IN JUST A FEW MINUTES, it would be
my birthday. The Mitsubishi Strada came in at 23:50 of April 5, 2018 at MJ
Cuenco Avenue, Cebu City as agreed. Driving is Randy Salazar of Philippine
Adventure Consultants and one of the driving force behind Filipino Traditional
Blades. His passengers are Ernie Salomon and Jonathaniel Apurado and all of
them are with the Camp Red Bushcraft and Survival Guild.
The Strada is loaded and my High Sierra Titan is added to the cargo at the back. We are travelling tonight, or
to put in a better perspective, most of tomorrow, April 6, overland from Cebu
City to Toledo City, cross Tañon Strait, drive from San Carlos City over the
hump of the Negros Cordillera to Bacolod City, cross Guimaras Strait, and drive
a few kilometers from Port Dumangas to Iloilo City. Impressive!
Tomorrow would be my birthday. I
prefer that people not know about it but who keeps secret these days,
especially if you are honest enough to add it in Facebook. At that early hour
there were no birthday greetings from the three guys. I suspect they may have
devious plans among themselves. I have been ambushed many times and I know the
drill.
Everyone are in high adrenaline
mode as we travel south to Toledo City. The Strada is very noisy inside. There
is no traffic and we reach the Port of Toledo at 02:00 and we have a cup of coffee
to kill the time as our ship steadily docked to the wharf. The crossing of
Tañon Strait took just 90 minutes and we are now at the Port of San Carlos. My
birthday starts today.
In semi-darkness, Randy steered the
pickup to the highway of the skies. There was not much to see and it was eerily
silent at the back of me and both Ernie and Jon pursued the last hours of sleep
before daylight overtakes them. I tried my best to keep Randy in company but
found myself struggling with my consciousness. The sudden changes of engine sound would wake me up from time to
time.
I felt a strange silence as the
Strada screeched to a halt then a noise of the pickup door is slammed shut. Where
are we? Time to take a nature leak. The first lights of dawn painted the
Negros sky and dark shadowy mass begun to slowly show details. A waterfall! Where
is this place? I know we are now in the highlands of Don Salvador Benedicto
but I did not notice this scenery before.
By now, the day begins to expose
everything along this highway of the Negros Cordillera. I am beginning to get
oriented once I spot Canlaon Volcano on one side and the Mandalagan Mountain
Range on the other side. The fertile valleys hosted the plains dedicated to
sugar canes that made barons out of farmers in the heady days when sugar was
gold.
It took us another hour of travel
before Randy decides to stop at Murcia. It takes great concentration and
control to drive over in darkness to here from Cebu City. Our company would
have helped but we unashamedly gave in to drowsiness. He needs a break. Time to
enjoy another cup of coffee. Where is that coffee please?
We stay for a moment as Randy’s
favorite breakfast joint begins to muster the last phase of chicken soup. The
coffee came at the most perfect time and the blade talks make us forget food
for a while. I remembered the blades that were placed below the shift stick.
Randy owns a lot of beautiful blades. He is a blade connoisseur in his own
right.
I was talking about a Bowie with a
coffin-shaped handle and that sweet-looking Nessmuk. The Bowie is made by
Freddie Angeles in 1987. He do not make blades anymore since he is now 80 years
old and, for that matter, the Bowie becomes a collector’s item. The Nessmuk is
made by Dondon Dimpas under the Ursulo line. It is stamped as 002 and,
therefore, also another collector’s item since it is the most popular of his early make which elicit profound attention from blade enthusiasts.
I am flushed with envy and I am so
happy it fell to the right hands. If it cannot be mine, at least, for the
moment, I will have that privilege to hold and feel its balance and be
photographed with it for posterity. Oh, real coffee, raw and strong, provoked
an inner ecstasy within me as I held those blades in my hand.
Come to think of it, I started all
this thing about blades. I taught people the value of a blade in my bushcraft
camps. I now have many converts and, I admit, I am but a pygmy when you talk
about their dedication and passion about blades. They know so much and
everything about it and are now on the verge of becoming bladesmiths
themselves.
After breakfast, we drive around
the market and Randy surprised us with a kilo each of grounded Negros coffee,
the same coffee that perked me up a half-hour ago. Then we proceed to the last
stretch of road to Bacolod City to catch the first trip for Iloilo.
Unfortunately, we did not make it and have to wait for the second trip.
For a full 45 minutes we waited
until the time when the Nissan Strada got the go signal to crawl over the ramp
into the ship’s deck. Jon, Ernie and I make it to the gangplank and up a series
of stairs and find the best location. Crossing the Guimaras Strait took a
longer time as tide and current clash midstream. The skipper has to make the
necessary adjustments until we reach the Port of Dumangas.
It is 20 kilometers to Iloilo City
and we have lots of time. Randy would have to make a stop on his old residence
in the city. This was where he started before making Cebu as his base. We
unload the things found on the back of the Strada and secured it inside the
house. It seems Randy would like to make a little tour for us around the city.
The first stop is the old market
where they sell the original versions of the different La Paz batchoy,
an Ilonggo version of noodles which has very generous shredded meat, liver, egg
and vegetable garnishments. You are provided condiments to suit your taste. I
have never tried an original batchoy before and I would not let this
pass.
Second stop is at Derek’s Classic
Blade Exchange. I know the guy who runs this place: Derek Manuel. Setting up a
knife store in Iloilo City and making it run for more than two years is an
accomplishment in itself. You got to hand it to the man. Part of his business
is online and people from faraway as Metro Manila and Metro Cebu source their blades
here.
He sells good quality blades, knife
accessories and other stuff relating to the outdoors sub-culture of bushcraft
and survival. It is located across the La Paz Plaza. However, we could not
resume our private tour since Derek wanted to treat us to a real Iloilo lunch,
which is a good thing. We proceed to Breakthrough Restaurant, located in a
beach of Molo district.
Arriving to join us is Derek’s
wife, Ana. We ordered seafood and it is laid before us, rich savory and
succulent. We finished almost at 15:00 and we were really full of that grand
Iloilo lunch that Derek provided for our lot. Randy took a long drive back to
our place. There, we returned the things to the back of the Strada.
We are going to Alimodian but we
have to pass by first at Adventure Central, the home of Iloilo’s best sports
climbing wall and it was here that the drawing board of the successful completion of the
Panay Trilogy is headquartered. I get to meet the staff and it feels good to just sit, suckle a
cold bottle of Red Horse and watch future rock jocks solve problems above.
We leave Adventure Central in a
convoy of three pickups. It is now in the middle of the afternoon. We reach
Alimodian with plenty of daylight to spare. I chose a spot for my
hammock-and-shelter setup and I am home. A bottle of local brandy appears and
my cup is empty. I am thirsty.
Randy gave me a hatchet. The
axehead is acquired from the traditional blacksmiths of Sibalom, Antique, while
the haft is carved by his own hands. Picked on one side are the words “Camp
Red” painted in bold red while on the other side is the emblem of the Guild: a
modern interpretation of a noble Native American warrior in bold red.
Could they have known my birthday
and kept it hush-hush? I am not surprised there. I know that game. Okay, THEY
do know. They just gave me a small lighted candle. They sang the birthday song.
I blew the candle and clapping of hands and laughter echo in the evening. I
open my Lenovo A7000 and a flood of greetings swamp my Facebook newsfeed.
Document done in LibreOffice 5.3
Writer
Photos by Jonathaniel Apurado
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