Angry Fish

If you were cooked in vinegar, how would your face look like?

Voltes V Waterfall

Only a few days ago, we made a very good discovery. We actually saw and bathed in a beautiful waterfall whose cascades flow down several cataracts and eventually to the sea. Yep, Its how beautiful that site is. Apparently, we were the first "tourists" to the site and we selfishly named it "Voltes V Waterfall." The Gen-X readers would have an idea about my age on this one, ha ha! Well, it seemed appropriate, there were five visible falls and basins, the last one being a pool that formed by the sea. It was really a great, great moment. We (there were almost 10 of us including the boatmen who also saw the waterfall for the first time) acted like kids. Some went on impromptu yoga under the water, some jumped to the lowest basin, the others trekked through the highly inclined walls to see the headwater.

We also got another bonus when we visited a fishing community that never saw tourists in their midst. As usual, it was an absolute baby-making machine with laughing children dominating the scene. Really nice and happy community living in extreme hardship. We bought banig (sleeping mat made of leaves), a giant squid (not that giant, but a 4-kilo tinter minus the guts and the head/tentacles). Would have wanted to visit the spring source but night settled in. While some in our group drank rhum with the locals, we got another surprise just beside a house and saw one tree filled with fireflies!

Some other highlights of that trip - some of my companions snorkled near the waterfall and saw night-time corals that are active in the middle of the day. Did some birdwatching and saw a nesting site of rufous night heron on a rocky pinnacle along the coast. Bought 2 small tunas from local fishermen and had a great lunch on an islet with white sand and interesting rock formations (almost similar to the one in Apo Island in Negros Or.) . Some parts of the community actually looked like little Batanes as some of the houses and the churhc are made of rocks collected from their shore.

Unfortunately, I could not share yet the location of that site. I made a promise to the group not to announce yet where that place is (hint: its quite near a fast developing tourist destination). This is just to show you that a few minutes beyond what must be your best destination, there could be a better one.

Help Stop The Killing of Birds!

If you could please click the link below and sign the on-line petition that could somehow help in telling the hunters that the indiscriminate killing of birds should never be an option for sport and recreation. Some of the birds in the photos are endemic to the Philippines (found nowhere else in the world) and classified as threatened (only a few of them are left in the wild).

Here's the link: http://www.thepetitionsite.com/1/revolting-local-bird-massacre-website

We need the numbers to show that more people care about the birds in their environment than those who think that its their right to kill living beings just for sport and without any discrimination.

Play at Work - What a Difficult Job!

I know im not supposed to do this, but I can't help but post some of the things I do when Im on field and supposed to be working. Well, Im a tourism person, so I guess its best to "test the waters" before selling them to travelers.

Its a very tiring day. After battling waves that reach almost two meters and we were on board this very small boat. It was fun, though. It was like being on a roller coaster ride inside a water park.



But before we rode on the boat, we saw them guys fixing the outrigger which was broken by waves the previous day.

The island that was almost uninhabited greeted us. The long white sandy beach was sooo inviting. And the sand was very powdery, I could not help the urge to be a "white man" even for a few minutes. So I rolled on the sand and rubbed that white powder all over the dark skin. Nice exfoliant, too! (girls, did I get the term right?). I won't mention the girl's name. For sure she will curse me for posting this photo.

Kuliglig Ride in Baggao, Cagayan

I actually took this out from my other blog site. The adventure happened about a year ago...

Just came from another trip into the wilderness. As in, literaly parang wilderness talaga.
First there was this place in Baggao, Cagayan na kung saan we rode on a dump truck (my, the last time a rode a monster was in 1992!) to reach a site. Grabe, nandun ako sa likod dahil nauna na ang girls sa unahan (girls talaga!). Ayun, parang malalaglag ang baga ko. Siyempre, hindi uso ang shock absorber sa dump truck. Lahat ng positions sinubukan ko, sitting down, squat, kneeling. Muntik na rin akong humiga! Grabe, ang dami palang pwedeng maging positions sa pagsakay sa dump truck! Buti na lang, nadiskubre ko yung standing position.


Then may isang malawak na ilog. Akala ko lalanguyin namin. Bigla ba namang bumirit yung higante at tinawid yung riber! grabe! The entire huge wheels were engulfed by the water! Pagdating sa kabila muntik pang mabalaho, buti na lang ang galing ni manong!

Pagdating naman sa bahay ni barangay kaptain, may nakita kaming bangko, ang the ride went smoother, siyempre, may balcony section na kami sa likod ng dump truck, hindi na SRO. Ayun na naman, rough, muddy road, ang galing mag drive ni manong kahit gumigewang na yung truck at parang mahuhulog na sa tabing ilog.

But his luck run out. On a steep slope, the wheels cried out, "No more!" and we had to get down on the mud and got readied to walk the remaining....... 4 kilometers! Yup, 4 ks of mud. Buti na lang, everybody was in hiugh spirit. Yung asawa ni kapitan may dala dala pang ulam namin. Ayun, napasubo na naman kami. In a trip like this, you must learn to love mud, oh that lovely mud! Or else, you'll lose your head cursing the moment.

About one kilometer before our objective, napansin ni Kapitan na hapo na yung oldies sa amin (at hindi ako kasama dun!). Buti na lang at may nakita siyang local na may ari ng kuliglig. Di nyo alam yun, no? Sa Cagayan, ang kuliglig ay hindi insekto, at hindi rin kabit. Ito ay isang sasakyan na ang makina ay yung ginagamit sa traktora na pangsaka (pang farming ba).

Para ngayon kaming tourists on adventure. Grabeng reckless ng driver! I was beside hin and I was at the front seat of the action! Pag patag at tuyo ang lupa, ang sarap ng travel. Pag malalim ang putik, biglang bibirit at liliko-liko ang timon para umabante. The bits of mud would be flying all over - into my shirt, (nice) legs, face, eyeglasses, and wherever. At times, the kuliglig would pitch so aggressively that it seemed we would all be part of the next day's newspapers (mga mokong, nadisgrasya sa rumaragasang kuliglig).

Then the destination - I would say that it was all worth it. A river that cuts through a limestone mountain. Sa gilid may hot spring. Parang ang sarap mag camping! I was there on a field inspection, pero hindi ko pa rin napigil ang sarili ko. Siyempre, sa harap ng mga inosenteng locals, naghubad ako at sabay naligo sa napakalamig na tubig! Pag sobrang lamig na, gigilid naman sa isang side at magtitimpla ng mainit na tubig. Sarap!

Ang haba na pala nito, baka maubos na internet card ko. Tsaka na yung Palaui Island.

p.s. - the kuliglig was one of my best adventure rides! Highly recommended!

Balabac

Its a stuff a national geographic movie would be made of. Last May, I was part of a group that went to the final, last frontier of the Philippines. Sounds redundant? Well, Palawan is often called the Last Frontier of the Philippines. But if you look closely at the map of the province, there's a group of tiny islands at the southernmost tip known as Balabac. Physically, its really the final, the edge of the last frontier. And if you have the chance to visit the place, it really speaks true of the label. Virtually zero tourism, islands ringed by white sands, and really, really beautiful nature.

And why compare it to the prestigious national geographic stuff? Well, in one and a half days, we released mouse deers back into the wild, saw lots of birds, encountered a sea turtle, had some dolphins swim by our boat, and read this: saw a gang of manta rays feeding near our boat!

One of the mouse deers we released. Locally known as Pilandok, it is found only in the island of Balabac. It is fast losing its forest home due to increasing agricultural lands and hunting. Every Filipino must at least know about the animal and maybe try to help save the few remaining pilandoks from total and permanent extinction.

The marine turtle that we kept following for maybe 20 minutes. The water was so clear and the sandy bottom so white, the whole experience of watching the turtle glide underwater was made really special.

A big group of manta rays was on a feeding frenzy when we passed near them. My God! we were shouting and shrieking at the magnificent sight! Try to imagine, before this event, only scuba divers had the chance to see huge mantas in the open seas. Now, our lucky group was seeing them great animals gliding, flapping, and doing "barrel rolls" right in front of us non-divers! It was a really blessed day for us. Can't find the manta? Look very closely at the white figure with several black lines. That's the belly (and gills) of the giant manta doing a summersault while feeding on the rick planktons in the area.

You might wonder how I got to be so very lucky to visit this real frontier. I have to give credit to Conservation International - Philippines for making me their ecotourism consultant. Give me a few months and I should be able to make a clear picture for CI on how tourism can develop in Balabac. I love my job!

Taal Volcano

Got to have a great taste of Taal Volcano last Friday.

Actually, I've been to the active volcano almost 20 times starting many years ago (with smaller tummy, larger hair surface area, and no girlfriend yet). I camped on the island. Got lost a couple of times, almost got killed when I almost fell on very deep ravines (yes, plural), experienced four leg cramps, carried by tourists down from a crater during the cramp attacks, and experienced some sort of a miracle (like meeting somebody who resembled a saint with a pet dog - hey you would really welcome miracles when you're in a dire situation).

But I can say that the last trip is definitely one of the best! I got to swim in the middle of the crater lake, rowed a small boat, and got near the hissing volcanic vent. This was almost impossible many years ago since nobody did anything to improve the trail to the crater lake until somebody spent a lot of money creating a trail and bringing down some paddle boats.

It was such a great experience that at one time, I whispered "I could die right now" while floating in the crater lake and wondering at the massive walls encircling the lake.

One sort of an unlucky moment (but only for photography) was when it rained real hard and I was forced to keep the camera inside the bag. So the memories are kept in the head (and this blog). Just got to take some photos before the rains came.