Philippine Snakes for Mountaineers.

For the last hour of the day the talks were: 1) Experiences of a Woman Backpacker Traveling Solo; 2) Bikepacking 101; and 3) Trail Running 101. After the first-day sessions, I walked back to the university hotel in a slight downpour, following a path that passed through their famous botanical garden. Rare trees that I often saw on my ranging were all here and, where a few that I know not its name, it was here with labels. I wished I had more time and better weather to be with these native trees.

Second day, July 29, I checked out of the hotel and went back to the event site. The plenary talks started as scheduled and these were: 1) Accessing the New Adventure Economy as a Tool for Landscape Conservation by JP Alipio; 2) Carrying Capacity and Beyond by Caloy Libosada Jr.; and 3) Best Practices in Mountain Management by Philip Bartilet. When the talks were finished, everyone went out of the auditorium and into an indoor market.

 

The lobby was dedicated for booths and tables displaying branded outdoor bags, apparel, shoes and other items, sold at slashed-down prices, and I took advantage of that by acquiring a pair of Hi-Tec shoes. The crowd had doubled and I began to see familiar faces like Adonis Lloren of Lagataw, who would be giving a talk later in a breakout session; Jay Servano of Silangan Outdoor Equipment, my CHT sponsor; and Marc Gana, whom I mentored in a bushcraft camp at Mt. Balagbag in 2012. Or virtual FB friends like Fred Ochavo, Vernie Villarosa and Jay Plantinos

After lunchbreak, the breakout sessions began where you would have to choose one topic again from among three on the first hour: 1) Useful Plants in the Wild; 2) Impact of Social Media in Mountaineering; and 3) On Biodiversity. The second hour came: 1) From Capitalist to Naturalist; 2) The Tungtong River Conservation Project; and 3) Project AlaGALAan: Proper Etiquettes in the Outdoors.

The last breakout hour sessions were like these: 1) The Sicapoo Exploration; 2) The True Story of Rene, Abel, Kit and Lorna; and 3) The Palanan Co Sierra Madre Trek. Then all the audience returned to the auditorium once again to listen to Carina Dayondon talk about her topic – First Filipina Attempt on the Seven Summits. There was a raffle session after this where the top prize was an Insta360 camera.

It was just unfortunate that the outdoor activities of bird watching and the native tree tour got aborted due to unfavorable weather, along with last night’s star gazing session. On the whole, AkyatCon 2.0 was another success, maybe better than the first, and I wished there would be many sequels to come or maybe they would bring AkyatCon to the rest of the country. In my own little way, I would endorse AkyatCon anytime to as many people as possible. It is a treasure trove of knowledge and a bridge to start new friendships.

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Photos 1, 3, 4, 6, 11, 12 & 13 grabbed from AkyatCon 2.0

Photo 5 & 9 courtesy of Jay Plantinos

Photo 8 courtesy of Vernie Villarosa

Photo 10 courtesy of Fred Ochavo

PINOYAPACHE GOES BACK TO BASICS

I HAVE BEEN CLIMBING MOUNTAINS and hilly regions in the ‘80s here in my country but I do not consider myself a mountaineer. I do not know then that mountaineering clubs were already existing as early as 1970 and these guys have challenged and assaulted remote and difficult mountain ranges. You only know of this from tidbits of information from newspapers and from monthly leisure magazines, usually already so outdated. News travel so slow on those long forgotten era. Pre-Cambrian times.

When mountaineering became popular in the ‘90s, the University of the Philippines Mountaineers formulated the creation of the Basic Mountaineering Course (BMC) as a prerequisite for induction of members into their organization. Later on, it was adopted and shared to the different mountaineering clubs and the National Mountaineering Federation of the Philippines, the forerunner of the MFPI. Before or during that time, I was now a member of the Cebu Mountaineering Society and I have not heard of that. News does travel slow in that era. Jurassic times.

 

Fast forward to Facebook era. People flock to the mountains because their friends posted their exploits in social media and these places are now very accessible because it was pioneered by earlier mountaineers. While it may be good for local tourism, practicing the finer ways of engaging in leisure activities on the mountains are simply lacking and needs proper guidance and education. You see this all the time in social media: accidents, wrong attire, getting lost, rescued, retrieved, hiking on the wrong time, grassfires, unpreparedness, ignorance, garbage here, garbage there, garbage everywhere.

While the main purpose of the BMC before was more on preparedness, health and safety but, this time, the mountaineering community needed to protect the very playgrounds from these hordes of uneducated individuals. And so it became mandatory – with greater emphasis – to inculcate the Principles of the Leave No Trace to the new mountaineers as a side dish to the BMC. No, make that both the main menu. You would have to swallow both as a personal advocacy. It does not stop from there. You will ride the social media phenomena and educate people through there. Not by bashing but by intellect.

People, clubs, organizers and even government agencies are working against time in the hope of reversing a dangerous trend that social media unintentionally provided to a lot of people. One of these organizations is the Climbers League for Ideal Mountaineering and Balanced Environmental Responsiveness or simply known as CLIMBER. It is not a mountaineering club but an advocacy of long-time friends who would like to make the outdoors enjoyable and safe. They are based in the National Capital Region but they could be requested to teach and share BMC and LNT to the rest of the country.

Last July 22 and 23, 2017, CLIMBER came down to Cebu City to bring their knowledge and their resource speakers to educate members of a newly-established mountaineering club of Shearwater Health, a business-process outsourcing company based in the Cebu Business Park. CLIMBER, for most of the time, organize their own BMC in locations around NCR but, sometimes, on a few occasions, conduct BMC and other training on request just like they did in Romblon last 2016. Their instructors are some of the best in their own fields. Let us name them one by one:

 

Regie Pablo. He needs no introduction. Everybody knows who he is. For those who do not know it yet, he is the fourth Filipino to scale Mount Everest. He did it on May 16, 2007 and lost the endmost joint of a thumb for his effort, through frostbite. He is also recognized as the one who inspired the mountaineering community to form the Philippine Everest Expedition Team so it could place our country’s flag on top of the highest peak on Earth, which we did in 2006. He will be handling Introduction to High Altitude Mountaineering.

Erick Suliguin. A product of the earliest BMC batch of CLIMBER, went on to seriously pursue advanced learning in LNT at its Center of Education in the USA and came back to transform CLIMBER into a very credible outdoors learning institution. He is a holder of the LNT Master Educator, a distinction of being the only one among three Filipinos who has this learning to teach LNT here, the two being US-based. His presentation would touch on the Principles of LNT. 

 

Ronald “Fabs” Fabon. One of the most versatile resource speakers for CLIMBER. He could discuss anything relating to mountaineering and the outdoors. His long experience and wide array of skills made him very valuable to the mountaineering community. He had sharpened those skills when he was then a member of the MFPI Educational Committee. He would touch on many topics for this BMC and it is about Planning and Preparation, Gear and Equipment, Map Reading, and Knot Tying.

Ramon “Jay Z” Jorge. With CLIMBER from the very start of its inception. Currently is the administrator of their social media pages and also handles their marketing thrusts. While he has undergone many training, people here in Cebu remembered him only as a participant of the Philippine Independence Bushcraft Camp in 2012. His pioneering inclusion of survival as a subject in a BMC was revolutionary. He will be discussing Introduction to Survival.

The Boy Scouts Camp in Kalunasan was chosen as the venue. I happened to be there to support CLIMBER, along with the Camp Red Bushcraft and Survival Guild. There were eleven participants from Shearwater Health and they were augmented by people from Camp Red, to include me. I have never sat in a BMC before and I have no certificate to show that I have participated in one. Maybe this time I will have one to attach and show in my curriculum vitae.

In case you might know, this is one of the ironies of my life because I am often invited as a resource speaker in many BMCs for topics which are not found in their regular lectures. By the way, all the things my peers and I did during those Jurassic times were just common sense and it found its way in the pages of the BMC. I heard it many times from different resource speakers of many BMCs I have been in to. I learned these rudiments informally, long before it was called a BMC, and the CLIMBER event would just formally place an icing on my cake. 

After singing the National Anthem before the Philippine Flag, Jay Z opened the BMC to the participants on the first day, July 22. For a whole day, Fabs began his topics from the pre-climb meeting to choosing equipment to pacing to navigation. After dinner, Regie talked about his experience with the Philippine Everest Expedition Team which brought him to snowy regions, training and acclimatizing himself for the big day in 2006. His success came in 2007 and he did it alone. So ended the first day.

Giving Regie support is his closest friend and fellow Everest expedition team member, Larry “Hillboy” Honoridez, who came while he was in the middle of his topic. Regie and Hillboy talked about old times. Joining him in their circle were Jay Z, Erick, Fabs, Billy Anciro, Randy Salazar, Jonathaniel Apurado and me. The festive company ended only after the first few hours of the next day. I stayed with the participants in the BSP Camp and slept in my hammock.    

The second day, July 23, started after breakfast. Fabs began the part about knot-tying and ropework and culminated with the part about the post-climb meeting. After lunch, Erick took up the cudgels and discussed LNT for a whole afternoon. After dinner, and not part of the program, I found myself talking about the Cebu Highlands Trail so as to inspire the participants. Then Jay Z gets his turn exposing the participants to a survival mindset.

The BMC that CLIMBER introduced to Cebu was the 19th one ever since they existed in 2015 and the first one that I attended as a participant. CLIMBER has taken the right advocacy: Outdoors Education. With their effort, they were able to educate a lot of people relating to the different outdoor hobbies, most notably, of mountaineering. The mountains possess a different environment and unpredictable weather patterns. The BMC guides you to enjoy and cherish these places safely and help in the conservation efforts thru LNT.

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CAMINO CEBU JOURNAL: Day Ten

DAY TEN :::: AM I IN A DREAM? Today is July 15, 2017 – a Saturday – and, later in the afternoon, the Archdiocesan Shrine of Señor Santiago de Apostol of the Municipality of Compostela, would kick off the novena for the town fiesta which would be celebrated on July 25. What timing? Or that the itinerary for this first-ever pilgrimage of the Camino de Santiago is just being true to what it was indicated therein. It is easy to say that but, the truth is, we pushed ourselves hard for eight straight days to reach this threshold. Yesterday’s leisurely pace – Day Nine – was unexpected. A bonus!

We started from the St. James the Apostle Parish in the Municipality of Badian on July 6th and crossed over the high Southern Cebu Mountain Range in 13 bewildering hours for the other side of Cebu, where most of the route of the Camino de Santiago is walked. We stopped and slept in six more parishes located in the most remote places of Cebu and we have their parish seals stamped on our provisional Camino Passports. On one occasion we slept under a covered basketball court which was converted into a chapel, another in a village chief’s home and, last night, in a local resort.

I am the guide for this Camino Cebu, patterned after its most famous ancestor in Spain, a long pilgrimage trail of almost 800 kilometers that St. James the Apostle travelled and it has existed for more than a thousand years. I have dreamed of establishing a Camino here in Cebu long ago but it remains a dream. But when a priest of the Archdiocesan Shrine of Señor Santiago de Apostol of Compostela, Cebu suggested it to me, it became a reality in three months’ time. The Camino Cebu is for those who are underprivileged and who cannot afford the expensive travel to Spain. What you will gain here is the same as what you gained for your soul there. But harder.

I believed I have led the eight pilgrims to walk more than 150 kilometers of rugged highlands terrain under a climate that was already harsh before the advent of global warming. This priest who suggested that Cebu establish a Camino for the poor is Rev. Fr. Scipio “Jojo” Deligero and he is one of the pilgrims. It is ironic. Fr. Jojo disdained walking for he has gout growing in each ankle which is very painful, but he accomplished that distance already in his hobbled pace. In that painful state, he has already performed his sacerdotal duty for his parish. In the Camino? He was simply biblical.

Another pilgrim worth mentioning in length is the incumbent mayor of Compostela. He is the Hon. Joel Quiño. This is his second term. Before he leaves for private life, he would like to see his municipality and his constituents earn the honor of being the pilgrimage destination of the Camino de Santiago of Cebu and for being the namesake of that famous place in Galicia, Spain. He is aware of that and he made himself available for this Camino to experience it, despite all the pressing problems and issues that hound a local executive. He came incognito without a police escort.

There is the couple Jemmelyn and Roderick Montesclaros. Then you have the parish lay ministers, Mizar Bacalla and Roger Montecino, and Alvie Rey Ramirez, a municipal employee, and all are from Compostela. Last is my subaltern, Jonathaniel Apurado. The only non-Catholic among us but he found the Camino a good exercise for the body, the mind, the heart and the spirit. Jon and I are from Cebu City and we are more identified with our Thruhike of the Cebu Highlands Trail, a route that traversed over the mountains from the Santander shoreline to Daanbantayan’s cliffs by the sea, 400 kilometers in 29 days.

All are now wearing the commemorative t-shirts that we carried through the rugged length and the unpredictable weather systems of the Camino. The t-shirts were provided by Bro. Cedee Neo of the Doneo Host Making Community, an ardent supporter of the establishment of the Camino de Santiago in Cebu. His involvement revolves around creating liaisons with the Metropolitan Archdiocese of Santiago de Compostela and with our own Archdiocese of Cebu, the Philippine Embassy in Spain, in a few offices of the Vatican, even engaging in the Camino Portugues together with his wife, Julie. 

After a breakfast of the last two packs of spicy Korean noodles, a half kilo of rice and the remaining fingers of chorizo Bilbao, we leave Gatubod Spring Resort, found in the village of Basak, at 08:35, and proceed on the last remaining kilometers of the Camino to the town center. We just crossed a dirt road fronting the resort and we are now on the outskirts of another village of Bagalnga. We need to climb up a hill through a trail to reach a big cross that was erected and finished there just recently. In all my travels up and down Cebu, I have not noticed this cross but I saw it yesterday for the very first time.

We passed by a remote abode with a small altar infront. The small earthen image of Señor San Roque is broken but it is vintage. Living there are two elderly sisters, in their late ‘70s, who are both unmarried. Both were deprived of cash doleouts afforded to senior citizens of the municipality since both are not registered voters and they have no birth certificates either. They remembered though that they were baptized in the parish when they were young. Mayor Joel promised both ladies that he will personally have their birth certificates and voter’s registration processed and that they will receive their senior citizen privileges before the year ends. 

As was practiced in all my hikes, Jon and I leave to the elderly ladies some foodstuffs and items which we have reserved for lunch, to include the extra emergency meals good for one day. The rest of the pilgrims did so with their untouched snacks. Mayor Joel left them a little something for their upkeep. Fr. Jojo blessed them and he just opened the floodgates of grace from heaven on the elderly women and on us all. My backpack is strangely light as we proceed to the higher heights where the big cross is located. That goes also for my footfalls. I am excited for this moment spurred on by my act of charity.

Right in front of me is indeed a cross but it is about 30 feet high and the trunk is about 6 feet wide. It is now almost finished except for the landscaping work. I reach it at 09:00. I learned the story from Fr. Jojo of how this cross came to be. This is a by-product – an inspiration – of a pilgrimage to Jerusalem which a well-to-do couple of the neighboring town of Consolacion engaged in many years ago. The husband had an illness and, before he would leave this world, he would first cleanse his soul by doing that pilgrimage with his wife.

When they came back to Cebu the couple planned to dedicate their experience of their Jerusalem visit by building a huge cross in their own place in Consolacion, then in Liloan. They were not able to do that and, finally, settled on a barren hill in Bagalnga, Compostela. Construction of the cross was stalled. In fact, it had even been abandoned for sometime when the wife suffered an illness instead and eventually died. To honor her memory, the husband brought all his energies, resources and time to erect the unfinished project. It became also a monument of love. The surviving husband is Celso Jordan.

At the base of the cross, I placed the pebble that I brought with me from my home in the earliest hours of Day One and the fossilized scallop that I found in Dagatan, Badian, also on that first day. That pebble represented my transgressions and I carried that weight all through the crests and troughs of the Camino Cebu. I took a knee before the cross and prayed for forgiveness. I wept and I felt static electricity run through my whole body, sending all my body hair on tiptoes. It is a very warm day but my sweat was cold, dropping on the concrete footing.

From behind me, I heard the footfalls of the oncoming pilgrims as I remained on one knee. Everyone reverently placed their pebbles on the foot of the cross and began their personal conversations with the Holy Spirit. I even notice roses included as offerings. I slowly back away and leave them in their own privacy. A cloud passes overhead and shaded the whole place. Cool breeze from the far coastlines removed a little of the day’s heat. I walked around the perimeter of the cross and it is well placed. A new landmark for sea travellers.

It is interesting to note that the base of a pillar that propped at its top an iron cross on the route of the Camino Frances became a mound made by pebbles thrown from the many generations of pilgrims. The pilgrims would pick up a pebble on the way and tossed it there and it would soon become a hill. This I read from a Cadoggan travel guide for Northern Spain. Our pebbles would soon start another one here in Cebu, perhaps in the Philippines and, maybe Asia, but it would not be tossed. The triumph of Jesus, represented by a cross, over sins! The Cross of Triumph.

The cross on the hill was the climax of the pilgrimage. What goes after here is another leisurely walk down the lowlands, among communities and into the national highway. We arrive at the Green Lagoon Park, a seaside resort, at 12:30. We rest for a while as we waited for our lunch to be served. From here it would just be a 20-minute walk to the Archdiocesan Shrine of Señor Santiago de Apostol. We arrive there at 13:30 under a pouring rain and we are way too early for the 15:00 Eucharistic Mass which will be celebrated by Rev. Fr. Gonzalo Candado. We spent the time for wash and rest. How I wished we have a large censer.

The celebration of the Holy Mass came at its exact hour, with bells clanging, and we were, at its timely part, received and presented to the whole congregation and community of Compostela. We were given white capes with the Cross of St. James printed in red at the back, locally-sourced scallops signifying our personal pilgrimage and the Certificate of Completion signed by Fr. Candado and Vice Mayor Fe Abing. Among those who witnessed the ceremony were family members and friends of each pilgrim. There was a feast afterward at the rectory and everyone partake of the food and refreshments.

Thus ended the First Pilgrimage of the Camino de Santiago in Cebu; in the Year of our Lord, July 15, 2017, at the Archdiocesan Shrine of Señor Santiago de Apostol, Municipality of Compostela, Province of Cebu, Philippines. I heeded the call of St. James the Apostle. So were Fr. Jojo, Mayor Joel, Jem and Roderick, Roger, Mizar, Alvie Rey and Jonathaniel.

Total Distance Walked: 9.93 kilometers.

  Highest Elevation Gained: 772 feet.

THE CAMINO DE SANTIAGO IN ITS WHOLE LENGTH

175.18 KILOMETERS

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CAMINO CEBU JOURNAL: Day Eight and Day Nine

DAY EIGHT :::: SLEEPING HERE UNDER A COVERED basketball court converted into a chapel was never part of my itinerary. Neither that was part of the plans of Rev. Fr. Scipio “Jojo” Deligero. We are now in between the villages of Malubog and Pung-ol Sibugay, in Cebu City, and along the Transcentral Highway. We are simply here by an unexpected circumstance. We simply ran out of daylight. It is the eighth morning (July 13, 2017) of our pilgrimage of the Camino de Santiago of Cebu.

We started in the Municipality of Badian last July 6 and, thinking of the distance we covered and the difficulties the pilgrims encountered and overcame, I shook in disbelief. This crowd are not hikers. They rarely travel on foot half a kilometer away from their homes and their workplaces. Much less with the Hon. Joel Quiño, the incumbent mayor of the Municipality of Compostela. He may walk down or up the stairs to his office or bedroom but, once out of the doorway, he would rather ride a government-issued car or his personal SUV to an official function or a private family affair even if it is just 50 meters away for security reasons.

Much less Fr. Jojo. He could barely perform his priestly duties as gout growing in both his ankles prevented much of his movement. To think that the distance to the altar from the rectory is just 20 meters long, more or less. Badian, Dalaguete, Argao, Sibonga, Barili, Carcar City, San Fernando, Pinamungahan and Toledo City are now but history to Fr. Jojo and is it not amazing for someone who hobbled instead of walked? We are now in Central Cebu and are two days away to Compostela. Right now, the pilgrims could smell the familiar aroma of home and their morale is unstoppable.

It is amazing indeed! Even if I could stretch the itinerary to three more days to accommodate the crawling pace of Fr. Jojo, the accomplishment itself over an unlikely endurance to pain was incredible. But sticking true to the itinerary is badass! It is like Fr. Jojo climbing Mount Everest backwards. I cannot explain how he did it, especially on Day One, but I can only tell you that Fr. Jojo was in a different level. We have a term for that: mind over matter. On my part, I just shut off pain receptors in my brain and it needs intense concentration practiced for a long time. But Fr. Jojo’s way was different. His was meditation.

As breakfast is prepared, another kilo of rice is removed as weight from my bag and that of Jonathaniel Apurado. Better late than never! Along with that are four packs of spicy Korean noodles, two fingers of chorizo Bilbao and 275 milliliters of denatured alcohol which we used as fuel for our lightweight and very efficient Trangia and Alocs burners. I slept last night in my hammock tied to square concrete posts. It was better than my first option of a thick plyboard balanced over benches. The hammock has a bug net while those who slept comfortably at first on the plyboards complained of mosquitoes later.

We leave the covered court-cum-chapel at 07:15 to the next destination. I have identified a religious structure in the hills of Consolacion for that purpose, passing by the villages of Sirao, Pulangbato and Pit-os but, like water, plans could change on suggestions just like Day One where we got lost and travelled more than what our feet and legs could accept. The latest suggestion did not come from a local this time. It came from Fr. Jojo and he wants a parish in the village of Guba as the next destination which, I am bound to look for ways to get there.

We followed the Transcentral Highway once more, going west and taking a smaller road that goes to the mothballed Kan-irag International Golf Course, passing by the shoulders of Mount Sibugay and into the famous flower gardens of Sirao, which I am visiting for the very first time. The manicured flowery landscape is indeed a surprise vista of this Camino de Santiago. The pilgrims even have their provisional Camino passports stamped with the entrance seal of one of the garden resorts as a sport. At this hour – 08:00 – it is already swamped with many visitors.

We proceed on following the shaded road that passed by many scenic spots on the left and right of me. This is my first time here but I do not have problems with finding the correct route. There are people to ask of that and, for as long as you are polite, they give you back their politeness. The day begins to go warm, you move to the curbs and grassy ground to escape direct sunlight and the heated surfaces. Everyone are light-footed, including Fr. Jojo, as the distance to Compostela is whittled foot by foot.   

There are a lot of people indeed to ask questions. Most of them were warm in their conversations while a few were aloof and evasive. Cannot blame them. Perhaps, bad memories of a sad chapter when the barrios were swarmed then by idealistic strangers embracing rifles and an alien ideology. It wears away very slowly and the sight of a group of strangers like us could instantly trigger fear and suspicions. I am leading the pilgrims and I am the first to see and feel. Body language never fails to keep me updated.

We reach the village of Guba. This is one of the most familiar names for a hinterland village in Cebu City because it is not named after a plant or a prominent landmark like most places do. If you translate it to the English language, the name meant “broken”, “damaged” or “busted”. Long ago I chuckled whenever I saw public utility jitneys bearing the name of Guba as it cruise the downtown area picking up passengers. I just could not comprehend how is it associated to the hopeless when it is a beautiful place with beautiful residents?  

We arrive at the Santo Niño de Cebu Parish at 11:30. We were really pinched off by the warmth of the day. The shade of their covered promenade and their lofty location which catch cool breeze is most welcome. Just sitting on a wooden bench there is enough to return your strength and fix your awry nerves. We waited for a while as the parish priest is running a personal errand for himself but once Rev. Fr. Pete Necesario arrived, the mood of the occasion changed. It is always a good indicator of happy moods when two priests meet, don’t you think so?

We were treated to a good lunch by Fr. Pete. The soup was steaming hot notwithstanding the warmth of the day that we have just hurdled and barely survived from and would soon be embraced again anyways. It is delicious and who cares about the sun. Fr. Pete brought out the entire banana, papaya and other fruits he had received from his parishioners as offerings. We helped ourselves with eating all kinds of banana for soon it would deteriorate if left uneaten. We even carried some, placed inside plastic bags.

We thanked Fr. Pete and marched out into the bare day at 13:15, stomachs full but bodies fully rested. From here, there will be three more villages before we could reach the farthest limits of Compostela. These places are not very familiar to me since I have not been here. My guide would be local knowledge and that is where I aim to retrieve most of the information for navigation. As soon as I got a good cellular signal, I sent a text message of our location to the Operations Section of the Cebu City Police Office. I get an instant reply and felt safe.

I reach a crossroads in the village of Binaliw and I saw a group of uniformed policemen talking to some locals and they were in a festive mood. They were not from the Talamban Police Station and they were from another unit doing a different tasking. They do not know our pilgrimage and they were alarmed at my sudden presence. I thought these were the same policemen notified by CCPO to assist us. Not until I told them that one of my companions is a parish priest and another one a municipal mayor, did they lower their guard. It was a nice feeling to leave them all behind.

We reach the outskirts of the village of Mabini and we saw another group of uniformed men resting on both sides of the road. I talked to their officer and introduced myself and told him the purpose of our presence. On the other hand, they were from the Philippine Army and they were on a field training exercise. I can understand why there were policemen. They were doing security for this. The problem is that CCPO Operations failed to coordinate with their own units and on us since they knew of our activity weeks before. I made it sure that they are notified properly and early with my letter request.

 

Another close call and I thought that was the end of it all. But it is a good thing if the policemen or the army found our presence by themselves on the spot. What if a half-literate informant would report our presence to them? That was what happened when our presence was reported in exaggeration. An alert Army sergeant on another group of soldiers asked of my identification card. I even gave him my letter requests addressed to the governor and the police even if he asked none of that. We were reported as members of the Maute Group and he has to be sure that we are not.

Funny, but presence of government forces made you more uneasy instead of feeling safe, is it not? It is ironic on my part since I am a former man in uniform. How could that be? Communication! Sloppy handling and disseminating of correspondence and messages could result in confusion. In warfare, you lose battles. In peacetime, the very people you protect will lose trust on you because your line of communication are full of bugs and holes. CCPO is short of trained professionals handling correspondence. If that is low priority on their order of things, innocent people like us pilgrims could get hurt on mere rumors.   

I understand we had been walking on a ridge for some time. I could now see a small glimpse of Metro Cebu. Across me is Alvero Peak, the highest point of Consolacion, found in the village of Garing. We arrive at the village center of Mabini at 15:30 to rest and rehydrate and to ask for the quickest way to Compostela. A village peacekeeper pointed to me a way to the Municipality of Liloan by way of Lanipga and Mulao. I consulted Mayor Joel on this information but he preferred that we follow the main road we are walking for most of the afternoon. We now know that down this road is Paril, the last village.

 

It is a long way to the village of Paril and we passed by lonely stretches, full of bends and turns, farms and solitary houses. Also, when you go down a valley in a late afternoon, light becomes duller and grayer, projecting dusk ahead of its time. As you are in that situation, your footfalls tend to go quicker, so you could arrive to your destination with daylight to spare. Unknown to me, Mayor Joel knows these places very well and he had a calm composure and a cheery smile when I last saw him. It simply does not matter if we arrive in darkness. This is his homecourt.

Schoolchildren streamed out of their classrooms and are now company on the road. A lot of people to ask directions to. I bypassed the village hall and followed a road that goes at the back and crossed a small bridge. I am now on the side of Compostela. I remove my High Sierra Titan bag and waited for them here. The stillness of the place and the rest from the walk removed the stress of the day from my body and from my mind. A few sips from my Camelbak bladder are enough to remove thirst and to cool my body a bit. Ahhh, what a day. I believed my next destination would be the village of Tag-ubi.

From out of nowhere a red-plated white Isuzu pickup came from Paril and in it are Fr. Jojo and Roger. The driver and a companion were here on the instructions of Mayor Joel so he could sign checks for official government disbursements. The others have already crossed the stream and are on their way minutes ago to the village of Dapdap through a short cut, bypassing Tag-ubi. It is already 17:45 and, in a few minutes, it would be dusk. I get inside and settled beside Roger. This road we are traveling on are full of big holes and deep furrows caused by running water and the driver has to drive slowly. It is much safe to just walk. Good thing, this beast is in 4-wheel drive.

We passed by them in the last minutes of daylight, which meant that they were making better progress on foot than us inside the pickup. From them, it is but a mere 200 meters as the Isuzu parked beside a well-built house. We are now in Dapdap. Coming towards us in just a few minutes, with headlights, are Mayor Joel, Jem, Roderick, Mizar, Alvie Rey and Jonathaniel. The last one arrived at 18:40. The house belonged to the village chairman, Mayor Joel’s father-in-law, and we were welcomed to dine there, as well as to nurse our aching bones and sore muscles. I will have my revenge on my stinking body come morning.

DAY NINE :::: THERE IS AN ABRUPT CHANGE in the face of each pilgrim. They are in a joyous and victorious mood. It meant to them very much that they are now a day-and-a-half away from completing the first Camino de Santiago in Cebu and they are now in their home turf of Compostela. Today, July 14, 2017, there is not much to do except walk leisurely and rest longer. The determination to reach Compostela, by all means, has already been achieved. The stress and the pressure are beginning to lose its hold on them. I have felt it too and it looks like somebody from behind me just removed an arrowhead sticking out of my back. I have just finished freshening up and I am ready for today.

I have been wearing for eight days my dry-fit t-shirt provided by my sponsor, Silangan Outdoor Equipment, which I used during my explorations of the last six segments of the Cebu Highlands Trail and this, would be its last day. Silangan also provided me its quick-drying elastic hiking pants during the Thruhike of the CHT which I have worn for the last eight days too and would be so for this day and tomorrow. The pair of Jack Wolfskin Kreisel 1 hiking shoes, provided by Niño Paul Beriales for the Thruhike, have seen better days and is still much in demand for the Camino Cebu, although the traction have lost some of its zeal.

The High Sierra Titan, 55 liters of storage space, is now lighter and it would be much lighter still tomorrow – the last day. This bag which was provided by fellow blogger, Gian Carlo Jubela of Adrenaline Romance, have helped me complete the last half of the CHT and, in this Camino de Santiago, the big storage is a plus, as well as its comfortable shoulder straps and waist belt. I carried the name of Titay’s Liloan Rosquillos in all my activities and I made it possible that the pilgrims consume and supplied with this famous indigenous pastry called the rosquillos.

My blisters are healing well and I am bronzed dark to too much exposure to the sun. My meshed shawl, used to so many occasions outdoors, has protected my face. A pair of dark glasses provided by Zue Fashion, which I used during the Thruhike, protected my eyes from glare and harmful UV rays. Inside my bag are my primitive cook set, Trangia burner set, Camelbak bladder, taffeta sheet, hammock, two spare t-shirts, used elastic undershorts and socks, flip flops, survival kit, first aid kit, fire kit, William Rodgers camp knife, Mora Companion and Victorinox Trailmaster. Secured outside is a map case, journal and a Therm-a-Rest sleeping pad.

We depart from Dapdap at 08:30 after another filling breakfast. This Camino de Santiago, I noticed, is hiking in style compared to the Thruhike which I did for 27 days from January 17 to February 14, 2017. That time I ate spartan meals and the best part of that were warm suppers. It is nice to have Fr. Jojo and Mayor Joel as company for, without them, the pilgrimage would have been subsisting on simple fares of instant noodles, instant soups, energy bars, bread, coffee and limited rice. Also, with them, conversations with suspicious locals become smooth and trouble-free.

The dirt road led us to the village of Mulao. This one I am familiar with. Been here last year to rendezvous with my transport after the Philippine Independence Bushcraft Camp. We passed through it today. Strangely, I am not leading the pilgrims anymore. Mizar is. I am now crowding Jonathan at the back. I enjoyed the moment of being released from that responsibility. No more stress. No more worries. No more thinking. The Holy Rosary is prayed and, this time, I participated for the first time.

It was a good moment for a mayor to exchange pleasantries with his constituents. As for the priest, his parishioners. Whenever we walked, people would stop to greet Mayor Joel and Fr. Jojo. Sometimes, people would stand on their frontyard and waved their hands. We stopped by a small kiosk and the villagers offered us jackfruit. It was a stress-free moment for a mayor on leave when a caravan for St. James the Apostle, led by Rev. Fr. Gonzalo Candado, passed by. One of the passengers happened to be the wife of Mizar and they had a tearful but happy reunion. The caravan went on its way while we bade goodbye to the old folks.

We arrived at a place called Tagasa at 10:00, in the outskirts of the village of Basak. We rest in a stag farm owned by Mayor Joel. He is a fighting cock breeder and organizes stag derbies during fiestas and special occasions. We just sat and talked while drinking cold softdrinks. At exactly 12:00, our food is delivered by a private SUV. The sun shone hot and the shades were most welcome. Some of the pilgrims dried their wet clothes on makeshift clotheslines. As soon as it is 13:00, we proceed to our next destination, possibly, our host for the night.

We reached it at 14:30 and what a pleasant place to be in. It is a local resort called Gatubod Spring Resort. Mayor Joel chooses a long house and, for the first time in this Camino, all the hammocks are used. Colors come in red, blue, black and pink. After 17:00, when the resort will be closed to the public, the swimming pools will now be ours. A kilo of rice and four packs of spicy Korean noodles becomes our dinner. After the meal, we each gave our testimonies about our expectations of the Camino de Santiago and how it changed our personal convictions. It was a beautiful evening.

Total Distance Walked: 33.81 kilometers.

  Highest Elevation Gained: 2,047 feet. 

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