BUSHCRAFT FOR ALL IN BLUEWATER PANGLAO

AFTER A STINT AT BLUEWATER Maribago Beach Resort, in Lapulapu City, Cebu, last March 17, 2018, I set sail for my next assignment, which would be done at the Bluewater Panglao Beach Resort in Panglao Island, Bohol. Today is April 14, 2018 and it is the start of the election campaign period for barangay officials.

Travelling in that period is critical for someone who carry blades in the course of his work. In my case, as a survival instructor, I carry a lot. All are shorter than nine inches except for a Cold Steel Bushmaster which I am still undergoing field tests. I have with me a total of seven work blades and I checked it in along with my Mil-Tec bag as baggage.

I am with my assistants Jonathaniel Apurado of the Camp Red Bushcraft and Survival Guild and the couple Jethro and Marianne Ocubillo of Bukal Outdoor Club; and they also have blades with them which would complement mine. They breeze in through security without a hitch and followed my course. We responsible blade owners always follow regulations.

After an hour of crossing Bohol Strait on a fastcraft, we arrive on the Port of Tagbilaran. A passenger van provided by Bluewater Resorts came to pick us up and whisk us away to Panglao Island. I have never been to Panglao, a very popular tourist destination of Bohol, where white-sand beaches and great resorts abound plus a bathable cave.

One of the best resorts in Panglao, an unmatched gem in itself, due to its being designated as a Green Resort by no less than the ASEAN Tourism Committee, is the Bluewater Panglao Beach Resort. It would be my very first time there and I am awed at the tidiness and orderliness of the resort and the design of the pool when I arrived.

Anyway, a two-level family loft is assigned to us as our accommodation for two days and two nights free. Tomorrow, April 15, is the day when we will demonstrate our skills showcase. We liked how the staff treated us and it is a nice feeling. We proceed to Aplaya Restaurant for our free breakfast and begin stuffing ourselves.

Stretching outside after the meal, we decide to inspect the place where the short bushcraft workshop would be held. The iconic seven dolphins that became a lore in Bluewater Maribago Beach Resort, is shining under the glare of the noonday sun. We follow the stone-tiled footpath amidst rows of sprightly bamboos on each side.

On an empty lot is a playground reserved for children and a hotel personnel confirmed my hunch. I would be back in late afternoon, when it is cool enough and start to search for the items that I would need like green bamboo poles and dry wood for a fire. Then we head for our rooms. It is much cooler there. 

I almost slept the whole afternoon and was about to forget my task. The cooler temperature inside the loft and the soft bed had left me lazy. By sheer will power, I bravely left my comfort zone and go outside. I got the bamboo poles and cut it at the desired size with a small saw. I found lots of dry wood, a discarded PVC pipe and a 2-ft x 2-ft plain roof sheet.

Then it is time to prepare for dinner once again. After a cool shower, I join the rest at Aplaya and enjoy a free dinner, courtesy of Bluewater Resorts. Evening in the resort is so soothing and relaxed. I am tempted to walk on the beachfront but I am not prepared for another bath. The salty breeze added to the ambiance of the place.

I decide to walk back to the loft and check the things that I need for tomorrow while the rest take a stroll on the beach. There is an electric kettle and there is coffee and sugar. I enjoyed the night alone in my room before it gets populated by Jon and the couple who would be sleeping on the lower part.

The second day (April 15) opens up with a short walk to Aplaya Restaurant for another free breakfast. During Saturdays, the restaurant serves Barrio Fiesta, a galore of Filipino food favorites. We stuff ourselves full knowing that we will have a long day ahead of us. The day is warm and humid but we are excited.

We go back to the loft and retrieve our tools and gear and proceed to the children’s playground. My bamboos are ready and the firewood and I secured long benches from the resort's maintenance department. We laid all our things on one of the bench and place my folding seat behind, facing the participants.

I begin setting up the two different snares which I located a distance away from the main area. Then, with much time on our hands, I tie a hammock between two trees. Its presence is for nursing mothers who might be present. Jon, Jethro and Marianne gathered the firewood and stacked it. For insurance, we ready our first aid kits.

At 09:00 the participants arrived. Facilitating this activity here is Ms. Ivy Mae Palonpon, one of the few Bluewater Resorts staff who took my 3-day Basic Island Survival Course last May 2017 at Bluewater Sumilon Island Resort, Oslob, Cebu. Attending this activity are off-duty resort staff and two of them brought their kids.

Although this little workshop was designed for children, I could easily tweak the lecture to my advantage to make it very flexible. I have the best assistants with me right now and their presence are most welcome. But it is easier this time because I speak a common dialect with them: Cebuano.

I talk to them first the meaning of the word bushcraft and its relation to survival so all could understand the very nature of the discussion. Then I proceed to the many reasons why they should count themselves fortunate to attend in this rarely-offered session. The knowledge gained from their participation is a big advantage when dealing with calamities and disasters with which example is the 7.2 earthquake that hit Bohol in 2013.

If you are a native of Bohol, you would know your way around making a fire and the cooking that follow. But what if a typhoon of a magnitude like Haiyan (Yolanda) hit your place and you found yourself unprepared and all your cooking utensils swept away? That also goes with your matchsticks and lighters and everything dear to you.

Preparation is the key here and I have to teach the Boholanos another way to make a fire. But first, they would have to stock vital tools and grab it the first chance before they escape to safety. I show them how a Go Bag would look like and what are its contents. Then I emphasize why redundancies of certain items are the best practice.

Making a fire with matchsticks and lighters is easy in under favorable conditions. When tinder and kindling are wet and you are stressed, hungry and thirsty, you would surely waste matchsticks and gas; the same commodities that would be hard to find in an environment where people feel the same as you.

Elementary Firecraft simply teaches you to identify, collect and process better tinder and kindling than the ones you are familiar with. It also teaches you how to pair these primary fuel with a ferrocerium rod. The ferro rod, for as long as your tinder are dry, provide sparks in your whole lifetime and are impervious to water.

The novelty of making a fire by ferro rod increased the interest of the participants. All are taught how to properly scratch it and how to place it in relation to the combustible material. Even the dependents, as young as 5 years old, are able to produce sparks and then flame and it fattens the heart when they ask for more.  

  

My next topic is Knife Safety. It is not taught in classrooms but it is learned through experience which takes many years or maybe half of your lifetime. In their case now, what they learned are supplemented by this topic. Even more. Situations which they did not expect to happen are discussed and they prided themselves of learning so many in less than an hour. Which I know they would remember well in their hearts thereafter.

Rightly so, for I would not let people touch a knife in any of my class or workshop without undergoing this. Rightly so, for they would be using a knife for Survival Tool Making, a practical exercise on knife dexterity. But, first things first, I show them how to make an improvised bamboo cooking vessel, in my Trailhawk System style. Part of that is cooking rice in a different way.

Using sparks from a ferro rod, I produce a flame on a tinder and transferred this flame to more tinder and then kindling and, finally, to bigger fuel like firewood. I am attempting of cooking rice on bamboo. While the flame makes its work, with the constant watch of Jethro and Jon, I proceed to carve a spoon from bamboo.

Getting the hint, they would be making their own spoons but, we need to take noonbreak first. The participants go on their way to take theirs in a place they know while we four return to Aplaya to eat another free Barrio Fiesta meal. With just a few minutes of rest we go back to the lecture area.

A mother and her little daughter slept in the hammock and that helped. We wait for the rest of the participants until they are all here. I ask them if they could still remember how I carved a spoon. When I had affirmative answers I let them choose any knife they wished. The blades I have are for educational aids and I do not use it for any other purpose.

I leave them to the comforts of their own world but with constant supervision. The small boy join the spoon carving session and I guide his every stroke until a spoon is formed. It is so nice to see the face of the boy light up with a big smile as he proudly showed his spoon to his father. The adults also did good and finished theirs in much faster time than what it thought they would.

We almost forgot the rice that was cooked in bamboo. I do not worry about it. The rice is now ready for serving. The two snares I set up are now ready for demonstration. One is a pressure-trigger snare while the other is a tube snare and both are very efficient. The former does not need bait and could catch a foot no bigger than goat. The latter is good for snakes, lizards and monkeys.   

We finish before 15:00 and that gave us a lot of time to tidy up the place, collect our gear and proceed back to our accommodation hoping to steal a nap. We celebrated the day with a few cold bottles of beer on the poolside cafe. Just sitting there and be away from the heat is a blessing.

The cool airconditioned room and the soft bed upstairs beckoned me. Immediately, I fell in the spell of Lady Dreamtime. The bathroom could wait and I forgot everything until Jon woke me up. By that time it was already 18:30 and they are preparing for another dinner back to Aplaya. The bed would not let me go.

When I woke up a few minutes later, everyone had gone away. I hurriedly took a bath and proceed to the restaurant. It was still open but they reserved food for me, just in case. They know how to pick my favorites. There were still guests and we stay longer on our table. Jethro and Marianne decide to take a stroll on the beach for a swim. Romantic moments for them and we leave them to their privacy.

I take advantage of free WiFi and begin updating my Facebook with photos from Bluewater Panglao Beach Resort. Jon opts to return to the loft to find entertainment on TV. I stayed long enough at Aplaya until such time that the place is almost deserted. I look over the beach and found the couple sitting on separate divans.

Tomorrow, we would check out early after our last free breakfast and proceed to Tagbilaran City. Our boat tickets back to Cebu are already taken cared of. Meanwhile, I need to prepare for our departure and I followed Jon’s footsteps to the loft. Need to remove the clutter into my Mil-Tec and fully enjoy the comforts of Bluewater Panglao Beach Resort.

Document done in LibreOffice 5.3 Writer

Some photos courtesy of Jonathaniel Apurado

THE TRAILHAWK JOURNEYS: Iloilo Wilderness Survival Class

THIS IS NO ORDINARY CROWD that I am facing today, April 7, 2018. This is the cream of the crop of Philippine mountaineering and the legends of the Philippine underworld. I should be intimidated, shaking with stage fright, but I feel nothing. Instead, I sense kinship with these guys as if I am on home ground.

The Iloilo Mountaineering Club (IMC) is one of the oldest mountaineering organizations in the Philippines. It was established in 1970 and became one of the original founding clubs that signed the charter of the National Mountaineering Federation of the Philippines, now known as the Mountaineering Federation of the Philippines, Inc. (MFPI).

IMC is quite active despite their preference to be in an inactive status, for the time being, from the MFPI. In fact, they are in the midst of euphoria after they have finally completed the Panay Trilogy, a project that took them many decades to accomplish. This is their banner year and I could feel the energy of everyone flowing.

The Panay Trilogy is the crowning glory of IMC. It comprises Mount Madia-as, Mount Nangtud and Mount Baloi Daku, spanning all the four provinces of Panay Island. The final and successful expedition lasted 18 days and involved the entire club either as the exploration team, the four supply teams or the standby reserve team.

The Western Visayas Caving Association (WVCA) covers both Iloilo and Negros and was established in 1995. WVCA is one of the founding clubs of the Philippine Speleological Society (PSS). WVCA is very active in explorations, trainings, assessments and participation in the annual PSS Congress. Their strict adherence to caving safety, ethics and ecology protection created the benchmarks on how caves ought to be managed.

IMC and WVCA are feathers from the same parents. Their members could do both mountaineering and caving with ease. Credit that to the founding fathers who are all close friends like Vic Pison, Dodot Pison and Fred Tayo Jr. for IMC and Fred Jamili for WVCA. This is a great community of passionate people who love the outdoors.

Today is the first day of the Araw ng Kagitingan Wilderness Survival Camp which would end on April 9. All would sit and listen to me talk and discuss the BASIC WILDERNESS SURVIVAL COURSE. Most of these guys had been to the mountains for a long time and each could have personally collected their own knowledge about survival. This training would refine that and guide them to the best practices of survival.

I would be assisted by Ernie Salomon and Jonathaniel Apurado who both came all the way from Cebu with me. Carrying us here last night is Randy Salazar of IMC and WVCA, driving his Nissan Strada, and would probably also help me if I need his expertise. Then Derek Manuel of Derek’s Classic Blade Exchange would also have a part during the training. Together we represent the Camp Red Bushcraft and Survival Guild.

After an opening address by Sir Vic, this blogger proceed to explain the purpose of the training. It is designed for tropical wilderness settings of dense jungles and rugged highlands, which I first offered to the mountaineering community in October 2013. It is open to all individuals or groups of any interests and purpose. The training is done inside a local resort of Alimodian, Iloilo.

The first chapter is Introduction to Survival. Survival situations demand that you stay tough after the initial impact. Mental stability and toughness are very important characteristics of a survivor. You must develop a survival mindset. Do not engage in prolonged mind games of fantasy and false hopes. You should rein in your mind so you would not release excess adrenaline and cause you more confusion in a very stringent moment.

The best thing to do is stay still and fill up your lungs with oxygene. Your brain needs it most to help you process thoughts. You are now in a high state of agitation and so does your brain. Your brain will be in hyper mode, collating and processing many thoughts all at the same time which is beyond human capacity. We can do so one thought at a time. Just stay still and breathe regularly, supplying your blood system with oxygene.

In the hierarchy of needs and of nutrition in a survival situation, water is always on the top of the scales of both. Rightly so, for we are in the tropics and humidity plays a big role. With that, we surrender perspiration by the acts of our exertions and by what the climatic conditions imposed on us. Along with the lost moisture, is our body heat which we let go without our knowing.

When you stay still in one place, you lessen wastage of moisture and body heat. Then you confine the latter by setting up a shelter (if you still have one) or make one from scratch. That is the second need. The third would be food then warmth. Although food, and even water, would give you warmth, but heat from a naked flame or from the rays of the sun or from a person’s body is solace. Last is security which would complement well with the rest.

Our body has four hypothetical storage tanks that need to be replenished from time to time during survival. First is constant rehydration that would offset dehydration. Second is food that would give you nutrients, carbohydrates and proteins. Third is sugar which is converted by enzymes for your adrenaline rush. Fourth is fat, hardest to find in the tropics yet are wrapped as tissues in our body.

The topic for the next chapter is about Water Sanitation and Hydration. The first chapter had mentioned the importance of water during survival. Water could be sourced from natural springs, water seeps, man-made water holes, flowing streams, the atmosphere and from plants. It could be refined through boiling, by chemicals, exposure to heat, through filtration and by desalination. It is wise to cache water in your survival camp or just travel early and take advantage of shady places and breeze if you happen to have less.

We move on to the third chapter which is about Knife Care and Safety. The knife is a tool and should not be used to what it was not designed for like digging holes and as pry bars. It is a vital piece of equipment that should be properly handled and cared for because it is your link to your surviving. In all my training, knife etiquette is learned first before you touch a knife, so as to lessen accidents.

Besides that, there is a knife law that forbids the display, even of concealed carrying, in public places unless you are in a lawful activity, which we are in right now. A knife should be in a sturdy sheath when travelling and should be unsheathed when at home to keep it from rust. There are many kinds of knives and it is important that you know the parts, blade shapes, grind styles and the tang designs. You must also learn how to field sharpen a knife.

During this moment, Derek added his specialty to the lecture by showing the participants the different shapes and the different grinds. Derek further illustrate with a graph what are the most popular and the best grinds and what are the tools to grind or hone an edge. He also discuss how a knife edge behave when being grounded and the best way to remove burrs.

I was able to finish three chapters in the morning and noonbreak is mandatory when the clock struck twelve. There is no cooking as food is prepared by the family-run resort. After lunch, the hammock is an inviting proposition and I sneaked into its comfortable grip for a quick nap. I needed the rest since I did not feel well and the participants would be handling knives later. Refreshed after 45 minutes of siesta, I continued with the activity.

After the much appreciated instructions about the knife in the morning, we moved on to Survival Tool Making. Using a tool is essential in survival or even when not in that situation. I showed them the most basic of tools like the digging stick, traps and snares from pieces bamboo that I prepared, and the batoning stick. I let each carve a spoon on bamboo to practice their dexterity with a knife while supervising the practical exercise.

Following this is the chapter on Notches. There are five basic notches that are used regularly in bushcraft. These are applicable in shelters, furniture and tools. Again, this is another exercise in knife dexterity but it can only be achieved with the use of another tool, the baton stick. On a single stick that served as an art canvas, each participant carved their five different notches, starting with the easiest up to the most complicated.

At the last hours of daylight, the first day lecture ends. We have accomplished much for the day, simply because we started at 09:00. After supper, the socials on Campfire Yarns and Storytelling proceed. The evening start with individual introductions and, fueled by moderate supply of alcoholic drinks, it metamorphosed into funny tales which progressed towards the scary ones as the night approach midnight.

The second day, April 8, start with Customizing the Survival Kit. It is better that survival kits are made from scratch than bought commercially because a survival kit’s size and its components depends upon the type of the activity you are indulging in and the kind of environment you are going to visit. Your personal preference still matters. The components should include the medical kit, the replenishment pouch, the repair kit and a small knife. It could all be integrated in one container and should be waterproofed.

At this juncture, Jonathan, Ernie, Randy and Derek lent their survival kits to the lecture. Each one describe the items and how it could complement with the other items with little ingenious hacks. The individual survival kits came in different sizes, which ranged from a kit which focused more on first aid and to another which is for everyday carry (EDC).

Next is Fire, Fuel and Campfire Safety. You cannot make a fire if one or all elements are not present, namely: fuel, heat and air. Lately, they added a fourth element – chemical reaction. Fire-making is 80% common sense, 10% skill and 10% perspiration. We are talking about the friction methods. Your fire can start if you can acquire and identify the right tinder, if you are in a dry place, and if you have the patience.

Aside from friction, there are the conventional methods which are matchsticks, lighters, ferro rods and the flint and steel. Then there is solar magnification which can be done with any lens, reading glasses, water and even ice. Then you have pressurized air, exemplified by the fire piston. I first give a demonstration of the flint and steel, which I paired with charclothe, and then with the ferro rod.

Everyone tried the flint-and-steel and the ferro rod but they were much successful with the latter, simply because it is much easy to achieve. Embers caught on soft fuel became instant flames and it was a smoke-filled mid-morning affair. Then I showed them how a tinder bundle is made. Popularly called as a “bird’s nest”, it is the material by which you transfer ember or a small flame so it would progress into a useful flame.. 

I start with the bow drill method and showed them how it is made and spun. Unfortunately, I could only make thick smoke as sawdust embers refused to light up my tinder. Humidity plays a big role here since it rained many minutes ago. I let others try the bowdrill. Three teams tried their best coaxed by morale-boosting chants but all to no avail. I tried with the bamboo method but I also failed until Randy came at the right moment and saved the day.

Noonbreak came but there is no meal prepared. Everyone is on fasting. It is part of the training. Everyone will have to experience the pangs of hunger during survival situations. When you are hungry, you get irritated by the humidity, the warmth, the uncomfortable position, crawling insects and you tend to be sleepy. Fighting off that demands great concentration and will power. All will avail of food right after the fruits of their night foraging later.

After a one-hour siesta, the participants go back to listen to the next topic which is about Foraging and Plant Identification. Foraging food in the wilderness or on unfamiliar terrain can be very taxing to the mind. When you are stressed and hungry, you tend to remove all caution. Looks can be very deceiving in the tropics like fruits, leaves, nuts, roots, flowers and mushrooms. Likewise, you need to evade harmful plants while travelling your way in a jungle.

Short term food would be grub, tree snails, fresh-water shrimps and crabs and frogs. These can be picked by hand. Cook it if you must to remove parasites and bacteria. Long term foods are meat from mammals, fish, birds and reptiles. For that, you must use a weapon or traps and snares. Traps could be anything designed to lure prey into a simple contraption of a hollow bamboo or a dam of rocks. It must work with the terrain, with gravity and the habits of creatures, including its anatomy design.

Snares are more complex. It has a spring-and-trigger mechanism which would be initiated by the prey. Showed the students a very common snare employing a pressure-trigger mechanism. It could catch anything from birds to goats. Another is a tube snare. You must use bait so prey would be lured to set it off. A single trap or a single snare would not yield you a catch but a trap line of 20 to 30 of these, after ascertaining where prey would most likely pass or visit.

Related to these is the chapter on Food Preservation and Cooking. If you can eat a deer all in one setting, well and good. You are very fortunate to still possess a healthy appetite. Meat rots in a short span of time. During survival, meat can be preserved and its edibility can be extended for a few more hours to several months. You can boil it. You can dry it. You can smoke it. Or you can cook it with its own oil from its fat.

Fish can be preserved by drying and by smoking. Fruits can be digested after a drying session and provide you natural sugar. Common rootcrops has high starch value and should be cooked, by all means possible, to remove toxins. Famine crops need to be immersed in running water for five days before cooking. Salt and vinegar are good food preservatives. Vinegar can be sourced from any palm.

Since there is still a few hours of daylight, I collected bamboo poles and teach them how to create an improvised cooking vessel, specifically designed to cook anything save frying with oil. I employ my Trailhawk System for this which also includes how rice is cooked, which is so different from the rest of the country. It is a Visayan technique which finds its origin in cooking milled corn.

 

After assigning them into seven groups of six persons each, the participants begin the process of making bamboo cooking vessels and, as a community; they use one firepit to cook all seven bamboos in a line. Everyone lend their hands for their group by feeding more firewood or peering into the chamber to observe the tell-tale bubbles. I leave them to their devices and seek out the comfort of my hammock. I am so tired. 

When I receive news that the rice is all cooked, we proceed with Nocturnal Hunting. There is an assigned area for this and all would hike in darkness with headlights and hand torch looking for edible tree snails. After an hour, each group returned empty-handed. There is not much left. I was hoping even though our camp is near human habitations. I later found out that the area is a man-made forest of introduced trees which no indigenous fauna would make home.

Anyway, the catering service provided Plan B and everybody made amends with their hungry stomachs while half of them made many trips to the buffet table. A campfire is lighted up early by the youngsters when we went foraging leaving us with just a few firewood to start another Campfire Yarns and Storytelling. We decide to ditch this night activity so all could sleep early and recover from the torture of a hungry day.

The final day, April 9, is the one marked as an official holiday. Before, it commemorates the Fall of Bataan, and was named as Bataan Day. Then they changed that to Araw ng Kagitingan, which is “Day of Courage” if you translate it into English. To honor our fallen heroes, we raise the Philippine Flag and sing the National Hymn. We follow it up with the Oath to Flag and Country.

After the formalities, the Blade Porn begins. I have never seen so many blades before when I started my bushcraft camps eight years ago. The whole of Panay, comprising the provinces of Iloilo, Capiz, Aklan and Antique produce their own distinctive battle and utility blades which are laid before me side-by-side with branded blades and those from other regions. It filled to the brim one 8-ft. by 8-ft. laminated nylon sheet and needed another sheet to accommodate more. It is a collector’s delight.

I have to finish the rest of the topics and proceed with Navigation and Understanding Trails. This is more on traditional navigation which use the natural terrain, shadows and the sky fixtures for travel; avoiding obstacles and exposed areas; and knowing how to identify signs on trails made by both animals and humans.

Following that is Understanding Cold Weather. During survival, exposure to the elements is expected. There are five physical mechanisms that steal away body heat and the things that we should do to keep us constantly warm.

Last topic is Outdoors Common Sense. This is based from my yet unpublished book, ETHICAL BUSHCRAFT. It is about trail courtesy and behavior while on the trail; choosing the best campsites; practicing stealth camping; increasing individual safety and security; wildlife encounters; and introduce people to the idea of Blend, Adapt and Improvise.

After the training, there is the giving of training certificates for the participants and the certificate of appreciation for me, Randy, Derek, Jonathan and Ernie. Then the most awaited part, the giveaways, is raffled off to the participants. At the top of the ladder is a beautiful Schrade knife, courtesy of Classic Blade Exchange. Then you have more ESEE knives, Marbles Arkansas stones, survival items by SOL and UST from CBX.

More blade giveaways came from the Knifemaker of Mandaue City and locally-made blades courtesy of Filipino Traditional Blades begun to find new owners, as well as camping and hiking accessories from Silangan Outdoor Equipment and from PAC Gear. This is the highlight of the day and, after lunch, everyone break camp and made it to their cars and pickups. 

I have a long day ahead tomorrow with Randy, Ernie and Jonathan but it would be another adventure and another article, perhaps. My grandfather’s journey came full circle as I delivered the survival instructions for IMC and WVCA, which I came to understand was the most I handled in my many years teaching this. I counted and signed 49 certificates.

Oh, I almost forgot. My grandfather taught me these skills when I was 6 years old until I was 8. He was from Lambunao, Iloilo. He left his hometown when he was 12 on a one-way trip to Cebu. He lived by his own wits there and almost fought in Europe during World War I as a Philippine Scout; he became a three-term municipal councilor, a lawyer, started a family, a professor and survived World War II as a most-wanted guerrilla officer in Bohol.

I cut my teeth under him. He is no other than the late Gervasio Lavilles, the wellspring that made Cebu a Chartered City. It is an honor to impart what I learned from him back to his native soil. It came at a most appropriate time, Araw ng Kagitingan. He was an unsung hero. 

Document done in LibreOffice 5.3 Writer

Photos courtesy of JM Alabe Mejorada of IMC/WVCA

BUSHCRAFT CAMP FOR KIDS IN BLUEWATER MARIBAGO (VER. 2)

THIS BLOGGER RECENTLY SIGNED a Memorandum of Agreement with BLUEWATER RESORTS, represented by its corporate marketing officer, Enrico Monsanto, as resource person for a series of bushcraft events in 2018 designed for children in all its recreational facilities located in Bluewater Maribago Beach Resort, Lapulapu City; Bluewater Panglao Beach Resort, Bohol; and Bluewater Sumilon Island Resort, Cebu.

The first of this is at the Bluewater Maribago Beach Resort. Participating would be children from the Dolpo Kids Club, from guests, walk-in registrants and from the staff of Bluewater Resorts. I would be expecting the presence of the parents and nursemaids too as was the last time I did this same activity last year (March 25, 2017). In fact, parents last year joined the kids carve their own bamboo spoons.

But before this, there was a teaser video released by Bluewater Resorts about the summer-long activities offered by their facilities for children and Bushcraft Camp for Kids is one of these. In fact, members of the Camp Red Bushcraft and Survival Guild made themselves available for a video shoot right inside Bluewater Maribago Beach Resort. Please watch the video:

Before 08:00 of March 17, 2018, I was already at Allegro Restaurant with Mr. Monsanto. With me are Jhurds, 8-year old Jacob, Jonathaniel and Jingaling. They will assist me during the Introduction to Bushcraft for Kids. I have subdivided this day-long activity to a Plant ID Tour, Primitive Cooking, Elementary Firecraft, Blade Safety, Knife Dexterity Exercise, Animal Snares, and Simple Shelter Construction    

A couple of Japanese minors and a Korean joined a handful of Filipino kids as I talk about the essence of bushcraft. Then I point to each and every tree that would help them find water in case of survival and other helpful plants which harbor useful parts. This was possible during the Plant ID Tour around the confines of Bluewater Maribago Beach Resort.

Considering that a bamboo is the most common plant in the tropics even in temperate parts of Asia, the idea of cooking food using a bamboo as an improvised cooking vessel is shown to the kids and parents alike in Primitive Cooking. A two-meter pole of green bamboo is opened with a knife with the aid of a stick. That done, rice and water are poured into and then a fire is started.

The kids are also taught how to create a fire by a magnifying glass and by a ferrocerium rod during the session on Elementary Firecraft. With a fine downy material, the kids shrieked in delight as they create fire when they scratched the ferro rod over it. Fire by solar magnification took time to evolve but with a charred clothe, a smoky ember appear, blowing it to life when placed among a bundle of dry tinder. Thick smoke erupted then fire.

The next topic is Blade Safety and it is this part where it is most difficult to proceed since the children would be exposed to harm. The edge and the tip of a knife are parts where it is sharpest and, therefore, harmful. Extra care should be undertaken when handling a knife, especially during the practical exercise. Close supervision would be properly exercised by my staff.

The kids are attentive during the lecture on the procedures of handling a knife, repeating it over again as I see fit and proper. It is very important that the direction of the strokes should be away from you and should be slightly downward. Then you may have to choose your most comfortable position and engage work in the safest location. Engaging in conversations while working is discouraged.

A knife at rest should be returned inside its sheath and it is forbidden for anybody to walk around with an unsheathed knife. Then there are rules how to pass a knife from one person to another. All of those are the most important and the children are now ready for the Knife Dexterity Exercise wherein they are made to carve a spoon from a piece of bamboo. Parents joined their wards, as well as the Bluewater staff.

After an hour of close supervision, the children proudly showed off their bamboo spoons. They have achieved this work on their own, mastering their fear and timidness and, once they have gained confidence on this single moment, they would be comfortable handling a knife with responsibility. Then a demonstration is shown to kids how an animal snare work and how to construct a simple shelter. The day is capped off by tasting the rice cooked in bamboo.

I consider it an honor and a sort of redemption for my brand of outdoor activities, to be accepted and trusted wholly by Bluewater Resorts, a certified green hotel and resort, to propagate bushcraft on their recreational facilities that involve children. Although bushcraft uses blades as tools, it is a child-friendly activity which nurtures the creativity of the child and aids the child the value of life skills, which is now beginning to wane due to easy access to WiFi and the electrical outlet.

This writer, who have toiled to create this blog from scratch and for which many original ideas came forth which animated the local outdoors scene from its dull one-dimensional existence. The Philippine Independence Bushcraft Camp, the Camp Red Bushcraft and Survival Guild, the exploration and establishment of the Cebu Highlands Trail, the Thruhike, and the formation of the Camino de Santiago of Cebu, are all fruits of this blog which fired up the imagination of outdoorsmen who wanted variety.

At the end of the day I am more than satisfied that people – children most specially – are getting interested again on the long-neglected skills of bushcraft. It is not spectacular compared to most outdoor activities which has an abundance of supportive corporate names. Most often it is maligned and misunderstood and I have to fight it from within to remove those wrong misconceptions. I weeded out the wrong practices which popular and social media are erroneously propagating.

That rare opportunity and, forthwith, being associated with one of the best green hotel in Southeast Asia, gives a prestige which I have had not expected before. It is something that I would watch carefully when traversing over opinions and contents in social media. What I digress would surely reflect to names that I am currently associating myself with. It is an unfamiliar territory but I would not want it in any other way. It is just right. 

It was a long journey for me, jagged and steep, running against the wind to corner an elusive prey. I am now on to that special place where dreams become a reality. The sheep is now snarling like a wolf but it is just a harmless shadow. I let it be and so I claim my rightful place under the sun.

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PHILIPPINE INDEPENDENCE BUSHCRAFT CAMP 2017

AFTER THREE YEARS, the PIBC returned to the place of its birth: Camp Damazo. It started there in 2011 until it experimented in holding it at Sibonga in 2014. In 2015 and 2016, it was held in Liloan. During that period of six years, it had hosted 97 participants who learned basic tropical bushcraft skills. This year, another set of 26 registrants would flock to the jungles and enhance their knowledge about the outdoors.

The PIBC had become an institution in itself, exceeding its expectations when it was held for the very first time in 2011. By 2012, it had accepted the first participants from outside Cebu and by 2015, the first foreigner. The format used had changed and improved through the years and used as basis for trainings that this writer conduct in other places and for organizations like MCAP, CLIMBER, Archdiocese of Capiz, PECOJON, Liloan DRRMO, 5th CMAG, Bukal Outdoor Club and Bluewater Resorts.

The PIBC officially starts every June 10th and culminates on June 12th, which happen to be, you guessed it, Philippine Independence Day. It follows the dates faithfully, whether it fall on weekends or weekdays. PIBC is a patriotic activity which rekindle each Filipino’s love of flag, country and freedom. It also is a venue for outdoors learning and education, as well as a campsite for camaraderie, kindred and friendship.

Warrior Pilgrimage and the Camp Red Bushcraft and Survival Guild collaborated through hard work and dedication for many years to bring again this seventh episode. Assembly area is the parking lot of the Our Lady of Guadalupe Parish on the first day (June 10). Participants, instruction presentors, camp staff and volunteers start to arrive. Among them were four from Luzon, one from Leyte, one from Palawan, one based in the USA, one from Switzerland and three minors.

The famous Duke Bus of the Municipality of Liloan, our main transport for the last three episodes, came again to ferry all to the trailhead in Baksan. From there, the participants are engaged to walk in a Discovery Hike to introduce them and increase their outdoors awareness. It follow Lensa Trail, crossing streams, following a ridge on a combination of forest and jungle, and finally arriving at Camp Damazo at 10:00.

After a short briefing about camp rules, locations of latrines and campfire and the camp staff, the participants proceed to erect their shelters. Most have tents but some have hammocks. Jhurds Neo (PIBC 2012), camp ramrod, assigned an area for participants and another one for volunteers. Humidity is high and, as with previous experience, rain is expected to fall. Meals for lunch are prepared and eaten as the minutes ticked to officially start the activities. After forsaking siesta, all gathered under a wide tarp canopy at 13:00, and all ears now for the lectures at hand.

This author, discusses the first chapter: Introduction to Bushcraft. It tackles the meanings and the jargons used in bushcraft, its environment, the psychology of an enthusiast, its methodologies and its difference from survival and from mainstream activities. Comes next is Ethical Bushcraft. The best practices of leisure bushcraft, using its own principles of Blend, Adapt and Improvise. It covers trail travel, campsite location and safety, fire management and camp hygiene.

At 15:00, Knife Care and Safety gets discussed by Aljew Frasco (PIBC 2013). This chapter changes back the perspective of the knife into a useful tool. The Philippine law on the knife – Batas Pambansa Bilang 6 – are explained thoroughly and clearly as well as ethics and safety, care and sharpening, blade shapes, parts and grinds, and the Nessmuk Trio. At 16:30, this author take over once more to demonstrate Survival Tool-Making. This chapter is a practical exercise in knife dexterity and safety. Dr. Guille Zialcita (PIBC 2016) discussed the part that touched on fishing applications.

When dusk came, all activities ceased and the participants focused on the preparation of their meals. By 19:30, the campfire is lit and the place begun to be populated by participants and camp staff and volunteers. A social event, Campfire Yarns and Storytelling, is an integral component in camp life. Tales and stories caught everyone’s attention and their humor as the small company gets fueled by a moderate round of alcoholic drinks. The social activity ended at 23:30 but a set of night watch starts their task until such time they are relieved after one hour and so on until daybreak.

  

The second day (June 11) starts with breakfast but after that, all will deny food the rest of the day, not until they have accomplished foraging their own food which comes later in the night. The first chapter is Foraging and Plant Identification. This author discusses about traps and snares, luring methods and trap lines, and foraging food and non-food. It also identifies which plants are edible, harmful and poisonous. The participants are then shown the different traps and snares that are set up in camp.

Next at 10:00, is Common Wilderness Treatments, discussed by Eli Bryn Tambiga (PIBC 2013). It tackles common injuries in the woods like open wounds and bleeding, fractures, hypothermia, heat strokes, hypoglycemia and the methods to contain it as well as a practical in using a triangular clothe as bandage and sling. At 13:00, Dominik Sepe (PIBC 2012) discusses about Notches and Lashings. After a half hour of demonstration, the participants proceeded with the business of working with knife and baton on a stick and produce five different notches.

When everybody is about to settle down at 15:00, Outdoor Cooking and Food Preservation came next. This author talked about the ways how meat, fish, vegetable and fruits are preserved. Getting equal discussion are the different kinds of fireplaces. After the lectures, author shows how the Trailhawk System of cooking rice in bamboo is done. Five groups came to possess five different bamboo poles to process into cooking vessels. A fire is prepared and rice are cooked inside it.

After the first group have cooked their rice, they commenced to Nocturnal Hunting. The jungle and streams of Camp Damazo host small edible creatures and have sustained participants of the PIBC during the early years and now, after an absence of three years, these creatures are good enough in numbers for the taking. Ernie Salomon (PIBC 2011), the camp fixer, would ensure that the foraged creatures become a gastronomic treat for the participants and volunteers alike.

For one-and-a-half hours, the five groups filled their respective catch bins and ensured their meal, ending a day-long fast. Dinner is most sweet when you personally toiled and foraged your own food, offering an empty stomach a way out of its hunger pains. All dined together, the rice inside the bamboo pots exude a sweet aroma which made the food more desired. Everyone were happy and exchanged jolly conversations in between swallows.

The second Campfire Yarns and Storytelling started at 20:30 and almost everyone felt relaxed that all had already overcame their ordeals of drowsiness, hunger, thirst, humidity and other stress-causing conditions and it becomes second nature for all to gift self with toasts of success. A few took the pleasure of an early rest, easing on the thought that tomorrow would be the last day and they had proven themselves for the last two days. Alcoholic drinks, cached underneath the ground for a week made its regular rounds again to stoke interesting conversations until midnight.

Last day (June 12), the Blade Porn, a traditional bushcraft camp activity wherein knives and hatchets are laid on a blanket to elicit good conversations, began. The number of blades far outnumber the owners three to one but this author believed most of the campers carried more than six with them. Then came the Patriotic Time. Jingaling Campomanes (PIBC 2015) led the singing of the Lupang Hinirang and the reciting of the Panatang Makabayan.

After a late breakfast, we broke camp and cleaned up Camp Damazo. To see to it that we do not leave trace, a task group led by Jonathaniel Apurado (PIBC 2015), left behind to pick up rubbish that may have been missed out, dismantle camp furnitures and snares, and see to it that the campfire and firepit embers are completely extinguished. Because of the unexpected late participation of additional volunteers, a lot of ground had to be cleared. As per assessment, it is recommended that the PIBC would have to be held somewhere other than here for the next two years.

The exit route is shorter than the ones we took two days ago but it is steep on the last part. It goes out to the Baksan-Pamutan Road. A trail across goes down to Lanipao Rainforest Natural Spring Park and it is there where we would go. The fresh-water pools are perfect for bathing and to cool our bodies down. Aside that, cool refreshments would be provided; raffles and giveaways, blanket trading, and the distribution of training certificates would also be done there. 

The following participants finished the 3-day Basic Tropical Bushcraft Course:

      Ronilyn Ambal                 Frederick Ygnacio III

      Eulalio Conrado Salazar        Raul Andre Jose Ben

      Ronniel Abellar                Vladimir Lumbab

      Mark Brylle Moniva             Aileen Estoquia

      Katrina Mie Javier              Jayson Binamira

      Buen Josef Andrade           Joan Binamira

      Rodillo Arnejo                 Sweet Honey Acenas

      Martin Ibañez II                Bonabella Canga

      Honey Vina Alquizola           April Joy Delantar

      Shelley Kim Binghay            Floramae Dellosa

      Luzviminda Viray              Felipe Arturo Enriquez

      Dave Judson Sy               Alvin John Osmeña

      Frederick Ygnacio Jr           Markus Immer

The giveaways were provided by Derek Manuel (PIBC 2016) of Derek’s Classic Blade Exchange; John Robert (PIBC 2016) of the KnifeMaker; Paracord Manila; Silangan Outdoor Equipment; Titay’s Liloan Rosquillos and Native Delicacies; Tingguian Tribe Outdoors; Zue Fashion; and the Camp Red Buscraft and Survival Guild. Transportation provided free by the Municipality of Liloan. Warrior Pilgrimage is the media partner for PIBC MMXVII.

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