2021-012 | APPRECIATION & GRATITUDE

WISDOM TRAILS: People who harbor deep gratitude to you, remember you in their prayers always. Do good every turn. Give what is due them. 

First seen in Facebook

January 9, 2018

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GOOD HUMAN RELATIONS IS the bedrock of a good community. Good old values are still relevant in this new millennium despite the new values and behavior brought on by new technology. There is a clash really of both and it is up to us to steer the newer generation to the one that is quite superior and morally right. 

One of this very endearing value is appreciation. Appreciation has several cousins and bear many sons and daughters. You find many of its kind in a thesaurus. Appreciation is a gesture of acceptance and the gratitude of the spirit. Without appreciation, life is gray and boring. Appreciation is a powerful stimulant for those who do goodness in this world all the time.  

I appreciate people for their deeds and their virtues. The more you appreciate people the more it improved the morale and esteem of the person where it creates a better and very conducive environment. But appreciation, as in all good values, is a two-way street. You gave some and some comes back to you. 

I was just quite fortunate that I have friends who showed their appreciation on me in a simple ceremony on the third day of the Philippine Independence Bushcraft Camp last June 12, 2015. They gifted me a certificate and a token: a mother-of-pearl Native American likeness attached to a small wooden pedestal, complete with a functioning miniature tomahawk pipe.   

This gesture was very symbolic since I used a representation of a Native American – the “Chief”, actually my lineage; as my logo of an outdoor organization that I have established on January 24, 2010; the same organization which my friends belonged: the Camp Red Bushcraft and Survival Guild, or simply known as the Guild.

 

The people who took the previous and future PIBC and its related training became the nucleus of the Guild. This sense of belongingness with a unique organization; the pride of being; creates a strong impression on their esteem as if it is a badge of honor; which indeed it is; for the Guild has no peers, humble aside. 

They greatly appreciated their being there and we now have a very healthy community who looked after each other and gave each what is due them like appreciation in the form of friendship and camaraderie and the privilege of a special gift. The Guild I established seemed to not run out of it. We have a very dynamic community. 

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WARRIOR PILGRIMAGE BLOG, personified by this writer, is synonymous with the Outdoors, since Bushcraft and Survival is its niche. Safety and Security are its bedrock when it ventured into organizing outdoor events that involved people as in adventure/pilgrimage guideships and seminars; and explorations and expeditions.

 

Through tutorship, experience, folk knowledge and good old common sense, this writer was able to collect useful information which he is currently documenting in a book titled, ETHICAL BUSHCRAFT. He shares some of this information and knowledge in his training sessions; in his social-media account; and in this blog.

2021-011 | CHERRY MOBILE U2 RUGGED BASIC PHONE

IN 2014, CHERRY MOBILE introduced the U Series of rugged basic phones that has higher ingress protection ratings than most phones. An ingress protection rating of 6 and 7, or IP67, meant that it is totally protected against dust and can be dropped or submerged in water at one meter depth inside of a half hour without any ill effects to the internal components.

This type of phone certainly fits to my lifestyle of a weekend outdoorsman then. I ranged the mountains of Cebu to look for perfect campsites and I was also in the middle of a route exploration of the 400-kilometer Cebu Highlands Trail Project. My lifestyle demand that I have a phone that could function under great stress and does not break down.  

Late in that same year, I acquired a black CHERRY MOBILE U2 with an IP67 rating. It is thick, bulky-looking but it is lightweight. Because of its lightness, it floats on water. It lights up and creates bubbles when it receives a call or a text message if I forcibly submerged it in a bucket of water. It has a hard-shell housing with rubber grips on the sides. 

Originally made by OINOM and re-branded for CHERRY MOBILE, it is impervious to the elements, accidental and intentional drops, and rugged handling. Battery life is three days average when in constant usage but could run five or more days when on standby. The charging port and headphone plughole are found on the upper left side, perfectly sealed by a rubber cover.

 

It has slots for two SIM cards and another slot for a microSD card, giving it the capacity to expand its memory of up to 16 gigabytes. It has Bluetooth, an FM radio, MP3 and MP4 players and a 0.3 MP VGA camera that could capture both still images and videos. When needed to use the internet, its own built-in browser could surf the web through GSM/WAP/GPRS technology. 

It was the perfect phone. I carried this during my exploration of routes for the Cebu Highlands Trail in 2014-2016. The exploration was a well-fought battle against the elements where a failure of communication and time-keeping was unacceptable. It gave me a morale booster as it provided me entertainment in MP3 music and MP4 movies during rests in my campsites. 

Its drawbacks were, after being removed from underneath the water, the moisture would dull the sound of the tiny speaker for hours; and there is no source to acquire and replace the battery. Fully-tested and nearing the end of its battery life, I carried this again during my epic Thruhike of Cebu in January-February 2017. It performed perfectly according to its specifications. 

The CHERRY MOBILE U2 is very flexible. You can customize features to your personal liking like displaying your own wallpaper, convert time/date into military format and be on alert with your own personal choice of ring tones. You can listen to your own favorite collection of songs from the microSD. Although these features are secondary to communications, your phone is greatly appreciated if you have these, especially when you are on idle.

They don't make basic rugged phones like this anymore that floats on water yet small enough to fit comfortably in pockets. The CHERRY MOBILE U2 is my gold standard of my search of better rugged all-weather basic phones. I highly recommend this to all active individuals and adventure-seekers if it would only be available in the market. If only CHERRY MOBILE reintroduce this again. I hope they should. 

Before I end this piece, it is best you know that CHERRY MOBILE is a Filipino mobile phone and electronics brand owned by Cosmic Technologies, that was established by CEO Maynard Ngu in 2009. The company imports mobile phones manufactured by original design manufacturers in China and markets them under the CHERRY MOBILE brand. (Source: Google).

2021-010 | HYDRATION & WATER SANITATION

OUTDOORS COMMON SENSE TIPS: Never ever trust a stream for your drinking water. If you must, please boil it first.

 

First seen in Facebook

February 4, 2018

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THERE WAS ONE SURVIVAL MANUAL that I read many years ago that says: if you ran out of water and you happen to chance upon a stream, choose the middle part where current is strong, for it is good for drinking. What? There must be no schistosomiasis cases in their area but there must be amoebiasis, cryptoporidiosis and giardiasis somewhere. Do not forget salmonella and E. coli too. 

Of course, I would drink it from anywhere when if I was chased by a hundred cannibals. Kidding aside, clean drinking water is very important when you are outdoors; much more so when you are on survival mode. Never let untreated water be the reason why you lived a tormented existence as you find your way in the wilderness to find help. Never do shortcuts when ingesting liquid into your system.

 

The best thing to do is strain it from debris and boil it. Boiling kills all parasites and bacteria. Boiling temperature is when you see bubbles at the bottom of your cup or pot. It is already 100 ˚C and nothing could survive that. A word of advice: Boiling would never turn brown turpid water into clear spotless water. The best course of action for you is deceive your eyes and drop powdered juice over it. 

Chemicals, overruns from big plantations, industries and farms which found its way to streams, can never be removed by filtration, by chlorine and by boiling. It stays as micro sediments and does not evaporate. The only way to remove it is by evaporation and condensation; or distillation. It stays in the bottom because it is heavier than air during an evaporation process. 

If you really are a poor fellow, because you are unprepared, you do have a cup and a bottle but you have no matches nor lighter, the best thing for you to do is dig a hole beside a stream. By your action, you are making a shallow open well and water filled it up quickly. The water is full of silt but it is clean because it is strained by sand and clay from the main source, which is the stream.

 

You let the silt settle down. After an hour, you line the sides and bottom of the hole with small stones, gingerly and carefully so you would not disturb the silt. When it is done, fill your cup with water and strain water into the bottle. Despite your best efforts, silt would still be found in your bottle. Again, let it settle at the bottom for an hour and you may start to rehydrate. 

If I have a portable water filter (Lifestraw©, Aqua Mira©, Sawyer©), I could drink directly from a stream. If I do it on a water hole I made, the possibility of the silt clogging the filter is great, hampering its efficiency and its lifetime, so I do not want to sip in water from there. The best choice really is directly upon a stream, parasites or none. 

Another method of sanitizing your water for drinking is by dropping a pinch of chlorine granules. Let the granules dissolve in your water for, at least, 30 minutes to an hour. It has a tangy aftertaste. The more minutes it stayed, the better your water tastes. The same process is applied when you use water purification tablets and drops of betadine.

 

Do not be a poor unprepared fellow. Carry always with you matches and lighter, a portable water filter, chlorine, betadine and purifying tablets. Hey, these are very light and small items. Do not squirm! Redundancy increases your security. Remember that always.       

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WARRIOR PILGRIMAGE BLOG, personified by this writer, is synonymous with the Outdoors, since Bushcraft and Survival is its niche. Safety and Security are its bedrock when it ventured into organizing outdoor events that involved people as in adventure/pilgrimage guideships and seminars; and explorations and expeditions. 

Through tutorship, experience, folk knowledge and good old common sense, this writer was able to collect useful information which he is currently documenting in a book titled, ETHICAL BUSHCRAFT. He shares some of this information and knowledge in his training sessions; in his social-media account; and in this blog.

2021-009 | PINOYAPACHE IN A TOURISM PROGRAM

IN 2019, THIS BLOGGER was part of a team of resource persons contracted by the Department of Tourism, Central Visayas Region, to train, educate and enhance community guides of the different local government units (LGU), whose tourism programs are focused on adventure or cultural or both. This national project is called the Tourism Industry Skills Program (TISP) and was implemented by every region since 2017.

DOT-Central Visayas did not fall behind and, in fact, it was running in full steam. Credit that to its Regional Director, Mr. Shahlimar H. Tamano, and the equally hard-working duo of Senior Tourism Operations Officer, Ms. Cynthia O. Monzon, and Tourism Operations Officer, Mr. Eli John Eduave. They were able to assemble a veteran team composed of tourism service specialists and outdoor educators and they were Ms. Agnes Tuling, Mr. Ruel Rigor, Ms. Rosebelle Daculan, Mr. Ramon Vidal, Mr. Randy Salazar and mister yours truly. 

Many aspiring community guides participated in the TISP. Those who passed the series of tests and evaluation given by DOT-Central Visayas are issued special tourism guide license, which scope are confined to the LGU where they belonged or recognized thereat as a community guide. The license gives the holder legitimacy to undertake work of a community guide and, therefore, protects the tourists and their LGU from fly-by-night opportunists. 

The following are the LGUs that have benefited from the TISP offered by DOT-Central Visayas. Each has its own existing tourism programs based on its identity which had already been carved from or associated with the landscape and the landmarks and these had made each LGU unique and worth a visit. This writer would add his personal observations, in italics, as you sift through each LGU on the visit of Team TISP. 

MUNICIPALITY OF BADIAN

Province of Cebu

August 17-24, 2019 

ATTRACTIONS: Kawasan Waterfalls; Matutinao River; Lambug Beach; Badian Island; Osmeña Peak; Candung-aw Peak and Tañon Strait. 

ACTIVITIES: Canyoneering/River Trekking; Swimming/Bathing; Picnic; Snorkeling; Hiking/Camping; Zipline Gliding.

TISP was held at Eskapo Verde, an eco-tourism resort located on an islet off Bugas, Badian. The area is conducive for learning since it is accessible through a 250-meter long bamboo walkway over an estuary where mangroves grow, far away from the Cebu Southwest Road. Accommodation for the DOT-Central Visayas TISP Team was also in Eskapo Verde. 5 stars out of 5.  

Eskapo Verde is a perfect magnet to develop and to include water sports, like kayaking and stand-up paddling (SUP), into the tourism map of Badian LGU. Besides, the five small islets and a half-buried shipwreck all in close proximity to Eskapo Verde is also another venue to develop a new tourism activity of mangrove kayaking. 

What a lot of people in Badian do not know is that the longest Camino de Santiago in the Philippines starts from their own St. James the Apostle Parish, located in Poblacion. This is a pilgrimage route that climb over the mountains to Dalaguete and goes north to Compostela, 175 kilometers away. This is patterned after the one in Spain and have been established here in Cebu since July 2017. It passes by the barangays of Dagatan, Malhiao, Sohoton, Tigbao and Santicon.   

CITY OF CARCAR

Province of Cebu

August 27-September 1, 2019 

ATTRACTIONS: Preserved Spanish Colonial Infrastructures; Carcar City Museum; Indigenous Food/Delicacies; Guadalupe Mainit-Mabugnaw National Park; and Theotokos Shrine. 

ACTIVITIES: Cultural/Historical Tour; Gastronomic Tour; Spelunking/Cave Tour; Hiking/Camping; Sightseeing/Birdwatching; Warm Water Bathing.

TISP was held in a vacant room of the new Carcar City Hall. The seminar is partly shouldered by the Department of Environment and Natural Resources, Region VII, because of the inclusion of the GMMNP in the city’s tourist mapping. Accommodation for the DOT-Central Visayas TISP Team was at Tatope Travel Lodge, located along the Cebu South Road, Carcar City. 1 star out of 5. 

Most people in Carcar City do not know yet that both the 400-kilometer Cebu Highlands Trail and the 175-kilometer Camino de Santiago pass by their city. The two long trails both enter Barangay Napo on the same way and exits from Barangay Calidngan at two different paths. 

On the other hand, Carcar City still has remnants of the industries that it had once depended on in the past. Instead of placing them in the dustbin of existence, why not include these into their tourist map. I am talking about leathercraft and bladesmithing. Why not fuse these two and develop a new tourism destination under “blade tourism”? 

MUNICIPALITY OF SAMBOAN

Province of Cebu

September 8-15, 2019

ATTRACTIONS: Aguinid Waterfalls; Binalayan Waterfall; Dao Waterfall; Preserved Spanish Colonial Infrastructures and Tañon Strait. 

ACTIVITIES: River Trekking; Swimming/Bathing; Snorkeling. Picnic; Cultural/Historical Tour; Sightseeing/Birdwatching.

TISP was held inside the session room of the Samboan Municipal Hall. Accommodation for the DOT-Central Visayas TISP Team was at Chelan Resort House, located along the Cebu Southwest Road, Poblacion, Samboan. 3 stars out of 5. 

The Cebu Highlands Trail established a campsite on a ridge of Barangay Monteverde. It would be best if the Samboan LGU would develop it into a camping area because of its proximity to a water tank. 

MUNICIPALITY OF SAN FRANCISCO

Province of Cebu

September 22-29, 2019 

ATTRACTIONS: Lake Danao; Paraiso Cave; Amazing Island Cave and Beach Resort; Timubo Cave; Santiago Bay; San Francisco Baywalk and Causeway; Indigenous Handicrafts. 

ACTIVITIES: Hiking/Camping; Zipline Gliding; Kayaking/Paddling; Picnic; Spelunking/Cave Tour; Swimming/Bathing; Sightseeing/Birdwatching.

 

TISP was held inside the function room of the San Francisco Multi-Purpose Cooperative, Poblacion, San Francisco. Accommodation for the DOT-Central Visayas TISP Team was at Dayon Lodge, also in Poblacion. 1 star out of 5.

MUNICIPALITY OF TUDELA

Province of Cebu

September 30-October 6, 2019 

ATTRACTIONS: Bukilat Cave; Buenavista Heritage Tree; Villahermosa Giant Clam Sanctuary; Tudela Mangrove Forest; Busay Waterfall; Makalabad Peak. 

ACTIVITIES: Spelunking/Cave Tour; Cultural/Historical Tour; Sightseeing/Birdwatching; Swimming/Bathing; Snorkeling; River Trekking; Hiking/Camping; Kayaking/Paddling.

 

TISP was held in the function hall of Villa Alicia Resort, Poblacion, Tudela. Accommodation for the DOT-Central Visayas TISP Team was also at Villa Alicia Resort. 3 stars out of 5. 

All blacksmiths in Tudela LGU still used improvised oven and blower and still produce the best blade tools that are used by farmers and homesteads on the islands of Poro, Pacijan and Ponson. It may be worth the effort to include these blacksmith shops into the tourist map of the LGU under the new destination of “blade tour”. It may be even viable if the three other LGU of the Camotes Group of Islands decides to join hands and save this dying industry. 

MUNICIPALITY OF ALICIA

Province of Bohol

October 9-16, 2019 

ATTRACTIONS: Alicia Panoramic View; Birhen Nature Resort; Cagong-cagong Cave; Princess Manan-aw Cave; Chocolate Cave; Alicia Schist Rock. 

ACTIVITIES: Hiking/Camping; Trail Running; Bathing; Sightseeing/Birdwatching; Spelunking/Cave Tour; Cultural/Historical Tour.

TISP was held, respectively; for the first three days, at The Farm in Alicia, Cambaol, Alicia; and for the rest of the week, in the function room of the Alicia Municipal Hall Annex. Accommodation for the DOT-Central Visayas TISP Team was also at the Alicia Municipal Hall Annex. 1 out of 5. 

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WHILE TOURISM MAY BRING in revenues needed by the LGUs, it has its downside as well. We have seen the decay that over-commercialization and over-development have done on so many places and are now shunned by most tour operators due to lesser tourists. The TISP is just not improving skills on the tourism operators but also considers the health of the environment of a destination as an integral part of development and the team emphasized that in our 2019 LGU tour.