Thursday, January 22, 2015

Reaching out to the Aetas: What shall we put in the goody bag.





Once in a while, I get communication from people who stumbled upon my blog interested in coming up to the Aetas for a day of outreach activity.

There has been the slippers, the toothbrushes, the folding fans, the body scrub nylon, etc.

I hated to say NO to people who wanted to help; It’s hard to reject ideas from genuinely generous people who wants things better. But then again, after that, there’s still yet another bigger regret. 

Fact is, that brush, that scrub, that slipper, it would be left sitting somewhere for time they would not even bother; Whereas, this could have sufficed for some rice over one meal; Or a pouch of ketchup which they’d be so happy about to top and add flavor to a mere rice bowl.

They may have slippers, but the same dirt we want to keep them away is somewhere else too, cheeks or hands perhaps. They’d leave it that way, they won’t even realize it’s there. It’s cold, and it’s a long way down to the stream to bathe. They’d rather sleep with that dust and dirt and keep it warm for the night.

Worst, after wearing it the first time, they may leave it somewhere, and not even realize they were wearing slippers, just because they have gotten so used to walking barefoot.

The toothbrush; It’s too tiring to get water, for them to even use water to brush. It’ll make them hungry to get rid of that lasting flavor from their last meal in their mouth. They won’t even have toothpaste for it.
The fan.. it’s not even warm there. It’s perpetually breezy to cold.. They’d probably use a jacket more.
This is the reason I ask these people, always, what they want, and what they need. So, I’d like to share what I heard from them so future concerned individuals can be well aware.

FOOD.
Rice is well received. Without water source up there, they can’t grow rice. Their only source of carbohydrate are the sweet potatoes and bananas, mixed and mashed together. If they have money to buy rice from a 3 hour return trek away, then it would be a feast.

No sardines.
The sardines has been a major character within the relief goody bags. It’s been taken as a poorman’s fallback. Surprisingly, I heard from these people that they get bodily reactions from it. I don’t have a postulate until now.

I was thinking it might be that their bodies are not accustomed to Sea based diet, but then again, they are ok with and love TUYO. They normally boil the dried fish and mix it with some greens for soup.

Salt and ketchup. These people would be so happy to have rice for a meal. For them, it’s better than their usual banana or sweet potato. It’s an added grace to have something else on top, soup, or anything.

In these times they don’t have anything else, mixing rice with Salt, or topping it with ketchup will do. I assume they would love the lechon sauces too.

Coffee and Sugar. It keeps them warm, especially during the night.


Instant Noodles – They boil it with Malunggay or other leaves and work as a viand.

Books? No, they don't know how to read (except for a few students). Perhaps those with images would be good.

Medicines? perhaps OTC ones and multivitatmins? And leave them to someone who knows the indications of these medicines. Antibiotics? Perhaps not. 

Send in your comments on what else you think will be good. Ask if you may :-) so we can brainstorm.



Overview of Sitio Banaba, Brgy Sapang Uwak, Porac, Pampanga

Up until the eruption of Mt. Pinatubo, the Aeta tribes of Zambales, Tarlac, and Pampanga were living humbly scattered within the mountain range of the region. After the eruption, evacuations, and resettlement programs of the government, some have decided to embrace city living, some have resettled into the foothills, to have access to both services and their farmlands, while a small fraction have insisted on living the old mountain life.

ACCESS: Sitio Banaba is under the jurisdiction of Brgy Sapang Uwak, which is the community in the foothill.

Before reaching Sapang uwak, there is a Private Checkpoint by LLL Holdings. At this checkpoint, guests are required to submit a waiver (see blog post for copy of the waiver), register, and leave an ID. Guests are also prohibited from taking pictures in this checkpoint (because of their illegal checkpointing activity, as per ruling from CHR).

In sapang uwak, outdoor enthusiasts en route to the waterfalls (3 hours past Sitio Banaba) are required to register and pay 30 pesos per head + guide.

Back during the Lapid's town administration, an access road has been made for 4x4s all the way to Mount Pinatubo. However, as the overlying land is a loose covering from the ash and lava throw from the eruption, the road easily eroded during the heavy rains. Hence, it is not advisable to travel to the area during rainy season.

Also, around 2kilometers from the community in the foothill, en route to Sitio Banaba/Mt Pinatubo, there is a steep, with a very rough ground, ascend that is not recommended for first time (4x4) drivers to the place. 

Sitio  Banaba is reachable, 2-4 hours by feet, or 30mins by vehicle (4x4, tricycle, or single motorbike).

There are 4x4 jeeps that may be rented. These jeeps are the same dealers who buy crops from the aetas in sitio banaba (at a very, very low price)

From previous outreach programs, because of the volume of goods we will be dristributing, I have borrowed the Municipal Government truck. However, it rained 2 days before the event that made it impossible for the truck to reach the community. We manually ported every item from foothill to the community.

There are around 80 families scattered in the surrounding mountains of the sitio. The center of the community (2.5 hours average on foot), where we hold our programs, has around half the population.

The houses on the outskirts are the families that are most nomadic, where some of their houses are just made of banana leaves. 

The current crops in the are puso ng saging, camote, gabi and ube.

As there is an abundant number of bananas growing in the area, Their income is mostly from Puso ng Saging. These bananas are the 'butolan' type so they can't be sold as fruits. Instead, it is the sap that is sold. One individual earns less around 160 pesos out of a full day of work to fill up 2 sacks of puso ng saging. A sack would have more than 50 Pusos stacked.

Rice price in the area is around P60 per kilo, and with 4-5 individuals in a household, what they earn in a day is not even sufficient to buy enough rice. Hence, their diet is mostly banana and camote boiled and mashed together. Having rice in a meal is more than enough, and will be lucrative to have salt/ketchup as an added flavor.

Water is scooped from the river at the bottom of the hill, about 150m below, an hour up and down to trek. It is the same reason why taking a bath is not routinary for them, especially for the kids. Plus, it gets cold at night, so some dirt serves some warmth.

At the moment, there are about 15 from the whole sitio community who are attending classes. 14 are in grade school, and 1 in high school. These kids attend the grade school from the Sapang uwak vicinity. 

Some of them, those residing very far away, goes down on the sunday afternoon, and live near the school for a week, before coming back home on the friday afternoon. 

They either live with their relatives there, or stay in a vacant hut they have there. 

For high school, they will have to go to town proper.

contact: Angeline: (0919) 832 5178
-resident of Sitio Banaba



see here for other aeta related articles





Once in a while, I get communication from people who stumbled upon my blog interested in coming up to the Aetas for a day of outreach activity.

There has been the slippers, the toothbrushes, the folding fans, the body scrub nylon, etc.

I hated to say NO to people who wanted to help; It’s hard to reject ideas from genuinely generous people who wants things better. But then again, after that, there’s still yet another bigger regret. 

Fact is, that brush, that scrub, that slipper, it would be left sitting somewhere for time they would not even bother; Whereas, this could have sufficed for some rice over one meal; Or a pouch of ketchup which they’d be so happy about to top and add flavor to a mere rice bowl.

They may have slippers, but the same dirt we want to keep them away is somewhere else too, cheeks or hands perhaps. They’d leave it that way, they won’t even realize it’s there. It’s cold, and it’s a long way down to the stream to bathe. They’d rather sleep with that dust and dirt and keep it warm for the night.

Worst, after wearing it the first time, they may leave it somewhere, and not even realize they were wearing slippers, just because they have gotten so used to walking barefoot.

The toothbrush; It’s too tiring to get water, for them to even use water to brush. It’ll make them hungry to get rid of that lasting flavor from their last meal in their mouth. They won’t even have toothpaste for it.
The fan.. it’s not even warm there. It’s perpetually breezy to cold.. They’d probably use a jacket more.
This is the reason I ask these people, always, what they want, and what they need. So, I’d like to share what I heard from them so future concerned individuals can be well aware.

FOOD.
Rice is well received. Without water source up there, they can’t grow rice. Their only source of carbohydrate are the sweet potatoes and bananas, mixed and mashed together. If they have money to buy rice from a 3 hour return trek away, then it would be a feast.

No sardines.
The sardines has been a major character within the relief goody bags. It’s been taken as a poorman’s fallback. Surprisingly, I heard from these people that they get bodily reactions from it. I don’t have a postulate until now.

I was thinking it might be that their bodies are not accustomed to Sea based diet, but then again, they are ok with and love TUYO. They normally boil the dried fish and mix it with some greens for soup.

Salt and ketchup. These people would be so happy to have rice for a meal. For them, it’s better than their usual banana or sweet potato. It’s an added grace to have something else on top, soup, or anything.

In these times they don’t have anything else, mixing rice with Salt, or topping it with ketchup will do. I assume they would love the lechon sauces too.

Coffee and Sugar. It keeps them warm, especially during the night.


Instant Noodles – They boil it with Malunggay or other leaves and work as a viand.

Books? No, they don't know how to read (except for a few students). Perhaps those with images would be good.

Medicines? perhaps OTC ones and multivitatmins? And leave them to someone who knows the indications of these medicines. Antibiotics? Perhaps not. 

Send in your comments on what else you think will be good. Ask if you may :-) so we can brainstorm.



Overview of Sitio Banaba, Brgy Sapang Uwak, Porac, Pampanga

Up until the eruption of Mt. Pinatubo, the Aeta tribes of Zambales, Tarlac, and Pampanga were living humbly scattered within the mountain range of the region. After the eruption, evacuations, and resettlement programs of the government, some have decided to embrace city living, some have resettled into the foothills, to have access to both services and their farmlands, while a small fraction have insisted on living the old mountain life.

ACCESS: Sitio Banaba is under the jurisdiction of Brgy Sapang Uwak, which is the community in the foothill.

Before reaching Sapang uwak, there is a Private Checkpoint by LLL Holdings. At this checkpoint, guests are required to submit a waiver (see blog post for copy of the waiver), register, and leave an ID. Guests are also prohibited from taking pictures in this checkpoint (because of their illegal checkpointing activity, as per ruling from CHR).

In sapang uwak, outdoor enthusiasts en route to the waterfalls (3 hours past Sitio Banaba) are required to register and pay 30 pesos per head + guide.

Back during the Lapid's town administration, an access road has been made for 4x4s all the way to Mount Pinatubo. However, as the overlying land is a loose covering from the ash and lava throw from the eruption, the road easily eroded during the heavy rains. Hence, it is not advisable to travel to the area during rainy season.

Also, around 2kilometers from the community in the foothill, en route to Sitio Banaba/Mt Pinatubo, there is a steep, with a very rough ground, ascend that is not recommended for first time (4x4) drivers to the place. 

Sitio  Banaba is reachable, 2-4 hours by feet, or 30mins by vehicle (4x4, tricycle, or single motorbike).

There are 4x4 jeeps that may be rented. These jeeps are the same dealers who buy crops from the aetas in sitio banaba (at a very, very low price)

From previous outreach programs, because of the volume of goods we will be dristributing, I have borrowed the Municipal Government truck. However, it rained 2 days before the event that made it impossible for the truck to reach the community. We manually ported every item from foothill to the community.

There are around 80 families scattered in the surrounding mountains of the sitio. The center of the community (2.5 hours average on foot), where we hold our programs, has around half the population.

The houses on the outskirts are the families that are most nomadic, where some of their houses are just made of banana leaves. 

The current crops in the are puso ng saging, camote, gabi and ube.

As there is an abundant number of bananas growing in the area, Their income is mostly from Puso ng Saging. These bananas are the 'butolan' type so they can't be sold as fruits. Instead, it is the sap that is sold. One individual earns less around 160 pesos out of a full day of work to fill up 2 sacks of puso ng saging. A sack would have more than 50 Pusos stacked.

Rice price in the area is around P60 per kilo, and with 4-5 individuals in a household, what they earn in a day is not even sufficient to buy enough rice. Hence, their diet is mostly banana and camote boiled and mashed together. Having rice in a meal is more than enough, and will be lucrative to have salt/ketchup as an added flavor.

Water is scooped from the river at the bottom of the hill, about 150m below, an hour up and down to trek. It is the same reason why taking a bath is not routinary for them, especially for the kids. Plus, it gets cold at night, so some dirt serves some warmth.

At the moment, there are about 15 from the whole sitio community who are attending classes. 14 are in grade school, and 1 in high school. These kids attend the grade school from the Sapang uwak vicinity. 

Some of them, those residing very far away, goes down on the sunday afternoon, and live near the school for a week, before coming back home on the friday afternoon. 

They either live with their relatives there, or stay in a vacant hut they have there. 

For high school, they will have to go to town proper.

contact: Angeline: (0919) 832 5178
-resident of Sitio Banaba



see here for other aeta related articles

Read More »

Thursday, January 8, 2015

9 Days of Nowhere: Palawan to Batangas to Quezon




Limbonis on hammock in front of Port Barton's bay



Coming back home after 7 month of backpacking Southeast Asia, and being so firm about not going back to corporate work (unless it’s my previous company), I got a ticket for Puerto Princesa on Christmas day and Flying back to Manila on New Year.

For some reason, I almost got denied boarding, but somehow managed to make some great excuses so I made it to Palawan.

From the airport, I headed straight to the terminal where I can catch the trip to Port Barton. Unfortunately, there was no more Port Barton bound transport, and so took the San Vicente Trip instead and got off in the San Jose tricycle terminal.

At the terminal, the tricycle drivers were asking P300 for a habal ride for that 20kms remaining to Port Barton.

I got back into my Math. It normally take me 10 minutes for a kilometer walk, so this will take me 200 minutes or 3.3 hours. It’s 4 o clock at the time, and it would take me until past 7pm to get there. Well.. not a very good idea to walk in the jungle dark, especially I have loads of grocery stock in my hands. Then again, there’s no way I will be paying P300 from that point to get there. It would have been only P250 if only I caught the direct Port Barton transport, and after paying P90 to the San Vicente bound bus, my cost is already at P390.

And so I waited. I told the drivers I can wait for another passenger to share the cost, and make it at least only P250 for me. They were fine.

I’m glad that everytime I travel, I always bring out that poor traveler loo (probably even effortless because of the backpacker dress up, my skin, unattended hair style, etc).

A little while later, a driver flagged a van. It was a tourist van en route to Port Barton. I was asked to Board. I paid P150 to get there.. Yipee! It was P240 all in all.. cheaper than expected.

I got to Port Barton and stayed with a friend who recently bought a piece of land there.

Everyday was about waking up, preparing brunch, chopping wood, cooking whatever, harvesting coconuts,waiting for electricity at 5:30, and walking at the beach to find if any place has any crowd, and even making a broomstick out of coconut leaves.







Few days passed, we decided to spend the New Year’s in the city. We did the countdown in the Bay area where there was a 6-minute firework. Unfortunately, the new year wasn’t as lively as everywhere else. We resorted to sleeping it away after giving up on finding a place to drink.


our NYE dinner in Baywalk, Puerto Princesa



Then, a few days ago, I had an invitation from friends to climb Mt Batulao on New Year.

So, without any proper gears, from the airport, I went straight ahead to coastal mall terminal to meet my hike buddies. It was about 6:00pm when we met, stopped by Tagaytay for dinner, and about 10pm when we started the trek. It was muddy, windy, and fiercefully breezy. We camped at #10 and did our drinks right inside the tent.

Mt Batulao photo courtesy of Gen E Sis

After our descend the following day, we head straight to Alibijaban island in San Andres, Quezon. From Nasugbu, we took the jeep to the terminal in Olivarez, then a van to calamba, and then a bus to Lucena. It was around 8pm when we reached Lucena.

From Lucena, compared to my first trip to the island, there are now 3 other companies that service the town. There were 2 buses ready to leave, but decided to wait for Superlines – the supposed bigger company and expected to have better seats.

We also met other San Andres residents who were waiting for the same bus, and recommends indeed that we wait.

It was about 2 hours later when the bus arrived. There were no more buses from the other companies and this Superlines bus don’t look like there’s seats for us. We had to stand in the bus, and could only feel so bad for the kids dumped in any available space.

The conductor said there were people getting off in Burgos, but there were only 2 of them, and around 25 of us stucked in the aisle. It did not even feel like there was space freed out by the 2 passengers who just got off.






It was already in Mulanay when all 4 of us got a seat.
By 3am, we finally reached San Andres terminal. From there, we were going to wait for sunrise and some boats bound for Alibijaban. There were some fishing boats there, but did not want to charter for it would be more expensive that necessary.

We laid our sheets, and sleeping backs, and attempted to sleep in the pave way of the port.
Then, a fisherman passed by and asked where we are bound. We told him ‘towards the island’ and asked if we’d like them to drop us. We said NO need, but he said, we can just pay him P200. That was a good bargain so rephrased our answer to YES.

the group sleeping in the San Andres port waiting for a boat to Alibijaban Island



We could hear the waves right in the port, and I was so worried that my laptop would get wet. I wasn’t really intending to do this straightaway from Port Barton, but it’s just being ME.. totally spontaneous.

It took us probably an hour and a half to get there. The sea wasn’t calm enough so couldn’t run the engine fast enough. I’d fall asleep once in a while, and when I get awakened, looking at sparks of light from the town and from the boats in the island, it doesn’t seem like we are moving. The boatman seem calm though so I was not bothered.

Somehow, we managed to get on the shore by nearly 6am.
We were received by my contact’s family, and the brgy Kaptain. We were escorted to the free space where we can camp the night.

After setting up the tent and my hammock, we decided to take some nap. Afterwhich, we walked onto the shores of the islands with the kids.


Limbonis in Alibijaban Island photo courtesy of Gen E Sis

Water Pump in Alibijaban Island

Alibijaban island


The following day, we set to leave the island before noontime. After brunch, and cleaning the utensils we’ve used, we hitched from the Kaptain’s boat who is bound to town to buy some construction materials. They were actually building some sheds for future visitors.

From town, we thought it would be too early to be bound to Manila, especially that by the time the bus is in Candelaria, and Laguna, traffic would have been irritating to a suicide level. We decided to take a side trip to the beaches of San Narciso.

The beaches we’ve seen just nearby the town of San Narciso were nice except that they were not maintained at all. There was too many coconut husks on the shore that spoil the view of the blue and fine white sand.

We were not so content to settle in these beaches so we took a walk further.
Towards the beach of the next cove, we’ll have to walk back to the main road, or just trek its boundaries. We are used to trekking anyway, so didn’t mind getting onto the wild bush and get off the ridge.

From the ridge, we were also seeing some nice rock formations, and thought about walking all the way there.





my broken slippers from climbing the boulders of Talaw Talaw or Taraw Taraw, San Narciso (photo by Gen E Sis)

Talaw Talaw, San Narciso (photo by Gen E Sis)

The rock boulders surrounded by waters weren’t so bad after all. The water was not so deep, so thought about walking towards them. We climbed all the way up the 2 rocks. Villagers say the area is area is called Talaw Talaw (or Taraw Taraw as others said).

At around past 3pm, we decided to go back to the Terminal so not to miss the bus.
Unfortunately, all the buses that arrived were packed so we waited back to the junction between San Narciso and San Andres. We got the bus there, although again, it was standing.

As we drove further, there were more and more passengers to a point that you can’t even move from the time you find your position in the aisle. There were probably more than 50 of us in the aisle, including mothers with infants. The driver is a big fucking nut.

In Mulanay, I was asking for a refund so I can just sleep in the town and not endure any more of it. Driver refused and I wasn’t wealthy enough to let go of my 200 pesos.

Lesson learned: avoid Superlines! Avoid Superlines! Avoid Superlines. Their drivers are dirt cheap futile.

We were in that situation until Lucena City.

From there I decided to call it a night and attempt to travel back the following day instead. I was already tired.









Limbonis on hammock in front of Port Barton's bay



Coming back home after 7 month of backpacking Southeast Asia, and being so firm about not going back to corporate work (unless it’s my previous company), I got a ticket for Puerto Princesa on Christmas day and Flying back to Manila on New Year.

For some reason, I almost got denied boarding, but somehow managed to make some great excuses so I made it to Palawan.

From the airport, I headed straight to the terminal where I can catch the trip to Port Barton. Unfortunately, there was no more Port Barton bound transport, and so took the San Vicente Trip instead and got off in the San Jose tricycle terminal.

At the terminal, the tricycle drivers were asking P300 for a habal ride for that 20kms remaining to Port Barton.

I got back into my Math. It normally take me 10 minutes for a kilometer walk, so this will take me 200 minutes or 3.3 hours. It’s 4 o clock at the time, and it would take me until past 7pm to get there. Well.. not a very good idea to walk in the jungle dark, especially I have loads of grocery stock in my hands. Then again, there’s no way I will be paying P300 from that point to get there. It would have been only P250 if only I caught the direct Port Barton transport, and after paying P90 to the San Vicente bound bus, my cost is already at P390.

And so I waited. I told the drivers I can wait for another passenger to share the cost, and make it at least only P250 for me. They were fine.

I’m glad that everytime I travel, I always bring out that poor traveler loo (probably even effortless because of the backpacker dress up, my skin, unattended hair style, etc).

A little while later, a driver flagged a van. It was a tourist van en route to Port Barton. I was asked to Board. I paid P150 to get there.. Yipee! It was P240 all in all.. cheaper than expected.

I got to Port Barton and stayed with a friend who recently bought a piece of land there.

Everyday was about waking up, preparing brunch, chopping wood, cooking whatever, harvesting coconuts,waiting for electricity at 5:30, and walking at the beach to find if any place has any crowd, and even making a broomstick out of coconut leaves.







Few days passed, we decided to spend the New Year’s in the city. We did the countdown in the Bay area where there was a 6-minute firework. Unfortunately, the new year wasn’t as lively as everywhere else. We resorted to sleeping it away after giving up on finding a place to drink.


our NYE dinner in Baywalk, Puerto Princesa



Then, a few days ago, I had an invitation from friends to climb Mt Batulao on New Year.

So, without any proper gears, from the airport, I went straight ahead to coastal mall terminal to meet my hike buddies. It was about 6:00pm when we met, stopped by Tagaytay for dinner, and about 10pm when we started the trek. It was muddy, windy, and fiercefully breezy. We camped at #10 and did our drinks right inside the tent.

Mt Batulao photo courtesy of Gen E Sis

After our descend the following day, we head straight to Alibijaban island in San Andres, Quezon. From Nasugbu, we took the jeep to the terminal in Olivarez, then a van to calamba, and then a bus to Lucena. It was around 8pm when we reached Lucena.

From Lucena, compared to my first trip to the island, there are now 3 other companies that service the town. There were 2 buses ready to leave, but decided to wait for Superlines – the supposed bigger company and expected to have better seats.

We also met other San Andres residents who were waiting for the same bus, and recommends indeed that we wait.

It was about 2 hours later when the bus arrived. There were no more buses from the other companies and this Superlines bus don’t look like there’s seats for us. We had to stand in the bus, and could only feel so bad for the kids dumped in any available space.

The conductor said there were people getting off in Burgos, but there were only 2 of them, and around 25 of us stucked in the aisle. It did not even feel like there was space freed out by the 2 passengers who just got off.






It was already in Mulanay when all 4 of us got a seat.
By 3am, we finally reached San Andres terminal. From there, we were going to wait for sunrise and some boats bound for Alibijaban. There were some fishing boats there, but did not want to charter for it would be more expensive that necessary.

We laid our sheets, and sleeping backs, and attempted to sleep in the pave way of the port.
Then, a fisherman passed by and asked where we are bound. We told him ‘towards the island’ and asked if we’d like them to drop us. We said NO need, but he said, we can just pay him P200. That was a good bargain so rephrased our answer to YES.

the group sleeping in the San Andres port waiting for a boat to Alibijaban Island



We could hear the waves right in the port, and I was so worried that my laptop would get wet. I wasn’t really intending to do this straightaway from Port Barton, but it’s just being ME.. totally spontaneous.

It took us probably an hour and a half to get there. The sea wasn’t calm enough so couldn’t run the engine fast enough. I’d fall asleep once in a while, and when I get awakened, looking at sparks of light from the town and from the boats in the island, it doesn’t seem like we are moving. The boatman seem calm though so I was not bothered.

Somehow, we managed to get on the shore by nearly 6am.
We were received by my contact’s family, and the brgy Kaptain. We were escorted to the free space where we can camp the night.

After setting up the tent and my hammock, we decided to take some nap. Afterwhich, we walked onto the shores of the islands with the kids.


Limbonis in Alibijaban Island photo courtesy of Gen E Sis

Water Pump in Alibijaban Island

Alibijaban island


The following day, we set to leave the island before noontime. After brunch, and cleaning the utensils we’ve used, we hitched from the Kaptain’s boat who is bound to town to buy some construction materials. They were actually building some sheds for future visitors.

From town, we thought it would be too early to be bound to Manila, especially that by the time the bus is in Candelaria, and Laguna, traffic would have been irritating to a suicide level. We decided to take a side trip to the beaches of San Narciso.

The beaches we’ve seen just nearby the town of San Narciso were nice except that they were not maintained at all. There was too many coconut husks on the shore that spoil the view of the blue and fine white sand.

We were not so content to settle in these beaches so we took a walk further.
Towards the beach of the next cove, we’ll have to walk back to the main road, or just trek its boundaries. We are used to trekking anyway, so didn’t mind getting onto the wild bush and get off the ridge.

From the ridge, we were also seeing some nice rock formations, and thought about walking all the way there.





my broken slippers from climbing the boulders of Talaw Talaw or Taraw Taraw, San Narciso (photo by Gen E Sis)

Talaw Talaw, San Narciso (photo by Gen E Sis)

The rock boulders surrounded by waters weren’t so bad after all. The water was not so deep, so thought about walking towards them. We climbed all the way up the 2 rocks. Villagers say the area is area is called Talaw Talaw (or Taraw Taraw as others said).

At around past 3pm, we decided to go back to the Terminal so not to miss the bus.
Unfortunately, all the buses that arrived were packed so we waited back to the junction between San Narciso and San Andres. We got the bus there, although again, it was standing.

As we drove further, there were more and more passengers to a point that you can’t even move from the time you find your position in the aisle. There were probably more than 50 of us in the aisle, including mothers with infants. The driver is a big fucking nut.

In Mulanay, I was asking for a refund so I can just sleep in the town and not endure any more of it. Driver refused and I wasn’t wealthy enough to let go of my 200 pesos.

Lesson learned: avoid Superlines! Avoid Superlines! Avoid Superlines. Their drivers are dirt cheap futile.

We were in that situation until Lucena City.

From there I decided to call it a night and attempt to travel back the following day instead. I was already tired.






Read More »

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