THE PATHFINDER

I HAVE PROMISED DR. SHAWN ESPINA that I would be back. I stayed overnight last February in their farm estate, Camp LOV, located in Tubod, Sibonga. That time, I was pampered well with rich but healthy food that was sourced from the bounties of their organic farming. They developed, grew, fed and prepared these things – plant and livestock – for soon they will be opening Camp LOV to visitors, in a setting of agricultural tourism and the healthy lifestyle fad.

They have designated camping grounds for tents and hammocks for those who would stay overnight, a meditation nook, a dedicated path to tour around the farm estate, which is halved into two by the presence of a farm road that connect Sibonga with Colawin, Argao. The farm is accessible by SUV or pickup trucks and by motorcycles. I took a motorcycle the last time but, today, April 7, 2017, I am inside a Toyota Hi-Lux double cab, driven by Markus Immer. Going with us is Jonathaniel Apurado.

Jon have walked with me during that great Thruhike of Cebu from Liloan Point, Santander to Bulalaque Point, Daanbantayan for 27 days last January 17, 2017. It was one of my greatest adventures and we held the outdoors community in awe and unbelief with the feat. Markus, on the other hand, lent his support to the Thruhike by leading the supply run on five different rendezvous points and even walked the last 40 kilometers or so with us. We three deserve tranquility in a peaceful place like Camp LOV.

We arrived at Camp LOV at around 11:00 and we three proceed to a couple of big mango trees, past the pigeon bean (Local name: kadyos) plot, to set up our hammocks. Coconut tree trunks provided us places to tie our hammocks and the overhead shelters. We choose the kind that has the tops leaning away from us. There were just few places which favored me and Jon. We gave the privilege of the best spot to Markus on a mango that has low branches. The day was bright and sunny but breeze came uninterrupted.

When we were done, we proceed to the lanai where Doc Shawn and wife, Doc Jacqueline, were lounging under a shaded pergola. It is a warm day but there is breeze that blew away the warmer air. A few minutes passed by and the most awaited Camp LOV moment of organic food got served 15 past twelve. A prayer of thanks to the Almighty for placing me on the right place on the right time. He has a task for me tomorrow and how He prepares His servants well before going out to battle.

After the meal, Doc Shawn talked to us about tomorrow’s activity. What we would do is find a route from the highway somewhere in Bagacay to Lindogon, where the Shrine of the Virgin Mary is located. It would be a pilgrimage route, since it would be faith-related. His son Mico would arrive soon and he would bring his quadcopter drone to support the exploration.

Even without the benefit of a map and compass, much less with a GPS, I found tomorrow’s exploration a walk in the park. I have done much harder and longer ones before. The 400-kilometer Cebu Highlands Trail is my crowning glory. It took me almost six years to complete it. But a pilgrimage route is different. It has more meaning. I would dedicate tomorrow for bigger things and as preparation for Cebu’s own Camino de Santiago which is now on its incipient stage.

After about two hours on the lanai, we three went back to the hammock area to enjoy coffee. It is 15:30 and it would be super nice to go horizontal after coffee time and enjoy a late siesta. The breeze is beginning to go cool and your tummy is full. It is like living the life on a ship. Did I not tell you that I once worked in one? Sail a few days, anchor at a bay for weeks. Meet beautiful island maidens and drink native wine. Markus could relate. He skips his own boat.

I awoke at 17:30 and mosquitoes began to torment me once I am out of my bug net. I do not worry about the suckers that fly during nighttime. What I worry are the ones that appear at this hour. They are bigger, hurts more when they stick their needles into you, and therefore annoying. I need to make a fire and smoke them out. The thicker the smoke, the better. Fire, or the smell of smoke, is a genetically-acquired memory that puts them on flight. Have smoke, will travel. 

 

We three go back to the lanai and another superb meal is laid before you. God is so kind! The Espina couple are such gracious hosts and they pamper you with their hospitality and tales. Mico is already here with wife and daughter. We conversed the hours away until such time when it was quite late to be comfortably awake, with the cool breeze nudging you, now and then, to make a quick bee line to the hammocks. The path back is now lit with kerosene lamps placed above bamboo poles stuck to the ground.

I opened my eyes when the first streaks of light caressed my eyelids on the second day, April 8. It is 05:30 and too early to rise. I listened to any rustlings from Markus and Jon but found them still. I would have loved to sleep again but we have a task to fulfill later. The Espina couple might have prepared breakfast early so we could start also early to the town center. When my zipper started to make its opening sound, the other two people did likewise. We return to the lanai and refresh ourselves with home-brewed coffee.

Glenn Pestaño would be here soon and he arrived as he promised he would. He came with his Yamaha DT motorcycle. Glenn would join with us later but, first, we need to have that breakfast. We left the farm at 08:30 in a convoy of one SUV and two pickups. Glenn rode with us. It seems we have more people who wanted to join with us once we reach the town center of Sibonga. They are Justin Apurado, Locel Navarro and Cleos Navarro.

The convoy arrive at 09:00 and, just a few minutes later, the newcomers joined us. We all proceed south to the village of Bagacay. Waiting at the Buko Beach Resort are Elfin Mendez, the owner of the resort, a representative of the municipal tourism office and a local scuba diver. Our presence here is part of the bigger picture in making the Municipality of Sibonga into a well-planned ecological, cultural, religious and agricultural destination of Cebu.

Buko Beach Resort is located on the northern part of the mouth of the Sta. Filomena River. The diver would scour the coastal waters and along the estuary of the river to determine the health of the seabed and coral reefs. More than a month ago, Dr. Espina initiated an exploration into the Sta. Filomena River. That time, Randy Salazar and his group of SUP and kayak enthusiasts, paddled upstream to probe its navigability, the health of mangroves and presence of aquatic life.

On our part, we would start here in Buko Beach Resort. This is a logical location to start. It has a wide parking space for vehicles should people think of going on pilgrimage – on foot of course – to the Shrine of the Virgin Mary. We would also be documenting vegetation. As we were about to launch that, a huge tree caught my attention. It bore nuts. I discovered that Sibonga hosts a still-living boat-fruited mangrove (Local name: dungon). This is a valuable find and it is worth that both Doc Shawn and Elfin know this.

We arrive at the Cebu South Road, cross the river on to the other side on a steel bridge, and cross the road and go down a short staircase into the upper bank of the river. We will be following the Sta. Filomena River upstream by its upper banks on the south side. There is an open well that supply people of fresh water, some bananas, a few houses and, beyond, wild vegetation. Three years ago, the river overflowed during Typhoon Ruby and washed away the old concrete bridge and Elfin’s prized vineyard.

What trail it may had is now overgrown by thick vegetation. Fortunately for me, somebody have walked here just a few minutes ago, perhaps a farmer. The broken leaves parted by feet are still fresh. We have glimpses of the aquamarine-colored river, indicating that it is deep. At bends, sand and rocks accumulate at where water current is not strong and carved steep banks at where it is most strongest. There is a natural bathing area where a very well-polished tree trunk tilted towards midstream. People used this to jump down the stream.

The path goes through shoulder-high vegetation and, over a high ground, I glimpsed the man whom I had been following invisibly for minutes. In a matter of a couple of minutes, I was on the same spot I saw the man. There is an abandoned field and there is a trail. That trail leads to another trail and another and this is where my skills began to work. Would I take the high ground? Or would I take the ones lining the edge of the stream? Or would I opt to take the middle which goes past a bent coconut tree?

When in doubt, you should do a short recon and you can determine where the gist of the trail goes. The trail I am taking took me to a farmed lot and twisted past an old ruin and then I meet carabaos and people. A party of teenagers are digging and plucking cassava rootcrops from the ground. I saw a path going down the streambank and into water and across the other side. This is not the one I am looking. I pursued the main trail.

The trail forked up ahead. There is only one to choose from. Which is which? I did a recon on one and I found the path well-beaten and populated but it is not the one I am looking for. I pushed on the other and it goes to higher ground and uphill where I could see the lay of things. Far away from us, I could see a road and behind us is the coastline. Everyone were exhausted by the stifling humidity near a stream and the whiff of fresh breeze on open country is most welcome.   

The trail took us on open ground dotted with coconut trees and it ended at the same road I saw many minutes ago. We are in Lindogon. Across us is a terminal for public-for-hire vehicles that park here after disgorging their passengers at the holy place where they wait when they would pick them up back to Cebu City. The road going to the shrine is moot and academic. There is no sense of continuing the route exploration.

The village of Lindogon is where the Shrine of the Virgin Mary is located. It is NOT located in Simala. Simala is just a village near the coastline where the road to the shrine is located and it is unfair for the people of Lindogon to be denied of that privilege of being known by that place where this popular shrine is located. The misconception is very alarming. What if donations and community projects given by generous pilgrims that should have been theirs would be given to those less deserving? Credit should be given where it is due.

A pickup driven by Doc Shawn came to pick us all up and we made it back to Buko Beach Resort. A lunch of roasted chicken, braised pork and rice are laid on one long table courtesy of the Espina couple. We stayed for two hours at the resort until the scuba diver finished his work and made it to dry ground. Then we proceed back to the town center so Markus could complement the farm food stock since our company are increasing in size. One of those is a case of pilsen to celebrate our quick exploration. It took us just an hour!

 

We arrive at Camp LOV at 17:30 and Justin, Locel and Cleos set up a lone tent to house the three of them while Glenn opted to sleep at the lanai when it is abandoned. I left the company of people for the inner peace of my hammock. I am tired and I need a private time for myself and the music files of my Lenovo A7000. I am awakened by Jon when dinner time is ready at 19:00.

The more people for company, the merrier. The pale pilsen supplied the lubrication where good conversation moved flawlessly to here and there. Then the lanai is slowly abandoned until only me and Glenn are left to finish off the last bottles. Then it was time to leave Glenn at 01:30 as I tread the lighted path for my own refuge. Too much beer gets you drowsy but, even without that, I could get it here in Camp LOV, where the breeze blow the whole day through.

People are all up and noisy on the third day, April 9. Justin and Locel are in the business of folding the tent inside its bag. Jon’s hammock is nowhere on its place. His bag is packed tight and ready. So is Markus. It seemed I am the only one still riding my dream ride. It is still 07:45. Why the rush? It is Sunday! Besides, they have not taken breakfast yet. I leave them to their wits and walk towards the lanai where all the action is.

Ah, just as I have expected, farm-brewed coffee! Relax! Enjoy the day. Glenn have packed his things to give space for the diners. Doc Shawn and Doc Jacq are already there, sorting out yesterday’s activity. The crowd arrive just in time when breakfast got served. Farm-prepared chocolate paired with sticky rice, plain rice and Valenciana rice, organic meat and sausage, salted eggs, bananas and mangoes. God is kind to me today.

After the meal, Doc Shawn toured the visitor all around the farm. I have noticed the Central American imports, the pittaya and the prickly pear, growing big quickly with all those sunshine and generous tropical rain. All the plants, native fowls and livestocks are healthy as was the last time I saw them. I see fruiting black mulberry shrubs lining a path towards the shed where the native pigs are bred.

We cross a dry stream and climb up a low hill. In the navel where upland marsh palms (saksak) abound, is a natural spring. Before that, I was wondering all the time how could such a place be called “Tubod” (English: water spring) when it is denuded of forest cover necessary to produce water from out of rocks and mountainsides? I was using my Westernized brain when I made this observation.

The original inhabitants knew what they were talking about and, thereafter, naming places according to terrain features and plants. They know where to look for water and staked homesteads. I am just amazed at how their knowledge about the land and my own are universal as if we came from the same mothers?

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LI’L OL’ VALLEY

I WAS INVITED TO THE SOFT opening of Camp LOV. I was supposed to be there yesterday but a very important family affair constrained me to stay home-bound. I know that it is a three-day camping activity and, at least, I would be able to attend today, February 25, 2017, its second day. The very, no – make that super, nice couple, Dr. Shawn Espina and Dr. Jacqueline Jabonero-Espina, are expecting me today.

My friends from the Camp Red Bushcraft and Survival Guild were already there yesterday morning. I also know that Randy Salazar of Philippine Adventure Consultants and Jei Servano of Silangan Outdoor Equipment were also with the pack. I left the city after lunch bound for the southern municipality of Sibonga, 66 kilometers away, by public transport. The town is famous for the Shrine of the Virgin Mary in Lindogon and it attracted pilgrims and tourists from all over the world.

By 14:00, I was already in front of the Nuestra Señora del Pilar Parish, trying to get a clue of how to get a ride to Camp LOV? It is located on the mountain village of Tubod and the best transport there for a peones is by a motorcycle. I was directed by a local to their public market where motorcycles-for-hire dedicated for the mountain villages are parked. There are no public transport except by motorcycles.

I took one and I believed it took us about 40 minutes to reach my destination. The driver asked for P50 but I doubled it and gave another extra for fuel for a very entertaining ride. The driver reminds me of the character who drove Pepe the Mule in the Michael Douglas movie titled “Romancing the Stone”. He talked a lot and point to houses, people, trees and animals as his kin or belonging to his relatives. Despite his humble occupation, he was able to finish three children in college: one of whom became a policeman, another a business manager, and the youngest a nurse. Amazing!

Camp LOV is beside a road or, if I may correct myself, traversed across by a road, halving the property into two parts. On the left, if you happen to come from the public market (to your right by way of Colawin, Argao), is the main structure, farm, animal husbandry and the campsite. On the right is another farm and animal cages and the bunkhouse. All plants and animals are grown and fed organically.

Camp LOV is an experimental combination of organic farming and leisure camping. It would be opened to the public soon and we were all invited there to tour the property and to test its amenities, its food, its ambiance and its hospitality. The road I mentioned is a dirt road opened by the municipal government to give more and better access for farmers and residents to sell their produce. It circuits its way from coastal highway and market to the farms and to another highway that linked Dumanjug, from the west, with Sibonga.

Unfortunately for me, I would not be joining my friends for today and for tomorrow as they will all be going home! They were all waiting for me just to pass me that news. How sad! However, I am used to be with just by myself and would have the advantage of enjoying silence which I always crave. Before they left, we posed for a group photo on the front porch of Camp LOV wearing the Silangan-designed jerseys. The good thing is that the Espina couple, along with their children and three guests, would keep me company.

There is silence indeed as I settled myself in one of the chairs of the lanai. I am following the spectacle of leftovers from my departed friends and some of that are two gallons of unadulterated coconut wine (Local name: tuba lina), which I can never let pass away. Over conversations with Doc Shawn and his guests, I sipped the native concoction, glass after glass, until it was late afternoon. One of the guests decided to stay overnight.

Dinner came and there is enough space around the table in the dining room. Served were organic chicken adobao, upland rice, organic vegetables and farm-produced juice drinks. Illumination over the table came from kerosene-lit storm lamps. Good old country house ambiance. Wood and materials used for the construction of this small farm house were repurposed wood and second-hand accessories and iron grilles.

I may have to tour the whole property first thing in the morning. For now, it is intelligent conversation time at the lanai with Doc Shawn, Doc Jacqui and guest. Our talks wandered through plants, husbanded animals, organic technology, agriculture tourism, distribution, business opportunities and Camp LOV. The second gallon of native wine which I have all to myself, thanks to the host’s generosity, keep me abreast of the subject matters at hand.

As the lanai was getting deserted, two third-generation Silangan hammocks that will be slept in by two sons of the Espina couple claimed their spots on the posts supporting the pergola. My own second-generation Silangan hammock joined theirs. I spent the rest of the night reading a novel, “The Postman”, while sipping dry the last ounces of the “tuba lina”.

I woke up early on the second day, February 26, 2017, and I removed my hammock and stowed it back inside my Silangan Predator Z trizip bag. I had a good night’s sleep and I just burped gas out of my system which smelled fruity like coconut. Farm attendants instantly cleared the lanai table of used cubiertos, drinking glasses and plates and wiped clean the top.

A thermos and empty cups are placed on a small table on the side. I went for it when coffee, fresh milk and brown sugar appeared. Coffee in a clear country air can never be second best. Breakfast is in the air and I can feel it coming when I smelled the aroma of home-brewed chocolate. The table gets populated and the best of countryside organic meal is spread before me. It is a winner for me.

Sticky rice are paired with the chocolate drink, provincial style. Then there is the organic local sausage (chorizo) that is quite saucy and plump, upland rice, braised native pork and grilled blue-fin tuna. With all that food, how can you move and tour the five hectares of land? I do not worry. I can take anything, believe me. I am in my best fighting weight.

Twelve days ago, I just completed a 27-day Thruhike of Cebu from Liloan, Santander to Bulalaque Point, Maya, Daanbantayan. That is a route of 400 kilometers, more or less, traversing along the most mountainous region of this island province. I weighed 212 pounds in the beginning and was left with a light 186 pounds by the time I ended the journey.

Although my abdomen is a bit tight, I begin my tour inside the tiny bathroom of the farmhouse. Floor tiles, bowl, sink, faucets, the small glass window and the narrow door are recycled. It has piped water, by gravity, from an overhead tank. I rather use the standby water inside the big bucket to wash myself to conserve electricity for the water pump.

Inside the farmhouse is a master bedroom. A ladder direct you to a loft where it is used as sleeping places. There is the small living space facing the porch and the road. Adjacent is the dining table and a step away is open air kitchen and sink. There is a narrow stairway going down to another but bigger open-air kitchen, popular among local households as the “dirty kitchen”.

I go back to the lanai and walk towards the open field. This is where my friends camped two nights ago. Further down the slope is a small stream where there are coconuts, mature hambabalod, alom and binunga trees, bamboos and other native variety of vegetation. I follow it upstream and found healthy young mabolo and marang trees. I even found mangrove species of dungon and tabon-tabon recently planted.

There is a copse of mangoes and I found a good hammock camping area. There is a corral underneath the trees which could be a holding area for swamp buffaloes, cows or goats and had not been used for a long time. From here I walk along a field of native beans and an open ground planted with prickly pears. Not farther away are pittayas climbing their way to horizontal bars.

Going to the lanai, there is a little tree nursery. The Espina couple choose their plants well, concentrating more on indigenous trees and rare fruit trees, spices and flowering plants. Even as I scrutinized the plants, a mature kaffir lime tree, bearing fruits, made me shake my head in disbelief. Along the sides of the fence are spices galore, some of which I have not seen before. Then I saw another rare local lime known as biasong bearing fruits also.

As I went outside to the road, rare jade vine flowers hanged and shaded the two SUVs parking from underneath it. I crossed the road to look over the other side of the farm. There are more spices here, different climbing vegetables, different papayas, different bananas and flowering pittayas. There are roses on the slopes and lemoncitos while cows grazed underneath mango trees. Oh man, I got a case of Plant ID Overload.

I see a chicken coop and it is populated by native variety of fowls like the parawan and the jolo and these look very primeval. On another side are ducks and geese, noisy as ever as they can be. I looked at a small man-made pond with greenish content. On closer inspection, it contains tiny plants. Later, according to Doc Shawn, it contained azolla and duck weed. These are used as feeds to the farm animals and are high in protein.

I went back to the farmhouse but there is a structure that I noticed a while ago which I almost missed on my morning tour. I go down the hill and follow a path. Greeting me are turkeys. Beyond it are the centerpiece of this organic farming business: native sows. This breed is getting rarer and rarer as it is permeable to disease. I am glad that Doc Shawn is preserving its lineage by breeding it here. Each sow nurse six piglets in their separate pens.

It was almost 11:00 when I returned to the lanai. The couple were already there along with their children and guest. Their granddaughter had just completed her harvest of the beans and would be one of the dishes that would be served later. I was sweating as it was now warm but, despite that, cool breeze ensures that you do not overheat.

I changed into a dry t-shirt and hydrate cold water from a ewer. What I saw, I talked about it, to the elation of the Espina couple. Establishing Camp LOV was a project that they have planned for a long time and they decided to push it through in small driblets. First, as a hobby, just to satisfy what they learned in seminars and workshops yet it provided them fresh organic food which excess they sold to their network of friends.

Then they have to expand the size when they realized that the produce provided by the existing farm could not cope up with the growing demand for organic vegetables, fruit, meat and other green goods. It had also allowed their farm neighbors additional income gained by working in Camp LOV or by their own effort on their own plots.

Then there is agriculture tourism and the fad of healthy organic food. Camp LOV has the acreage to make it viable and sustainable, and the water sources to make it a year-round affair. Business opportunities treble when people begin to take notice of your amenities and the services that go with it. To make their ideas harmonize with the tourism blueprint of Sibonga, they had met and sat with the municipal officials on many occasions.

It is just a matter of time when the Espina couple would work on the honest inputs that the visitors have suggested. Lunch time came as expected. Pork bean soup, grilled tuna, tuna in brine, processed organic meat, upland rice and farm-fresh juice. The morning meal had not vacated most of the space inside my intestines as the new batch of warm and delicious food begins to fill in the empty spaces.

I am full and feel bloated. There is nothing to do now but wait for our departure from Camp LOV. There are no more native concoctions but there is an empty lounge chair and the unfinished novel. Drowsiness overcame me and I have to give my eyes their deserved rest. It is a long afternoon and we finally departed at five. Dr. Espina made it sure that I bring a gallon of coconut vinegar for the wife.

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