NAPO TO BABAG TALES CXIII: Hard Reality

THE BUSAY LUT-OD WATERFALLS of Sapangdaku, Cebu City is not a tourism destination compared to the more spectacular and popular ones like the Kawasan in Badian, the Tumalog in Oslob, the Mantayupan in Barili, the Aguinid in Samboan and a host of others which dot the island of Cebu. But I am happy about its anonymity. It meant that it will not host people.

Locals have told me long ago that the Sapangdaku Creek pass through five succeeding drops – like a giant staircase – hence, the name “busay lut-od”. In all my visits there, I have come to know, and seen, of only three. Maybe because of a single path to one which lets me see the two other waterfalls, all at the same time. If I have time, I might visit the rest of the Busay Lut-od.

I have guided many people here in the past years, to include fourteen Danish girls, but I am now a bit choosy. Sometimes I refer it to other people like the time a celebrated Old Manila tourist guide, Carlos Celdran, visited and bathed here in 2014. Sometimes I just leave requests unanswered when I find myself busy with other projects or that would-be clients are a bit stiff for my comfort.

I do not personally guide people there anymore if you are just after scenic landscapes, for leisure’s sake or in the aid of your physical exercise. I would, if you could tickle my interest like what would I gain if I do so? I am more of a wilderness guide and less of a mountain guide and that might cost you more. But, do not worry, I have associates to fill your wanderlust.

I have brought people there again just this year. The outdoors is now my full-time occupation. Last March, students from the Cebu Normal University conducted an interview of me in the pursuit of their studies. In July, I accommodated Australian guests to a city wilderness tour which brought them here to the Busay Lut-od. Today – August 13, 2016 – three students from the University of San Jose-Recoletos will have their chance.

I am almost always very welcoming to students doing field study, not necessarily in the wilderness, in the pursuit of complying their school requirements. I am a parent myself and I know the stress one gets when their kids do not make the grade through difficult circumstances. I am very accommodating here and I gave them guidance and hints on anything they need to know.

It is a warm morning, almost perfect, with wisps of clouds floating by. We all meet at the parking lot of the Our Lady of Guadalupe and, at first, there were four: two males and two females. They are BS Tourism students and they will make a feasibility study of the Busay Lut-od Waterfalls. I gave them the idea of the terrain, climate, prominent landmarks and other things of what to expect along the trail.

Most of the time some students do not understand how the outdoors looked like or how they would fit themselves in there. The choice of clothes and footwear are disappointing. They, almost always, dress for the malls. Well, I could not help it except manage my pace to a creeping one with lots of rests. I hope the Guy Upstairs would turn back the temperature by a few degrees.

To distract the tightness and difficulties of what they wore, I talk about the plants growing along the trail and beside the stream. I point to them a durian tree with several fruits hanging at its high branches. The same with a marang tree. Only one from the four could discern the rarity of durians in Cebu. At another time, a farm of roses and daisies. Then broccoli-like canopies of mango trees in the distant hills.

The long rests under the shade of trees begets me smiles and their gratitude. If they could only talk about their feelings. Nevertheless, I would know what they are feeling right now. That their tight shoes and tight jeans beget blisters anytime today. It is a given. The outdoors is not something to take for granted. They should do their homework.

We reach the river crossing where there is a natural spring. I insist that they rest long here as the path will be slightly steep once we proceed to the waterfalls area. As they talk among themselves, I refilled my Nalgene bottle. Their leader, Peter Lubas, is much more prepared than the rest and he is carrying a heavy camera with heavy accessories.

He says, he chanced upon my name when he read the blog, Adrenaline Romance. Besides that, the owner of the blog, Gian Carlo Jubela, who is a friend of mine, recommended me for this sort of project. He emailed me but I suggested to him to search me in Facebook instead, which he did. I gave him my discounted professional fee which he accepted to fulfill once they have sufficient material to document.

That material for documentation is still a long way but their efforts would not go to waste. On the moderately steep trail, they walk with so much labor. I assure them that it is just 30 minutes to condition their mind so they could time their attempts. On the last rise, we arrive at another path going down to the waterfalls. It is steep with loose surface the last time around.

I go down first and then Peter and the two girls. I believe the other guy is covering the tailend of our downhill hike. I took a headcount once I reached the first waterfall. Three. The last would still be up there, I guess. I would give him two minutes. It was that moment after I gave a briefing to the three that I noticed the other one had not arrived yet.

I left the three and made my way up and see no one there. He might have turned back. The tight jeans and tight shoes might have to do with that. Painful lessons. I go back to the three and informed them of their missing companion. They smiled but they already know the reason why. I gave them space. I climb the side of the waterfall and I am now on another level. Another waterfall,

The two girls took a bath while Peter climbed up to photograph this second waterfall. For an hour, they take their fill of this hidden wonder, just a few kilometers from Capitol and not much walking and fare expenses. It is just at the backyard of Cebu City. Quite accessible but, let the rest know about it, and it would be heaped with garbage, just like all those popular waterfalls I just named.

The activity ended before noon and we were already at Guadalupe. I earned my guiding fee and it is a hard way to earn one when you know that what was sideline then becomes now your bread and butter. It is not everyday I get chances like this. It is a hard reality. Despite that, I choose to be choosy.

Why? Because I refuse to earn without conscience. I am against commercialism and popular tourism. I am one of the last gatekeepers of our Mother Earth.

Document done in LibreOffice 5.2 Writer

BUSHCRAFT BUHISAN XXXVIII: In the Big League

TEACHING BUSHCRAFT AND SURVIVAL is a passion which I love to do. I found pleasure in sharing it to my fellow countrymen and to foreigners alike. Language barriers are not a problem with me and I find it entertaining to see faces of people amused at my thick Cebuano-laced tongue trying to make a conversation in Tagalog or navigating my lecture through its intended course in my coarse English, supplemented with hand gestures to cross the language barrier.

It is good that I have something to read on in almost-perfect English prepared by me, of course, which is now standard matrix to which I conduct these outdoor trainings. In the entire album of my photos, you might see me reading to the participants or discussing something to them while holding stapled sheaves of bond paper. I do not teach in helter-skelter fashion and I do these, instead, in an organized manner.

It is not often I receive foreign guests interested to learn the BASIC TROPICAL BUSHCRAFT COURSE like I did once coming from the UK and the USA. While English may be the preferred international language in business and commerce but it is still Greek to a lot of people specially from the former Eastern bloc countries. I even toyed with the idea of learning basic Russian, if ever these guys come to town. They did come, however.

What came to town instead were five guests from Poland. Surprisingly, they can speak and understand English very well and it made my day. That day is January 13, 2016 and I arrive at their hotel early in the morning to pick them up and whisk them away to the parking lot of Guadalupe church. Another client – a Filipino – arrive to take his place inside the small Suzuki Scrum mini pickup that I hired while I wait for my assistant.

After finishing with my procurement of food ingredients, Ernie Salomon arrive and take his place in the ever tightening room of the small Suzuki. We proceed to Baksan Hills while the driver shift to four-wheel drive as the road go steep. We arrive at the trailhead at around 08:00 and I do my first duty by briefing all my guests of the terrain and the camp rules. I intend to set up our campsite at the old Camp Damazo.

While I have taught outdoor seminars of this same nature many times in the past, I did it part-time since I have a day job. After I have parted with my employer on the last day of 2015, I decide to go full time. This would be my first endeavor as an unemployed. The five from Poland and one Filipino would be my first clients. I am providing them a Silangan Rev 20 tent and three hammocks (Silangan and Tingguian Tribe) for this occasion plus an Apexus fly sheet. Sef Abella, the lone Filipino, has with him a hammock-and-shelter set.

I am left with a cheap laminated-nylon sheet which I intend to use as a ground sheet to sleep upon without an overhead shelter and hope that it never rains. Ernie will not stay overnight but will prepare the meals when I start the lectures. I tied up the hammocks and the fly sheet between four trunks while two Poles set up the tent. The camp ground is dry while Creek Alpha below still has running water which vanish and appear in some places.

Our water supply are composed of bottled water and in Nalgene bottles. I may have to supplement these by sourcing water from the streambed for cooking and washing since what we have are not enough for two days. The jungle is a humid place and it is very warm, especially after a light shower had fallen down. We dug two water holes on the sandy bed and line the insides with stones and let the silt settle down. Meanwhile, I designate the latrine area sixty meters away from our camp.

When I have taken coffee, I begin by introducing myself to the participants, then the Introduction to Bushcraft. Bushcraft is very popular in the northern hemisphere, especially among countries located in temperate zones – which Poland is – and this is a serious activity for them. While bushcraft may be associated or mixed in with survival, I emphasized that bushcraft is really different from survival. While survival is immediate, bushcraft is the preparation thereof.

As they begin to understand that, I proceed to Ethical Bushcraft. When a lot of people begin to practice bushcraft as a leisure weekend activity, expect land owners and park managers to frown upon them, like those happening in the USA and the UK right now. Here in the Philippines, people have not totally grasped the idea of bushcraft yet, but, in time, they will. My introduction of Ethical Bushcraft in all my outdoor seminars is to educate people about the judicious use of forest resources.

Among the most important tools in bushcraft and, to a higher extent, survival, is the knife. Since it cuts through organic material and flesh, education about its proper use is of high importance. The topic of Knife Care and Safety precedes everything before handling a knife or any type of blade. This covers from safety carriage and rest, travelling, blade-handling efficiency, blade designs and grinds, sharpening techniques, courtesy, the Nessmuk trio, even our local knife law, if it helps them.

I would have Survival Tool-Making as the next topic like I did with my previous seminars but I proceed instead to Plant ID and Foraging. This section talks about hunting for food, collecting essential items like tinder, foraging edible plants, making traps and snares, and identifying plants, especially the toxic kind, which the tropics has a lot. Here in the Philippines, edible plants are that many since most of these are introduced from Central and South America by the Spanish and, later, by the Americans.

I will have to engage them in a Discovery Hike so they will encounter some harmful plants like the rattan vines, the stinging nettles and the Asiatic bitter yams on our way to forage a bamboo pole which can only be found at Creek Bravo. The bamboo is essential in tool-making and can be carved easily with a knife according to its use. I found no dried bamboo of the exact size for fire-making and have to make do with a smaller one. It is a thin and flimsy piece.

When I have secured a green bamboo pole and the dry bamboo, we double back to camp for our lunch, since it is almost 13:00 already. Ernie did a good job of the pork adobao and the five Poles found it excellent. We always cook our food without monosodium glutamate (MSG) and their derivatives disguised as “magic mix”. I have influenced Ernie how to cook with the right frame of the mind and, for that, he is now the best outdoors chef in Cebu, even in the entire country, hands down!

After an hour of siesta, we begin Survival Tool-Making. It is about making survival tools for just about anything from digging sticks, cordage, dining and cooking implements, hunting and fishing applications, and others as obscure as the batoning stick. I show to them the idea of a digging stick – taller than me, heavier than usual and flat-edged instead of pointed. Then we proceed with cordage using fibers of plantain. Making it strong by twining three lengths and braiding these together.

To apply what they learned in knife safety on the making of survival tools and to practice their dexterity with a knife, I suggest to them to make spoons and drinking jugs from the green bamboo pole. Before they start that, I teach them how to use a small knife to cut up bamboo with the use of a baton and how to make a cooking vessel from the same bamboo using the Trailhawk System. I choose my William Rodgers knife to do that demo.

While all are busy, I make a pressure-trigger snare from small pieces of bamboo. It may look so complex but, actually, is the most common type that most people use. When I find them in a lull, I lead them to where the snare is located and show them how it works. You may or may not place bait and it works better with heavier fowls like chicken, ducks, turkey and geese. Meanwhile, Ernie has to leave at 15:00 but he marinated the rest of the meat for our supper later.

Time ran its course and, when we sensed that it is already 16:30, we forage more firewood. Sef ably helped me with the fires and the pork barbecue. The Poles are now ready to cook rice on their bamboo pot. I teach them the Trailhawk System for cooking rice which is quite different with how you usually cook it. Dinner came at 19:00 and the rice was perfectly cooked. The bottom of the bamboo did not suffer holes and I am quite satisfied of their job.

The Campfire Yarns and Storytelling begins with knowing each country. The Poles are curious about our close attachment to the Americans and what would I feel about the idea of different price tags for tourists and another for locals? Our fond regard of the USA started when it introduced public education which a former colonizer failed; then we fought with them in Bataan and suffered the same ignominy after defeat. Many of their soldiers voluntarily stayed to resist tyranny. We fought with them again in Korea and in Vietnam even though these were not our war.

My guests have visited Loay, Bohol and Oslob, Cebu and they would proceed to El Nido, Palawan tomorrow. They do not like places which are saturated with tourists and that is why they took a chance with learning bushcraft in a jungle. Double pricing is giving tourism a bad name and I do not like this practice. In fact, a lot of Filipinos do not like it at all and the government should take steps to regulate establishments employing this bad practice. In fact, what price I gave them are similar to what I offer to Filipinos.

Now my turn. I asked them if they know Lech Waleska and St. Karol Wojtyla? All five knows the former but only one knows the latter. I have seen Karol Wojtyla when he came here in 1981 and he was carrying the more popular name of Pope John Paul II. I mentioned the places Pomerania and Gdansk and they describe to me of these places. When they will return to Poland, it would be the start of winter and they would expect below zero temperatures.

I carried a metal flask filled with a specially aged Matador brandy and I shared this to my guest which made our conversations more fluid. All turn in at 21:00 while I stay awake to stand guard and watch over the fire. I am sleeping out but I am protected by a hooded wool sweater. Fortunately, it did not rain. I enjoyed the MP3 music from Cherry Mobile U2 phone tuned low. I believe drowsiness won over me at around 02:00.

I wake up the next day – January 14 – at 05:30 and everybody are still asleep. I use a Trangia alcohol burner to boil water for coffee. After I had coffee I cook an egg omelet with that and slice it equally for 11 sandwiches – two each for the five from Poland, one for Sef and none for me. Also fry 20 pieces of small “lumpia”, grounded meat handrolled with thin flour wrappers.

Breakfast was decimated without a waste and they begin to pack their things and clean up the campsite. They have a plane to catch at 14:00 and I promised to send them off to the airport before 12:00. One guy showed me an unhusked coconut that he found at Bohol and asked me how to open it. I showed him how and I prepared a small cook pot underneath to catch the liquid when the shell is broke. All five of them took turns in sipping the coconut water.

But I have one last topic to talk, which is Firecraft and it is already 09:00. I have to make this quick. Would that be possible? I have to improvise and start off with what makes a fire. I talk about the fire triangle where three elements should be present so fire could start and, conversely, you take away any element from the three and the fire dies. There has been a revision with this and they added another element – chemical reaction – to make it a fire tetrahedron. But I liked to explain it in its old context because it is simpler.

Then I reminded them that the firewood they collected yesterday from the ground were not the best firewood because these absorb moisture from the ground and it hampers the progress of your fire. The best firewood are those that are found hanging or those that do not touch the ground and it is best that you start with pencil-lead sizes, then pencil-wood sizes and, lastly, the thumb sized.

Tinder materials are anything that is light, dry and fluffy. I prepare a tinder bundle, sometimes called a “bird's nest”, and show them how it is done. On the contrary, it is best that you collect different tinder material and store these in a fire kit else you make one yourself. I show them my fire kit and the different tinder I foraged as well as charclothe inside the can that had been used to make these. I show them the original material – pieces of cotton jeans – before these were charred and turned into charcoal clothe.

I start making fire with the easiest which is now very popular because of the advent of survival TV, and that is striking a ferro rod. Taught them two different styles in striking a ferro rod which both participants tried with success on my tinder made from a hair-like fiber of a sugar palm. Showed them also a much older contraption – the flint and steel – which should be paired with charclothe.

Then I proceed to the friction method of making a fire. I have already prepared the one with the flimsy bamboo yesterday. I show them each piece of the bamboo fire-saw and what should you do with it, including its tinder bundle, which I demonstrate in making one. I rub both pieces and it emit smoke until the bottom piece broke caused by the pressure of my weight and the process of rubbing. On the other hand, I find no success with the bowdrill method as the pressure of time is now so greatly felt. I remembered their flight schedule.

I decide to pack my things inside my two bags I used for this occasion: a Sandugo Khumbu 40L and a Lifeguard USA. We retrace the trail that we took yesterday in coming here. We arrive at the road at 10:50 and walk for about a kilometer downhill where the Suzuki Scrum is waiting. We arrive at the departure area of the Mactan-Cebu International Airport at around 12:10 despite encountering traffic caused by the festivities of the coming Sinulog Festival.

We parted and I believed I have entered the portals of the big league reserved only for those who have created their name doing what they loved best. I cannot turn back now and I am made.

Document done in LibreOffice 4.4 Writer

NAPO TO BABAG TALES 100: Wet and Wild

AFTER MY YESTERDAY'S boo-boo, I finally got over it and go, once again, to the parking lot of the Our Lady of Guadalupe Parish. Today, August 23, 2015, is real, for sure. The biology class of the University of San Jose-Recoletos are coming over. According to their professor, Ryan Ymbong, there will be twenty of them.

Unfortunately, Ernie Salomon will not be with me. Another from the Camp Red Bushcraft and Survival Guild – Nelson Tan – will take his place but he will be late. Fine. For the past few days, weather patterns are beginning to be predictable. Rain will pour hard during noon and another sequel in the middle of the afternoon. Well, I am ready for that but I am worried about my guests.

I waited. Killed time by listening to the MP3 feature of my Cherry Mobile U2 phone. A white passenger van arrived and out comes Prof. Ryan, I presume, from the front seat. He instantly recognized my khaki Silangan Predator Z backpack prominently placed on the concrete pavement. My worries stretched into a frown as most of the students are not wearing proper footwear.

That would really be a problem when the ground turns muddy but, as long as it does not rain this morning, that difficulty will not be much of a problem. Anyway, I join the professor on the front seat and the driver took us to the community of Napo. As we arrive, I immediately gather them all and gave them a short briefing of the terrain and the rough estimate of the distance to our destination.

Noticing that some were carrying heavy things inside big plastic bags, I requested these be equally distributed to others. I myself volunteer to carry the heavy bunch of rice cooked in coconut-leaves (Local name: puso) and the breakable items. At least, for now, the load carried by hand would be tolerable and there would be no danger of the plastic bags getting torn by blades of grass. Sturdy plastic bags, I noticed, are beginning to disappear, replaced by those brittle biodegradable ones.

We start our activity with a prayer by Prof. Ryan. I lead but I walked like someone who is strolling in Plaza Independencia under a pale light of a full moon. Yeah, that slow. I believe (and I know) that some pairs of feet would get skin blisters soon considering that I saw bare skin above shoes indicating no socks at all. Oh well, what a great way to learn plants and of hiking – later. That is why I walk slow. I see a stinging nettle (daw-daw) and I begin my own version of Plant 101.

I am interested to learn more about plants since I teach people about bushcraft. I have only a limited data of it right in my head learned from the nuances of growing up, from books, from the mil and from my late grandpa, who left me alone time and time again in a forest, usually at dusk or at dawn, during his tireless journeys, mostly in Bohol, while I was five and seven. I learned so many things from him and what I learned I share.

I may know some plants but it is limited to the local names, the features and its uses. I do not have time for its scientific names but, later on, through self-study, I begun to know its English equivalent and, to a much difficult degree, their Latin conundrum. Those that I have discovered recently, I turn to professional advice in the Web but, mostly, site administrators are as stupid as I am and so unaccommodating, leaving you more ignorant.

However, perhaps, I may learn a thing or two from this bunch. Prof. Ryan had read my blog and had requested me to guide them to a good site at the Babag Mountain Range. I know places there where vegetation are thick and would be a hoard of treasure to a biology student. It is where streams pass and you do not need people to wreck havoc on their bodies by leading them to difficult terrain.

When you are into the business of wilderness guiding, improvisation matters. It is different to mountain guiding where elevation, adrenaline and scenery afforded by peaks are its main pursuits. I had been guiding people for some time and I find the latter too dangerous and too boring for my age. In the former, I found fulfillment. It is that which people tend to appreciate your skills, your knowledge and your time.

The path is wet and parts of it are muddy which is bad enough. It will get worse when rain comes falling. I change paths and follow the trail going to Sapangdaku Creek. We follow it upstream until we are on a level ground above the stream. This place is called Kangsi by the locals and a lone family lived nearby. This would be a perfect place as it had been previously in several activities that I organized.

Prof. Ryan began instructing his students, which are composed of the purely BS Biology discipline and those of BS Education with major in Biology Studies. They had with them their instruments in aid of their field study like a GPS, thermometers, ropes, iron pegs, Petri dishes, glass jars, cameras, pencils and journals. They are divided into four groups.

The area is divided into four quadrants and lengths of rope are unrolled to delineate each quadrant from the other. I assisted each of the four groups establish their own quadrants, especially the ones that has the ropes go over the thickest vegetation. My big AJF Gahum knife did a lot of work to clear a way for me to bring one end of a rope to its farthest reach.

Three of the quadrants cross streams while one covered steep ground. The groups then collect their specimen, which are then documented after several guessings of its taxonomic category, including the GPS coordinates where each is found. Aside from plants, they also gathered three kinds of grasshoppers, some crickets, a mosquito, different butterflies and two varieties of fresh-water guppy.

The rain came as expected, near noon, and all collecting activities stop to concentrate instead to the preparation of their pre-cooked meals. It is not safe to work on the streams for fear of flash floods. Instead, I produce three banana leaves to cover the ground where the food will be placed. The rice in the “puso” are many and I could not believe I carried it all. Viands are the Tisa “siomai” (Chinese meat rolls), “pancit guisado” (local noodles), pieces of fried chicken and canned goods.

We eat our lunch under the onslaught of rain. Fortunately, Nelson arrived just in time to set up a tarpaulin sheet over where the food is laid. To those who cannot be accommodated below the shelter, to each his (or her) own to find some semblance of cover to justify a human necessity of providing nutrition to self, like me. I have been into this situation many times and it does not matter with today's inconvenience.

There is a lull in the sky and we were even afforded a glimpse of sunlight yet I expect rain to come back with a vengeance later. The specimen collection continues at 13:30 and everyone proceed to their assigned quadrants. The stream had risen a bit and the current brisk. Everyone pursue their work with wet clothes while I and Nelson stand guard. I keep a special attention on the stream and on a shooting suspect on the loose named Timoteo Gabasan.

By 14:15, the rains come back earlier than expected but it had stopped after about thirty minutes. The students ignored the inconvenience and concentrated on their field studies. At 15:30, the rains struck once more, and again, at 16:15. When Prof. Ryan sees that his wards have had enough of specimen collected, he called a cession to their activity and everyone obliged and repacked all their equipment and other things.

We leave Kangsi (it rhymes like Camp Xi) at 16:30 under the cover of incessant rain. The going was tough for those who wore rubber flip-flops, ladies' sandals, espadrilles and all sort of improper footwear, which almost were. They have to negotiate a slightly steep path from river bank to the main trail which looked like a crude imitation of a water slide and the main trail itself has pools of water along some stretches where there are depressions.

Prof. Ryan was exhausted after the hike back to Napo and he was the last one to arrive. Their transport have arrived earlier and waited until such time that everyone were accounted for. I take my usual place on the passenger van where I got dropped off at Guadalupe. Nelson, meanwhile, took his motorcycle and was already gone when I arrived. I would part Nelson his share of the fee when we meet next time.

Anyway, I accept people who requests of my services in guiding them to the mountains but, mostly, I refer it to my subalterns if it is for leisure hikes only. I would personally engage if the purpose is of a higher calling like today. I used to be a freelance mountain guide many years ago and I find no satisfaction in that because it demands technical skills and the risks are great with which compensation does not tally well with your efforts and the gears you invested.

As a wilderness guide, the risks are not that great and does not demand expensive gears. You have to have a different set of skills quite different from those activities done at higher elevations and is much in demand and, therefore, a bit expensive than usual. Guiding an archeological or a scientific expedition is one such example where the professional wilderness guide should be extraordinary and possess a high-level of expertise and ability.

Whenever you have such need of a guide for a planned Philippine expedition project, I can be contacted and be hired directly through my mobile numbers at +639172035101 and +639333225005 or you may email me at pinoyapache (at) yahoo (dot) com. If you so desire to see my credentials, I can attach it in my email in PDF or JPEG, whichever you prefer.

Document done in LibreOffice 4.3 Writer

NAPO TO BABAG TALES XLII: Leading the Danes

CAMP RED, FOR A change, went on a guided eco-tour of fourteen social educators from Denmark on February 5, 2011 at the foothills of the Babag Mountain Range, Cebu City. There were fourteen of them; I am the pointman; Boy Toledo as lead man and Ernie Salomon bringing up the tail. Wil Rhys-Davies of BushcraftAsia.com lights up the party in the middle with anecdotes and short tales.

Along the way, I introduced the visitors to the different tropical trees and plants, its names and its uses. They were shocked to see very dense vegetation in such small country like Barangay Sapangdaku which they found lacking in their home country. They were very elated crossing rivers and game enough to tackle steep trails.

They bathed under a hidden waterfalls of Busay Lut-od; drank the natural spring in Lower Kahugan and, later, slurped on the green coconuts at the Roble homestead. They enjoyed so much the sights of flower farms; awed at the strange structures of our native houses made of bamboo and wood; and got introduced to Filipino cooking. They even used the native outhouse of the Robles.

In between, I inserted bushcraft cooking and they were amazed at the simple bamboo being used as a pot to cook milled corn. The skies cooperated and give out a very perfect weather even as Father Sun refused to show his face. Below are the sets of collage showing the activity in its most vivid moments. Enjoy!

Document done in OpenOffice 2.1 Writer

JPEG-generated images from MS Powerpoint 2003