Warrior Pilgrimage

2023-008 | CAMINO DE SANTIAGO CHRONICLES | SNIPPETS | DAY TWO

noreply@blogger.com (PinoyApache) — Tue, 21 Feb 2023 00:30:00 +0000

SNIPPETS OF DAY TWO

Day Two. June 20, 2022.

Found an empty table which I shared with my Swiss friend and trail companion at Kolon Txiki, a taberna in the town of Orio, Gipuzkoa, Basque Autonomous Region. I was wearing my TNF jacket because it was cold and there were light showers outside.

I came at the right time of 21:30 and waited for my food by downing two mugs of San Miguel Beer. I ordered vegetable salad, ox tongue and croquetas. The servings were huge, good for four people, especially the lengua which were eight pieces in all. Eight ox has to be butchered to satisfy me! 😳

The dinner ends with another beer mug and capped by an Irish coffee. The best! It was my second time to be inside a Basque tavern and I get to see how life goes around in a typical Basque town. The rustic insides and displayed items amazed and led me to understand the culture of my great grandparents. I have a quarter of Basque blood in my veins.

I am a pilgrim from the Philippines.

2023-007 | CAMINO DE SANTIAGO CHRONICLES | THE PILGRIM NOTES | DAY TWO

noreply@blogger.com (PinoyApache) — Tue, 14 Feb 2023 00:30:00 +0000

THE PILGRIM NOTES OF DAY TWO

The main highlight of Day Two on my journey of the Camino del Norte on June 20, 2022 was my brief visit of the great city of Donostia, Gipuzkoa, Basque Autonomous Region. I call it by its Basque name although it is more known as San Sebastian. It has scenic beaches and Michelin-rated restaurants.

I stopped for an hour in Donostia because I have to acquire Spanish SIM cards for my iPhone and Android phones and for a pair of reading glasses. Then I have to buy data at €20 each so I could update my kinfolks and friends back in my country.

I started from Pasaia San Juan very early that day and, at that hour, there were no open cafeterias and tabernas. Fortunately, I passed by Los Doce Tribus and enjoyed their home-baked bread and their arabica coffee. I just passed by earlier a Roman acqueduct and a path which used to be a Roman road.

From Donostia, I climbed up a road to Monte Igeldo. A yellow arrow led me to a forest trail that bisects another rural road that led into another Roman way, then a highway, and the arrow led me to a country road up a hill to Albergue San Martin in Orio.

It was raining in the late afternoon as I arrived at 16:30 and I need to stay out of the cold for more than an hour since I was partly drenched. When the rain stopped at 19:30, I went out to hunt for my dinner, wearing my TNF jacket. It was so cold.

I am a pilgrim from the Philippines.

2023-006 | CAMINO DE SANTIAGO CHRONICLES | BEST PHOTOS | DAY TWO

noreply@blogger.com (PinoyApache) — Tue, 07 Feb 2023 00:30:00 +0000

BEST PHOTO OF DAY TWO

The best photo I took on the second day of the Camino del Norte. June 20, 2022. I passed by this tunnel-like passage on my way to the wharf where a ferry would help me cross on the other side of an estuary.

This was in Pasaia San Juan, Gipuzkoa, Basque Autonomous Region, and it was early morning. Tolerably cold for someone who lived all his life in the tropics. The pavement were made of shale while the walls of the structures were made of sandstone.

After dinner and the night's rest, I regained my confidence to finish the last 825 kilometers to Santiago de Compostela. Somehow, it was too early for cafeterias and tabernas to open and I learned another lesson in Spain: they have their own time standards and I must respect it. Off I went without breakfast for the second morning.

I am a pilgrim from the Philippines.

2023-005 | CAMINO DE SANTIAGO CHRONICLES | SELFIES | DAY TWO

noreply@blogger.com (PinoyApache) — Wed, 01 Feb 2023 00:30:00 +0000

BEST SELFIE OF DAY TWO

My best selfie of Day Two on the Camino del Norte. June 20, 2022.

That smile says it all. That is confidence. I just crossed safely over from Pasaia San Juan into Pasaia San Pedro on a small boat despite those waves from the Bay of Biscay rocking the inlet waters. Despite the cold weather and deprived of even a simple cup of coffee. Despite the thought of 825 kilometers more to pursue.

This was the day that I wore that t-shirt for the first time which defined my identity and my image for the rest of my life-changing journey. It is from my organization: the Camp Red Bushcraft and Survival Guild, which I displayed proudly along the route of the Camino de Santiago. I wore this everyday. Washed it every night. With my long hair and my dark skin, I stood out from the normal touristy look of conventional pilgrims.

Behind me is a German pilgrim and ahead of me is a Swiss friend and fellow pilgrim. I was climbing up a flight of concrete stairs on the way to Monte Mendiola and to the city of Donostia (San Sebastian).

I am a pilgrim from the Philippines.

2023-004 | CAMINO DE SANTIAGO CHRONICLES | SNIPPETS | DAY ONE

noreply@blogger.com (PinoyApache) — Tue, 24 Jan 2023 00:30:00 +0000

SNIPPETS OF DAY ONE

On the first day of my el Gran Camino de Santiago on June 19, 2022, I arrived at Hendaia (Hendaye), France in darkness. The bus dropped me and my Swiss collaborator at 02:30 in the earliest of mornings. I was excited. It was very cold and I was just wearing a flimsy collared t-shirt. We kept moving just to stave off the cold. We walked on concrete sidewalks and on asphalt streets until we crossed over into Spain.

After so much effort to find a meal in Hendaia and in Irun, light begun to claim the skies. Then I found that elusive arrow. We decided to push through with or without food and God be with us! The road goes up and up from Hondarribia until we arrived at the chapel of the Guadalupe Hermitage. I prayed and asked for blessings inside. Outside, I got the first stamp for my empty credenciales.

Still walking on empty stomachs, I blindly followed a path up a mountain, completely trusting on my intuition on which arrow I would choose and hound the rest of the day. My hunch was answered as we passed by ruins of Carlist watchtowers. I knew of these structures during the making of this DIY Camino del Norte. I designed that I pass there, not knowing that it was the Purgatory Trail, and it was one of three routes of the first day.

Then came the lone dolmen, a stone monolith erected by Celtics, long before the coming of the Romans. I scaled Monte Jaizkibel and walked among its ridges, enjoying an aerial parade of eleven serpent eagles circling above me, paying homage of my presence. I went down and followed a well-beaten path that finally led to Pasaia San Juan (Pasai Donibane) and to our first albergue.

I had my coldest mugs of beer and that elusive meal, all rolled into one super dinner, Spanish time (22:00). It was a super effort upon my part to remain awake, despite the beating that my eyes received as it adjusted to the long daylight hours which the Europe is enjoying at this time of year. After that very late dinner, I hit my bed and there was no turning back.

I am a pilgrim from the Philippines.

2023-003 | CAMINO DE SANTIAGO CHRONICLES | THE PILGRIM NOTES | DAY ONE

noreply@blogger.com (PinoyApache) — Mon, 16 Jan 2023 00:30:00 +0000

THE PILGRIM NOTES

On the first day of my el Gran Camino de Santiago on June 19, 2022, I arrived at my first albergue at 15:00 and I have to wait for another hour since it will open at 16:00 yet!

I was thirsty, tired, hungry and I craved for sleep. I walked a path that no touristy pilgrim would liked to be in. I never considered myself a tourist even though I was a visitor. I was there on a spiritual journey first and foremost. Sceneries were just a bonus.

My last meal was done in Lyons, France during a stopover at noon of June 18th. It was a yesterday. I came from Bern, Switzerland. June 19 was a Sunday and all the shops were closed in the morning in France and in Spain.

You cannot sleep on a chair in a bus with a tight leg space. I have long legs even in a Europe where standards are made or built around a population that was supposed to be of above average height from an Asian point of view.

Sleepless eyes are not a problem in semi-darkness conditions. It is a problem in extremely bright daylight on a very bald Purgatory Trail. Then you have very dry air that suck whatever moisture your eyes have.

Ever since I arrived in Europe, my eyes, and my brain, were already in the process of solving a simple problem of long daylight hours. In the tropics, nine hours is the longest, but in late spring here, daylight hours went to 14+ hours and it placed a strain in my eyes.

Anyway, when my red-soaked eyes saw the number 825, I cried in dismay. The effort I did today just made a little dent in the kilometers that I have to go through on the days ahead. My spirit went down. Good God! 825 kilometers! It's like staring at Everest from Ceylon on a clear day!

I did get my well-deserved meal and that equally well-deserved sleep that my courage came back the next day. All I have to do was jettison a few things to make my load lighter. Little dents removed from the weight I carried in my bag at 16.8 kilos.

It is indeed a long road when you are on your own. I craved for loneliness and I got this on this journey.

I am a pilgrim from the Philippines.

2023-002 | CAMINO DE SANTIAGO CHRONICLES | BEST PHOTOS | DAY ONE

noreply@blogger.com (PinoyApache) — Wed, 11 Jan 2023 00:30:00 +0000

BEST PHOTO OF DAY 01

My best photo on the first day of my Camino de Santiago. Taken at Playa de Santiago, in Pasaia San Juan, Province of Gipuzkoa, of the Basque Autonomous Region, Spain; last June 19, 2022; with a RealMe 5 Pro, powered by Android OS version 11. This smartphone, was my main equipment for photography and video, and for social media and communication. I had another one as backup which is an iPhone 6.

The colors and the architecture of the structures seemed to burst out from a movie scene. It looked so strange to me but it is kind of nice to look at. It became so familiar as the days went by. All the structures and houses were designed in simple proletarian designs, utilizing local sources of building materials like sandstone, granite, slate, oak and pine wood, bricks, and modern items acquired from hardware shops. Most of the stones are smoothed through the ages and some, among the steps, are worn out.

These houses are old and are hereditary. Fresh splashes of pastel-coloured paints or a coat of varnish makes it attractive, trendy and pop. One structure has two different houses with two different designs but sharing one roof. On closer inspection, the stones betray their age, which could go as far as the 12th century, in the case of castles and watchtowers that are utilized now as habitations.

This was the main plaza of Pasai Donibane (San Juan). The date of my visit coincided with Father’s Day. It was also celebrated here like in my country. So many people dined al fresco with children tagging along since it was a Sunday. On the waterfront is a sea inlet where one has to cross over to another coast by a small ferry boat servicing the gap.

Señor Markus Immer and I found an open taberna and we sulked ourselves with two mugs each of the coldest beer. We were that thirsty. It was already 21:45 and most of the restaurants were closing. I had a super dinner of bacallao con salad mixta and patatas with a side dish of croquetas. My food costs around €17, a little bit pricey for a poor pilgrim, but the serving was good enough for 3-4 persons. Anyway, I ate it all.

I am a pilgrim from the Philippines.

2023-001 | CAMINO DE SANTIAGO CHRONICLES | SELFIES | DAY ONE

noreply@blogger.com (PinoyApache) — Sun, 01 Jan 2023 11:15:00 +0000

BEST SELFIE OF DAY 01

My best selfie on the first day of my Camino de Santiago. Taken at Albergue Santa Ana, in Pasaia San Juan, Province of Gipuzkoa, of the Basque Autonomous Region, Spain; last June 19, 2022; with a RealMe 5 Pro, powered by Android OS version 11. This smartphone, was my main equipment for photography and video, and for social media and communication. I had another one as backup which is an iPhone 6.

Just sitting there waiting for the albergue to open. I was hungry, tired, thirsty, and sleepy. Most of all, I need a bath. This was my first experience of how an albergue looked and felt like. I arrived at 14:45 but the albergue opens at 16:00. The hospitalero arrived on time and I was booked to stay for the night after scrutinizing my Philippine passport.

In a smattering of rapid Spanish, my eyes blinked at my capacity to absorb, mentally interpret, and understand the instructions. I nodded as if I understood, just to save me from the humiliation of my slow brain process. Then he became interested in my Basque surname and asked me friendly questions which I could only answer in my pidgin Spanish. Good thing he didn’t ask in Euskera.

Anyway, Señor Markus Immer was with me. He is a 70-year old Swiss expat living in the Philippines. He is married to a Filipina doctor. I was his companion on this journey of the spirit, a long pilgrimage, that we started many hours ago in darkness from Hendaia, France. He is my responsibility and I always keep my eye on him. We both had not taken a proper meal since arriving, except a few cups of coffee and some bread and pies.

I am a pilgrim from the Philippines.

2022-012 | THERM-A-REST RIDGEREST CLASSIC PAD REGULAR

noreply@blogger.com (PinoyApache) — Mon, 21 Mar 2022 01:00:00 +0000

A WEEK BEFORE I WAS ABOUT to embark on my Thruhike of the whole length of Cebu Island, Philippines, on January 17, 2017, a package arrived at my address. It was a THERM-A-REST RidgeRest Classic Pad Regular, courtesy of a benefactor, Michael Schwarz. It was heaven sent and, immediately, it became part of my gear. It has to be, notwithstanding its size.

It is kind of bulky. If laid flat on the ground, it is 72 inches (182.9 cms.) in length, 20 inches (50.8 cms.) wide and 0.63 inch (1.6 cms.) thick. When rolled and packed inside its plastic packaging, its dimension becomes 8 inches (20.3 cms.) by 20 inches (50.8 cms.). Just the same, it cannot be packed inside the backpack but it could be rigged above or below your bag.

It is very lightweight. It only weigh a mere 0.85 pound or a paper-like 0.39 kilo. It is constructed of cross-linked polyethylene. The patented molded design is constructed with a pattern of ridges and valleys to trap dead air that could increase its insulation value. The ridges make this pad softer and more comfortable than smooth closed-cell foam pads. Besides, it is made in the USA.

I did not have time to test this in the field but it would immediately see action in this tough Thruhike across Cebu, from south to north, along its very rugged central cordillera, weather and all, 408+ kilometers long, which I have planned would take me 26 days of walking with three days of rest. The route explorations of the Cebu Highlands Trail had been wrapped up last November 2016, and it was time to test the route.

The bag I carried has only 40 liters room space. It has no more space for the THERM-A-REST RidgeRest nor can it be rigged above this bag for I placed a Galileo radionavigation tracking device, which location at the top is crucial for interface with a series of satellites. Although I am travelling by memory, the device only serves to record our progress in real time for the consumption of my “audience”.

What I did was borrow a wide shoulder strap from another backpack and wove it through the center of the packed THERM-A-REST RestRidge and lengthen the strap with a flat shoelace and slung it on one shoulder, frontiersman style. This classic sleeping pad was thus displayed prominently on my front with its complementary plastic packaging and label.

This unusual carry somehow interfered initially, on the first day, the view of my shoes and the ground I trod. One time, I slipped and bumped a knee on a rock, tearing fabric and skin. From that moment on, I developed a technique in carrying the THERM-A-REST this way. However, on the third and fifteenth days, strong gusts of wind swept it away, leaving me off-balanced. I adjusted the location of the RestRidge on the lee side of my bag.

The first day, I found myself camping below a ridge an hour before dusk. I preferred a hammock and a canopy sheet for it is lighter and does not take up so much space than a tent. I squeezed inside the THERM-A-REST RestRidge through the opened bug net and settled it as flat as possible. Then came the strong winds and it pelted rain on my campsite.

After supper, I settled inside the hammock and lay above the RestRidge. It took me many seconds to master the art of sleeping with that inside the hammock. While the rain lashed hard in torrents, I did not feel the icy fingers of cold wind that usually crawled on an unprotected back. The thick polyethylene construction simply deflected wind chill and prevent heat loss.

I was comfortable that night and it amazed me what this lightweight sleeping gear could accomplish and it provided me a sense of comfort on my Thruhike. I slept through the night, broke camp and resumed my journey until I arrived at our next destination on the second day. The camp site was situated on a peak. Although there is an unfinished structure with a roof, it was open on three sides.

That night, winds stronger than that of yesterday’s, lashed my partly covered campsite with rain. Even when I rigged a canopy sheet to shelter my hammock apart from the roof, rainwater was able to douse my hammock wet. Were it not for the THERM-A-REST RestRidge, which kept me dry, warm and half-awake; I would have suffered a mild case of hypothermia.

The third night I slept among trees. It rained the whole night until sunrise appeared. The hammock was wet from the previous night as were my clothes. For weight considerations, I did not carry spare hiking pants and shirt. What spares I could carry where two pairs of socks, three pairs of elastic undershorts and a synthetic long-sleeved sports shirt which I used as my sleeping outfit and was partly-moist from two nights’ exposure to moody weather.

I was comfortable on that night with nothing below my crotch. The THERM-A-REST RidgeRest curled along the edges to protect my lower legs and part of my thighs from the damp air and wind chills. The polyethylene structure with its deep grooves and ridges are well designed to trap pockets of warm air which aided in my insulation from the cold. The RidgeRest is surprisingly warm all night long!

The next eight nights I used the THERM-A-REST RidgeRest on the comforts of a covered structure, varying from place to place, but, just the same, I slept on bare concrete floors. It helped to keep the RidgeRest surface clean by placing it over a cheap laminated nylon sheet instead of placing it directly on concrete surface. The molded polyethylene pad acts like cushion because it is soft as it is 1.6 centimeters thick.

On the twelfth night, I camped in the woods in close proximity to a big stream where, again, it rained during the night. The dampness in the cold air was felt but the THERM-A-REST RidgeRest stayed the same, giving me the same warmth and comfort that I had so appreciated on the first few days camping in the wild. From that day on, until I reached the end of my journey, I slept in covered structures with the same luxury experienced during the middle part of my Thruhike.

My Thruhike would have fared different if I did not have the privilege of using a THERM-A-REST RidgeRest. It was never in my plans nor was I giving priority of acquiring it. It just appeared from out of nowhere on the most vital point of my planning and preparations. Without second thoughts, I immediately accommodated this as part of my load and gear. It may stand out due to its bulk but it was compensated by its weight.

When I had the opportunity to travel to Luzon, I brought this with me and showed this to my benefactor, who was most happy to see his goodwill had been one of the factors that led to the success of the Thruhike. We both camped overnight in Itogon, Benguet and four days more in Masinloc, Zambales to celebrate that freedom of the hills with his gang.

Upon my final analysis, the THERM-A-REST RidgeRest delivered during my epic Thruhike of Cebu, an expedition that was a first in Southern Philippines. I have benefitted from its design and make and, altogether, it made my trek tolerable and, at the same time, comfortable, especially where I needed it most. The warmth it gave me was unexpected and was the deciding factor why I finished the Cebu Highlands Trail in 26 days!

I highly recommend the THERM-A-REST RidgeRest Classic Pad for camping and normal domestic use. It complements very well both hammocks and tents. Sleeping on the ground with it insulates you from the cold ground and rain runoffs. Sleeping over it while hanging inside a hammock protects you from wind chill and from moisture caused by rain and mist.

The THERM-A-REST RidgeRest can be acquired online in the Philippines from its local distributor, The Outdoor Armory at P1,490, excluding shipment. However, this sleeping pad can also be bought from Lazada and Shopee at the same retail price. Most likely, shipping fee would be added. Read the details before adding it to cart.

2022-011 | FINDING "FORRESTER"

noreply@blogger.com (PinoyApache) — Wed, 16 Mar 2022 01:00:00 +0000

OUTDOORS COMMON SENSE TIPS: When you have 50 sets of hiking shoes using the same trail, you need to isolate, at least one print of a certain shoe, so you could have an idea where the owner is going.

I just love this moment. Keeps your mind sharp.

First seen in Facebook

November 18, 2018

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GENUINE OUTDOORSMANSHIP IS A collection of skills, crafts and common sense that may bring about a semblance of understanding nature better but it demands more than a thousand days and nights outdoors. A big chunk of that is learning for more knowledge which he or she initiate on their own lonesome self.

The true gentleman or lady of the outdoors spends most of his/her time alone. He or she prefers no distractions so he/she could focus on all the skills and knowledge that was fed into him/her through the years and apply it where it is most applicable. One of the skills which gave him/her sheer satisfaction is tracking. It is a special skill that cannot be learned overnight or a decade of watching YouTube.

Tracking is neither good nor bad but it is as old as time. Tracking demands space, time and isolation. Tracking is very discriminating. The tracker disregards the rest when he/she finds what he/she is looking for and hugged that trace until the very end. On a well-trodden trail or on a well-paved path it is a nightmare but patience and common sense would win him/her over.

Tracking both human and wildlife is easiest in the dead of winter or where there is still snow; on muddy places or on moist patches of dirt; on hardened crust of silt above a sandy floor like deserts and dry riverbeds; and on very tight places. Tracking the most deceptive wildlife is easier than trailing a human who thinks.

One of the best cerebral exercise is to identify a footprint from a set of 25-50 footprints passing on a very well-used trail on a weekend. Isolate this imprint and familiarize the lugs and identify the make. Remember, one single print could have many owners. Measure the length with a stick as well as its width. Notice the depth of the print which would give you an idea as either a male or a female. Then the depth might also tell you of the load the owner carried.

Measure the stride if you can see another same print ahead which could tell you further if the owner is indeed male or female. The length of stride could also tell you more about the height of the owner and the pace he or she exacts. It would not be easy to spot a clean print with so many people using the same trail which could easily contaminate your specimen.

When you do catch up with the hikers, make a comparison with each individual you see. Use the “theory of deduction” to save time until you believed your “quarry” is found. Looks could be deceiving. Be very sure since that specimen print you zeroed could have many owners. When you found correctly what you have been trailing for so long, relish on your success and reward yourself with an ice-cold bottle of beer!

Anybody can be an outdoorsman and it is not a big thing but the there is an invisible line that defines a true gentleman or the lady of the outdoors from a somebody. The latter has their own set of culture, dress code and crowd while the former does not care, yet they would know those of his or her kind upon first impression and of those who could never be his/her own.

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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.

2022-010 | ABOUT HUMILITY BEFORE NATURE, PART 3

noreply@blogger.com (PinoyApache) — Fri, 11 Mar 2022 01:00:00 +0000

WISDOM TRAILS: The outdoors is better appreciated if you would only relegate your ego to the background and put yourself into your most humble form.

First seen in Facebook

December 18, 2018

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WHEN MOSES CAME FACE to face with a burning bush on Mount Sinai, he was so struck with awe and reverence that he placed himself in his most humble self. He removed his sandals for, he sensed, he was on holy ground, and he knelt. Moses now faced the God of his father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob. He hid his face for he was afraid to look at God.

Moses faced a supernatural phenomenon and, unable to understand what lay before him, choose to humble himself and knelt with body so close to the ground, probably closing his eyes. He offered himself meekly like a lamb, choosing to disregard, at that most trying time, his gift of human reasoning and trusted instead on his faith.

I would do the same but not within the vicinity of a grass fire bellowing and eating anything in its advance. I would stop and take a knee as I study traces of the wild creatures’ presence, invisible but eyeing me cautiously from its hidden lairs. I would slow my pace when the forest showed me something unusual, special or beautiful.

Nature is like a set of encyclopedia that could easily fill the biggest libraries in the world, strung together hundred-fold. You learn so many things (and lessons) from her. The tens of thousands of living organisms that exist in nature each show its own set of seasons reflecting to nature herself, diversifying further the only four seasons that we know of.

At the first opportunity, I would grasp this essence of nature by “disrobing” myself first of human imperfections like pride, arrogance, greed, indifference, and that urban smugness which goes with that feeling of superiority. As Moses had done so with his sandals and, later, kneeling so close to the ground.

The landscapes that you walk through could be the familiar one or another. Sometimes the familiar puts on a different mask which stops you on your tracks and play tricks on your memory. It is on these moments that your best abilities are put to the test but you would go nowhere unless you humble yourself.

It is on these moments that you look from the eyes of the heart. To feel nature at your most vulnerable form like Moses did. Overthinking, most of the time, would get you nowhere but trusting your heart – or your guts – would. It would be best to just adapt to the situation and bend to what the landscape demands.

When I faced something that puzzles me, I just sit down under the shade and close my eyes and then the answers would just float by for an easy grab. Otherwise, never take it as a human challenge and provide your own human solutions. There is no harmony and you double your effort to overcome something so simple from the very beginning.

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First photo courtesy AmericanMind.org

2022-009 | ADRENALINE ADVENTURE HIKE: SEGMENT VI-A

noreply@blogger.com (PinoyApache) — Tue, 01 Mar 2022 01:00:00 +0000

THIS PASSION BY TEAM Adrenaline Romance of walking the entire length of Cebu, in sub-segments, following in the wake of my epic Thruhike, which I did in 29 days of January and February 2017, have set them afire. They had crossed over the halfway mark of the Cebu Highlands Trail by finishing Segment V last May 24-25, 2019 and accumulated a thought-provoking 230.08 kilometers.

That is already a bragging right in itself that is very difficult to equal by even accomplished hikers, much more so, by their fellow bloggers. Gian Carlo and Sheila Mei, to include their friend Apol, are in a different level right now and I could feel the electricity running in their veins. They have adapted very well to the rigors of the CHT and developed that certain toughness of the mind that I had so recognized during my explorations of the routes.

I was awakened by Gian Carlo calling me on an early morning of June 29, 2019. He, Sheila Mei and Apol were already in the Cebu North Bus Terminal. It was a shock for me since I always come first and, there, my client took the place of my alarm which I set at 04:00. Daylight already carved the dawn sky! How could that be? I take pride of always being the first to arrive. This time I was very sloppy.

Anyway, I arrived blushing at 05:35 to the trio and offered my profound excuses. Without waiting for them to decide what would be next, I went straight to a waiting bus that would take us to Carmen. We arrived there at 07:30 and found a small eatery in the public market to take breakfast. We also bought extra food for our lunch which our itinerary says 12:00 at Agsuwao, Catmon.

We hired motorcycles to bring us up to Caurasan, Carmen, which travel took more than an hour and, instantly, I set about my usual courtesy calls. The village officials expected our coming and it took just a few minutes. Then I proceed to the military detachment nearby and jotted the names of Sheila, Gian Carlo, Apol and mine. The military wished us well and would be monitoring our progress.

We left Caurasan at 09:20, by way of an unpaved road which were lined with flowering indigenous trees of all shapes and sizes. The rugged road becomes half-concrete prevalent on most found on most mountain villages of Cebu. It is just a set of narrow concrete ribbons that could accommodate one set of four wheels one way or a couple of motorcycles each going the other way.

I walked point retrieving information from memory. The entirety of the CHT was never created with the efficiency of a radionavigation system, which could have produced waypoints, but by the quirks of traditional navigation. It was these invisible routes that my memory tracked feverishly, sometimes placing a stress on my brain, leaving me mentally exhausted at times.

When I walked, I watched out for the familiar. If I had some doubts, then I would consult the general directions of my compass. Since we were walking north, then north shall be the judge, come what may. My compass, an analog Suuntu A30 – now paired by a digital Casio Protrek sportswatch which I just used recently – had never let me down.

Sometimes, I would rely with common sense where terrain is concerned. I would never choose a path that goes down, to my false security and comfort. On this moment, you would be tempted to the drift of just going down and, by that time, too much ground had been covered to offset an error. I would opt for higher ground instead and abandon it when the terrain rolled in my favor.

I saw a trail that branched out of this road and I followed it uphill. At first I was in doubt but when it passes by a community, I began to like it since it looked familiar. I began to like it more when the trail went around the back of Mount Kapayas, whose peak is but a short detour for us if we choose to visit it. I was now in my groove and sniffed the path like a bloodhound.

This trail passed by swidden farms among forests and over beautiful meadows with coconut trees that afford limited views of a remote valley which places I would not want to be lost in. As I mentioned earlier, the drift of travel would somehow lull you into complacency until such time that you discover you are way off your general direction by several kilometers that rectifying it would need a lot of effort and energy.

Both Segment IV and VI, thirty-five and twenty years ago, was a mass base of a political organization that was engaged in an armed struggle against the military and the overthrow of the government. Because of its remoteness, dotted with thick forests and so many hiding places, these places created a reputation of its own. It became “no man’s land” to the detriment of the residents.

While I recognized its latent risks, I came with good intentions. These beautiful places cannot just live forever in their past. My introduction of adventure tourism through the CHT, carefully whetted to only a few hikers as possible, is meant to open up opportunities for these communities which difficulties caused by hostilities and distrust have left them with little or no options.

Since we had been walking for an hour, I picked a spot for rest, known by the locals as Lantawan, where there is an abandoned shelter littered by broken shells of cooked egg. It offered an unobstructed view of a valley and the hills across which belonged to the municipality of Tuburan. We stayed here for fifteen minutes and just enjoyed the landscape.

We pursued the path once more with vigor, the trail now hugging the steep bulwarks of Mt. Kapayas. For once, it crossed over a steep farm and went down from a ridge grown with mahogany trees. Before me are two paths whose left fork I took during the seventeenth day of my thruhike in February 2017 which could have led me farther away from a path I fixed in my memory until a guardian angel led me to the right trail.

This time, I fixed it permanently. I took the right. The trail still hugged the steep mountain but, no sooner, I espied a concrete path up ahead complete with steel railings. Concrete pavements meant that motorcycles could now penetrate these once remote parts and that is good even when outdoor purists disdained the sight of it. It does not matter to me since it is made for walking just the same.

I was happy at this path concreting project. Imagine the many years the residents have suffered from neglect of the government and the difficulties brought on by a foreign ideology upon their communities? The sight of this path, from the side of an adventure guide who relied on his memory for navigation, is heavenly! Even if it goes up for around 400 meters!

We arrived on a small plateau where there is a small community. I followed the trail until we arrived at the house where I last slept in during my epic thruhike. It belonged to the former village chief of Bongyas, Catmon, Mr. Soping Branzuela. I gave him a certificate and left a loaf of bread as my appreciation for his kindness and hospitality. Bread is something of a luxury in these places.

Since it is already 11:15, we decided to enjoy fifteen minute rest. Once done, we followed a trail down to the village center. I was expecting millet grown on their farms but I was in the wrong season. Only here and in a few adjoining villages where millet is grown. What was grown instead were corn. We arrived at the village center at 12:00 and decided to spend noonbreak here with cold soda drinks.

At exactly 13:15, we resumed our foot journey. There is another road with a set of two narrow concrete pavements. It goes and it wind among farms, grassy meadows and more beautiful landscapes. While it was warm at that hour, breeze were plentiful and helped to our cause. There was not much traffic on the road except for a few motorcycles.

At a spot where there is a beautiful small valley, I point to Team Adrenaline Romance the peak of Mt. Kapayas and its neighbor, Torre Peak, from a far distance. They were amazed at the progress we made for just half a day. Sooner, or tomorrow, this mountain would just be a speck just like the last time we saw it from Balamban.

We followed this half-paved road in the village of Agsuwao until it became unpaved, then full concrete for a time and then asphalt that is in need of new topping. A big concrete tablet showed that we are now in the village of Tabili, Catmon, but it would still be a long way to our campsite. At 16:00, we arrived at the home of the late village head, Mr. Danny Demana. His father-in-law replaced him and we were expected.

I slept here twice: During the route exploration of Segment VI in February 2016, the time I befriended Mr. Demana, and Day 18 of my thruhike. We occupied the space at the back where there was a nursery, a shed and an outhouse. Both Apol and I claimed the shed with its four posts for our hammocks while Sheila Mei and Gian Carlo pitched their tent on open ground.

Team Adrenaline Romance surprised me with a new aluminum pot. They were amused at the pot I brought last time in Bangkito, Tuburan during Segment IV. It had a hole which made the cooking of rice a lengthy task. This time, rice should be cooked effortlessly; which it did with my Trangia alcohol burner; causing thin streaks of soot to mark its bottom.

During this time, we enjoyed tea served in small a ceramic kettle and cups which I carried. After supper, we hit the deck at 19:30. It rained hard that night. The roof above me had a leak and one line of drop fell on me. I had to shift position so water would not hit me dead center. I refused to let the rain steal away my sleep and sleep I had after a few wet moments of discomfort.

We woke up early at 05:30 of September 30, 2019 and prepared ourselves an attire for swimming. We visited the Tinubdan Waterfalls of Tabili, Catmon guided by the teenaged son of the late Mr. Demana. We hopped on motorcycles for a short trip to the trailhead and walked a short path to the bathing area. This has gained popularity since it was featured in social media by vloggers.

After an hour enjoying the coolness of an early morning bath in Tinubdan Waterfalls, we returned to our campsite and prepared breakfast. After another round of tea in style, we broke camp. By 08:00, we gave thanks to our host and proceed to a stream that separates Catmon from Sogod. The stream is called Bawo Creek. The day is cloudy but humid owing to last night’s rain.

After a half hour of asphalt road, we took an unpaved road and, up to a certain point, we took a trail that led us to the stream. It is a beautiful countryside with orchards dotting the landscape. The water was not high and we crossed it without having to remove shoes and socks. There were dry parts necessitating just a little effort to leap over.

I followed a path through head-high cornstalks until such time we were in open places. I looked back from where we came from and it was a beautiful sight. Farther away, Mt. Kapayas reduced in size to bigger than a speck and Team Adrenaline Romance could still not believe that they placed so much distance from it in a day. The trail has to climb over a ridge that now belonged to Sogod.

Huffing and puffing, we made it to the ridge. It was as if we climbed a mountain but this was no mountain. It was a plateau of small Chocolate Hills-like mounds, which were farmed by locals in delicate terraces. We were in the village of Cabalawan, Sogod. Further ahead is the village center and the road. We followed this dirt road and turned left on another dirt road at the first corner.

The road went straight to a large hill planted with mangoes but bent to the left and then to the right until we arrived at a bridge. Beyond this bridge was a trail that traversed over farms and orchards and communities until we arrived at an unnamed creek which I believed to be that of Putat River which spews out its contents to the Tañon Strait.

We crossed the stream without too much effort and crossed another tributary and we followed another trail that led us to an asphalt pavement. Finding a store, we decided to stop for noonbreak since it was already 11:15. The owner welcomed us and we were allowed to cook rice, boil water for coffee, sit in the shade and use the bathroom.

We left at 12:30 after paying for what we consumed and our profound thanks for the hospitality. The road was abandoned at this hour, the nearby Mangadlaw Elementary School is devoid of children and teachers since it was a Sunday. The road was lined by several communities and solitary houses. By 13:30, we took a courtesy call on the village of Cabangahan, Sogod, scribbling our names on their visitor’s log.

We resumed our walk on a beautiful stretch of road which has limestone forests on both sides and tell-tale signs of karst cave formations. This was an enjoyable walk because, somewhere up ahead, lay the village of Bagakay, Sogod and their well-kept secret, the Dau Cave, named after a large dau tree (English: Pacific walnut) growing near its entrance.

We arrived there at 14:15 and made a courtesy call. The accommodating village official offered to guide us to Dau Cave and they have taken considerable effort to clear the vegetation at its approach. After the brief excursion, I retrieved a certificate and bestowed it to the village of Bagakay in appreciation for their assistance in completing the CHT and the success of the Thruhike.

We bade goodbye at 15:00 and proceed to walk the last kilometers of our journey. Our destination is the village of Mohon, Sogod. On that place is a highway that traversed northern Cebu from Borbon to Tabuelan. We need to be there before dusk and hopefully catch a bus to Mandaue City.

Everyone were suffering from fatigue; walking for hours even though we have enough rest; and completely hydrated. The feet soles were complaining and during this stretch we rest when we could. Although the day’s warmth was decreasing at that hour, aided by shades of trees and hills, we were sweating very much. At 16:30, exactly on the itinerary, we arrived at the road corner.

This was just the first half of Segment VI and Team Adrenaline Romance chalked up an additional 32.3 kilometers on their mileage, and upped their total to 262.11 kilometers. There was no rush and we made it exactly at what was stated in our itinerary, except on the first day where we did not make it to Agsuwao, Catmon for our noonbreak. This was an exception for I was late at the meetup area.

Please stay tuned for more adventures of Team Adrenaline Romance in the next month as they try to complete Segment VI by trailing this blogger to Ilihan, Tabogon. How many kilometers would they add to their current total? Expect you to follow their campaign and read Adrenaline Adventure Hike: Segment VI-B. Make your presence felt by giving a comment. Thank you!

2022-008 | DISPOSING PROPERLY EMPTY CANS

noreply@blogger.com (PinoyApache) — Wed, 23 Feb 2022 01:00:00 +0000

OUTDOORS COMMON SENSE TIPS: This is the proper way to dispose of empty cans:

1. After emptying, turn it upside down the whole day or night so juices and fluids go down directly to the ground and gets cleaned off by ants.

2. When it is dried and cleaned, push the opened lid back inside with the thumb. That lid is jagged and sharp and slices through your thin garbage bags, no matter how many layers of plastic you use.

3. Step on the opened end with your foot. There is no resistance and it gets flattened easily.

4. Step on the unopened end and push it towards the middle. There is a slight resistance but shifting your weight forward gets it flattened nevertheless.

First seen in Facebook

October 27, 2018

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I JUST HOPE THIS WILL find itself in school curriculums and outdoor-ethics seminars. This is a product of judicious observations and experiences that I have compiled through my many years of ranging our mountains and in wilderness areas and devising ways to remove harm and to help in listening the noise created by real and pseudo environmentalists against real and pseudo “mountaineers”.

When I joined a formal outdoors club in the early ‘90s, my outdoors awareness and values were shaped by what I witnessed. Most often, people would never carry their garbage bags inside their backpacks. Why should they? It stems from the fact that all the camp wastes are there and what if the flimsy bag burst open inside? What misfortune?

Because of hygiene, they would rather piggyback the garbage bags outside of their backpacks or carry it with either hands. Razor-sharp blades of grass turn these thin garbage bags to smithereens that disemboweled the contents down the trail without the person’s knowledge. Or is it really grass blades that turned it inside out? Possibly but not all.

Opened cans, which still has leftover juices and feasted on by large flies, are deposited inside these flimsy black garbage bags, hoping its unpleasant appearance are forever buried away from your eyes. These same opened cans are half-heartedly flattened leaving the jagged lids as is and giving it the space to shred the plastic bag or flesh.

Flattening properly increases storage space inside the garbage bag based on the instructions written in italics above. The properly flattened cans can now be placed safely in even the flimsiest garbage bag. You can even place that garbage bag inside your backpack. You just removed the hygiene issue with this method.

Another plus is you just made space for more garbage to be taken in a garbage bin or a garbage collection truck with this kind of citizen’s initiative. What is more, you would be entitled to a prayer of thanks from a street scavenger who makes his living selling off junked cans to recycling depots and junkshops. You just made his life easy.

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2022-007 | MORA COMPANION

noreply@blogger.com (PinoyApache) — Mon, 14 Feb 2022 01:00:00 +0000

IT WAS IN EARLY 2015, THAT I get to own a MORA Companion. My first and only knife from MORAKNIV of Sweden. It was a gift from my student who took the 2014 edition of the Philippine Independence Bushcraft Camp. It is made of carbon steel with a plastic sheath. The handle is made from a combination of different synthetic material which, surprisingly, produce a good grip.

The MORA Companion then became part of my array of blades that I used for a living here in the Philippines. I am an outdoors educator, bushcraft and survival instructor, adventure guide, blogger and explorer. I travel with my blades when I do survival trainings in other parts of the country. I am also a knife-carry rights advocate, educating people about knife safety and carry ethics.

My MORA Companion, like all my other blades, are extensively used during my training sessions. However, no student would touch a blade until they listen and understand first about knife care and safety. Then I let them engage in knife-dexterity exercises during survival-tool making and when batoning notches. Although supervised, I would never know how they would use the blades when left alone for a while.

When I examined the blades afterwards, some, if not, most, has edges suffering traumatic results. But one of the very few blades that had not been affected by that undetected and unseemly use is the MORA Companion. The result led me to believe that MORAKNIV has superior heat treatment which made their blades impervious to the wear and tear of use in the outdoors.

Even when I know that the MORA Companion has three-fourths tang, I subjected it to rough handling as if it was a full-tanged knife by carving it on hardwood or of batoning with a heavy stick. The blade had not chipped nor bent nor it showed signs of separating itself from the handle. The hardness of the blade could be attributed to the preference of MORAKNIV to design their blades with industrial standards in mind.

I have exposed my MORA Companion to salty air when I did an exploration of the Dayhagon Canal, an expanse of chest-high mangrove forest, mud flats and fish ponds in Northern Cebu, on April 2015. I slipped it in the chest strap of my backpack and inside a float vest. On other times, I used this on sponsored corporate bushcraft sessions with kids on beach and island resorts.

Then I did the unthinkable. I slipped my MORA Companion into the sleeve of my dive suit as if it was a diving knife when I participated in an international coastal garbage cleanup at Mactan Island in September 2017. Rust was never an issue for the metal responded well to my care. Immersing the whole knife in fresh water overnight and coating it with oil the next day solved that problem.

The MORA Companion weighs just 110 grams, to include the sheath, and I brought it in my route explorations of the last six segments of the Cebu Highlands Trail Project, a long trail I established in between February 2011 and November 2016. I brought it again when I hiked through my finished project, across the central cordilleras of Cebu, of a south-north axis, 408+ kilometers long in 29 days. I even carried this in our local Camino de Santiago, 10 days and 175 kms. Long.

What I liked about the sheath system employed on the MORA Companion is that it is very safe to carry and remove blade. The hard plastic sheath kept the blade from cutting through to you when you take a hard fall. If you want to remove the blade safely from the sheath, you just hold the handle and, with the thumb, push the sheath away. Very child-friendly and a very convenient way to teach knife safety.

The hole on the tip of the sheath drains water away when you are immersed in chest deep of water or drenched by rain. Because it is plastic, it discourages moisture to accumulate inside which causes rust to form on your blade and it is safe to store your MORA Companion inside its sheath although it is advised to separate both.

The only downside of the sheath design is its belt clip. I already experienced two cases of missing MORAKNIV blades from two different individuals: one had a Companion and the other had a Basic. Both were used in jungle environment where wiry vegetation would snag on anything. It is best clipped facing inward instead of outward and hanging loose.

I rarely open carry the MORA Companion on my belt except when I am within the comforts of a camp. I preferred its sheath clipped and tucked in a series of MOLLE webbings of a tactical backpack or just clipped inside of a side pouch of a bag when I walk the trails. Both ways, I could retrieve the blade quickly if I need it. My Companion is indeed a companion and I share my joys to you by acquiring yourself one.

MORA Companion comes in military green, black, beige and pastel colors of blue, pink, green, and orange. Aside from carbon steel, a Companion is also made in stainless steel and is thicker by 0.5 millimeter. The carbon steel is 2.0 mm thick. There are other Companion variants like the Serrated, the Expert, the Heavy-duty and Heavy-duty Serrated, the Spark, the SRT and the Rescue SRT Safe, the Service Knife, the Electrician and the Fishing Fillet.

The MORA Companion and other MORAKNIV products are available online from their own website. These are also available online at Amazon and all outdoors-and-sports-oriented online stores. Here in the Philippines, it can be bought from real stores like Forged Philippines, Derek’s Classic Blade Exchange and Tactical Asia or online from them.

2022-006 | MOBILE PHONES & THE OUTDOORS

noreply@blogger.com (PinoyApache) — Wed, 09 Feb 2022 01:00:00 +0000

WISDOM TRAILS: The backcountry and your electronic gadgets do not mix. You cannot have both.

First seen in Facebook

November 19, 2018

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MOBILE PHONES PER SE are not distasteful to have and carry with in an outdoor outing. In fact, it is your lifeline for help when your trip turns out bad, given you can catch a good signal. It is just unthinkable to spend time with it oblivious of the natural beauty of the landscape evolving around you which everyone are relishing.

While it is rude to see people tinkering on their phones when someone is talking to them as an audience, it is just as rude on yourself to shortchange your time in the outdoors by willful and compulsive use of your phone or like gadgets. Freedom of the hills simply forgot about the topic on mobile phones.

I know MOST of us are beholden to our cellular phones in all of our waking hours. Phones, because of its numerous apps, evolved as our own personal assistant. Without it, some would feel listless and helpless in how they make their day enjoyable. It is beginning to be a very obnoxious habit which you have little control of. Sometimes.

But it can be controlled unlike cigarettes, alcoholic drinks and prohibited drugs where substance is inhaled, induced or injected into our body system that influenced our thoughts and moods. Battery life makes a habitual phone user shrink from continuous use. Absence of cellular connections makes them surrender to that situation.

There are no withdrawal syndromes experienced. No uncontrollable shakes. Just a feeling of anxiety and disorientation for a few minutes before one diverts his attention to his surroundings, unresponsive at first, but not for long. It is just a manageable psychological thing and a temporary emotional hang-up.

There are places where your mobile phone is enjoyable and there are places where it is not needed and, therefore, kept in silent mode, unless you are expecting a call or a message. By the time you are finished, hopefully, it would not dominate your attention. Chuck it back in a safe place and enjoy nature with much vigor.

One thing about using electronic devices in mountain environments is you may increase the risk of being in the way of lightning. The elevated areas has a climate of its own which usually differs from the usual weather forecasts. When the first sign of lightning appear, turn off gadgets and go indoors if there are structures. If not, stay away from highest trees and long conductors.

The first photo shows a plastic box full of mobile phones. It belonged to students in a Girl Scout camp organized by Ateneo de Cebu Girl Scout Council of the Philippines. It simply is good common sense to separate these from its owners when you are in an outdoors activity or otherwise. It is teaching the adolescents discipline and prudence.

It seems the new values triggered by the arrival of the new versions of mobile phones – smart phones as they are called – have subverted the accepted human values on social etiquettes and behavior. Too much dependence on gadgets is frowned upon by society and use has to be regulated and the first place to learn that is the home.

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Photo Nr 2 grabbed from Bicycling.com.

2022-005 | ADRENALINE ADVENTURE HIKE: SEGMENT V

noreply@blogger.com (PinoyApache) — Tue, 01 Feb 2022 01:00:00 +0000

TEAM ADRENALINE ROMANCE have walked the entirety of the first half of the Cebu Highlands Trail before 2018 ended. For the last four sets of weekends, Gian Carlo, Sheila Mei and their friend, Apol, have crossed over “no man’s land” from Mount Manunggal, Balamban to Caurasan, Carmen, leaving nothing but goodwill and the thawing away of distrust that locals usually heaped on strangers.

After nailing Segment IV, they had consciously and purposely accumulated a total of 207.39 kilometers, a modest achievement but which, nevertheless, will increase, as their sights are now focused on the snaring of this great prize which only two people have so far achieved. The CHT is a difficult challenge and hard to wrestle. As 2019 entered, their plans of finishing the CHT are on due course.

At 05:00 of January 12, 2019, we all met at the Cebu South Bus Terminal. The bus left Cebu City at 05:30 for Dalaguete. We dropped off at the road corner at 07:45 where we found a restaurant. At 08:30, we rode on motorcycles-for-hire bound for the village of Mantalongon, Dalaguete. We arrived at 9:15 and set about buying the needs for our meals which we would consume along Segment V.

Segment V starts here in Mantalongon and terminate at Upper Beceril, Boljoon. This is two days with Nug-as, Alcoy as our resting place in between. Mantalongon has a huge public market where all the vegetables grown from around here are sold which is then distributed to the cities, towns and supermarkets. When we have bought enough vegetables and spices, we start our journey to the south at 09:30.

We left the very busy vegetable market and followed an asphalt pavement that became concrete. This is the other side of Mantalongon that barely had a visit by tourists. Mantalongon is also famous for being the jump-off point to Osmeña Peak, Cebu’s highest point. In the old days we walked from the market to the campsite which took us three hours. Nowadays, the trailhead is just a fifteen minute walk.

The features you see around Osmeña Peak are everywhere even on this farm road, but much closer. Big baskets full of cabbages over the brim, some standing four feet high, are whisked from farms to the markets on motorcycles, a basket rigged on each side with ropes. It passes by you with the driver in full concentration on the road and his balance. Many such baskets wait for their turn beside the road.

We pass by the village of Langkas, Dalaguete at 10:00 and we get to see the different crops grown on the many farms. It came out of the earth on all forms: cabbage, vegetable pear, spring onions, eggplant, bitter gourd, sponge gourd, string beans, mung beans, sweet potato, turnips, spinach vines, lemon grass, ginger, squash, taro, turmeric, breadfruit, lime, pepper, coconut hearts, bananas and their blossoms and many more. Such bounties earned the high Mantalongon Valley as “Cebu’s Breadbasket”.

It was more of the same in the village of Nalhub, Dalaguete at 10:45 where we took a rest at a bakery to gulp down cold soda drinks to beat the humidity. After 15 minutes, we resumed our walk, oblivious of the motorcycles and baskets, full and empty, speeding by you on this narrow vegetable highway. At 12:00 we enjoyed noonbreak somewhere in the village of Catolohan, Dalaguete.

After an hour of rest, it was time to go. The narrow asphalt roads became a wide concreted highway. We are now entering the outskirts of the village of Nug-as, Alcoy, famous for its last stand of original forest cover. Along the way, we get to see some of this remaining forest, in pockets, as the land around it were trimmed to introduce farming. It is in Nug-as where people embrace tree farming.

By 14:00 we arrived at the village center and did a courtesy call on their village council for a place to stay. Our arrival, however, was already expected by virtue of my liaisons with the Office of the Governor and the Cebu Police Provincial Office. Their multi-purpose building was made available for our use. After a very savory dinner, lights out came so early. Then it rained very hard!

We woke up to a very cold morning of January 14. The village and the whole landscape were swathed in fog. Even so, we have to keep the fire burning. On the stove, I meant. Under the comforts of a roof and a wall, cooking was seamless. After breakfast, we repacked our things inside our backpacks. We left Nug-as at 08:00 under a heavy downpour. The road was wet but it was wetter where there were puddles.

On this stretch of the road where there used to be a big coffee farm, the robusta shrubs were cut to make way for a fighting cock farm. What madness sometimes people inherit? Beyond the game cocks, the earth was turned inside out to the whims of another fake landscaping in progress. What got my ire is the building of a road into the last stand of the original forest of Cebu! I walked with a heavy heart for the government could do nothing with this madness!

It was a long walk to the next village of Nangka, Boljoon which we reached at 09:15. The road narrowed into another concrete pavement. Farms and forested hills clasped each other perfectly to the joys of a passersby, seeing all these so close to the road. It was just beautiful and a balm for the soul tormented by the sight he previously saw and protested to the four winds.

The skies cleared for a while of raindrops as we approach the village of San Antonio, Boljoon at 10:45. Here we stopped at a community store to enjoy another round of cold soda drinks. It was at this time when a fellow hiker stopped by and introduced himself to us. He is Ronald Villanueva and he is the tourism officer of the Municipality of Boljoon. He invited us to visit Dayhag Waterfalls and he will be waiting for us.

Naturally, we disengaged abruptly from our rest and hastened our pace, hoping that we would arrive there before noon. The waterfalls would be found at the village of Upper Beceril, Boljoon, and it was very far from San Antonio. We could never close the distance with the way Mr. Villanueva was moving. He was running, but we could try in our own pace.

The road started to cant favorably for us and we arrived at a road corner leading to Dayhag Waterfalls. We have arrived at the terminus of Segment V. It is 11:30 and just a few minutes more we would be at this local resort. I have never been here but I found it, aided by signposts and a big welcome sign on its entrance. Entrance fee was waived because it was closed on Sundays.

Mr. Villanueva welcomed us and assigned a gazebo for us and, immediately, Sheila Mei and Apol changed clothes for bathing. Gian Carlo too. I followed them after I had rested for about 20 minutes but they were on the other waterfalls. There were seven. I did not stay long in the water. There was a slight drizzle and I need to dry my undershorts. I did not carry a spare.

Mr. Villanueva surprised us with a free lunch courtesy of his office. It was black chicken (Local name: dongkoy) soup, grilled free-rein chicken, boiled bananas and unlimited milled corn. The food, except the soup, were splayed on banana leaves above a bamboo table. Meal was hand to mouth, literally, and it was deliciously cooked, especially the dongkoy.

This was a real surprise on all of us, to be invited for a free meal and free use of this LGU-ran enterprise. But our unexpected visit in Boljoon was an opportunity also for Mr. Villanueva to take advantage of, upon knowing that Gian Carlo and Sheila Mei were genuine travel bloggers; while I, for my part is some sort of blogger and could bring clients here. It was, so to speak, a perfect exchange deal.

We said goodbye and many thank yous to Mr. Villanueva and his team for their hospitality. We found motorcycles-for-hire and we reached the highway at 15:30. Buses were full but we hopped onto one that was not full at 16:00. It would be a long way to Cebu City and the long day made us drowsy. It was perfect for the bus was airconditioned.

Team Adrenaline Romance in their high momentum of adventure on this southern jaunt have acquired another 22.35 kilometers after snatching another segment of the CHT. They now have a total mileage of 229.74 kilometers and they are hot on the heels of the last three segments which they vowed to finish before the end of 2019.

Gian Carlo and Sheila Mei wrote about their Segment V experience on the Adrenaline Romance Blog under two installments plus an extra on Dayhag Falls:

Cebu Highlands Trail Segment V: Mantalongon, Dalaguete to Nug-as, Alcoy.

Cebu Highlands Trail Segment V: Nug-as, Alcoy to Upper Beceril, Boljoon.

Dayhag Falls: An Unexpected Surprise Down South.

2022-004 | RESTING ALONG A TRAIL

noreply@blogger.com (PinoyApache) — Mon, 24 Jan 2022 01:00:00 +0000

OUTDOORS COMMON SENSE TIPS: When you are somewhat tired, do not sit. Just lean over forward, grasping pants with both hands and let the weight of upper body and bag transfer to your arms and lower legs, thereby relieving the middle torso and upper legs of the load.

First seen in Facebook

October 2, 2018

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This is a technique I learned 29 years ago from the late Dr. Abraham Manlawe when I was with the Cebu Mountaineering Society. In the early ‘90s, I tried to fit in to that sport, hefting 70-liter bags from trailheads to the campsites and to the trail’s end. We practically carried the whole house and it was heavy.

Jump-off areas to the camps were very far back then, unlike now, where you only have to walk a few hours. Back then, you have to walk from a day to three days to your campsite, depending. If the peak is three days away, first day would be easy since you are still fresh but, by afternoon, you would feel the toils of carrying the weight from behind you.

On the second day and third day, although food and fuel are taken from your bag’s weight, it is still heavy. It would be much heavy if it rained, drenching your old canvass-cloth bag. At this time where frequent rests are needed, I have to execute this rest position. It is so simple and there is economy of movement.

You only need little strength to stand erect again as against sitting from the ground up even without a load or from a seat with a load on your back. Besides, you have control of the mind which signals your whole body to fits of drowsiness (laziness?) when it finds something comfortable like sitting down under a shade.

I also discovered that with this position, your lungs could inhale more air than standing erect or an upper body in vertical position since there is no tension of muscles to hold your lungs. It is like you are lying down. Your ribs would not get in the way as you inhale extra amounts of oxygen which your circulation system direly need in stressful moments to supply your brains.

This rest technique is much relevant than ever when I guide paying hikers over each segment of the Cebu Highlands Trail, which has eight, or leading pilgrims over Cebu’s Camino de Santiago. These are long trails. The latter is 175+ kilometers long and walked in ten days. Some of these pilgrims are non-athletic and this technique applies perfectly on them.

When I did the first thruhike of the former, I walked it 26 days with extra three days’ rest. It was 408+ kilometers and you could just imagine the length and breadth I walked. It was on this moment, as were the guided walks after that, which I used effectively for my own benefit, especially at its most unforgiving stretches. It is easy to teach people about this and it helped to my cause while leading people.

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Photo Nr 1 courtesy of Apol Antenor.

Photo Nr 4 courtesy of Boblyle Balverde.

Photo Nr 5 courtesy of Raymund Panganiban.

2022-003 | THE GENUINE OUTDOORSMAN

noreply@blogger.com (PinoyApache) — Mon, 17 Jan 2022 01:00:00 +0000

WISDOM TRAILS: Hard Work, Creativity and Stamina are the hallmarks of a genuine outdoorsman. Maybe of Patience and Humility too.

First seen in Facebook

November 11, 2018

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IN THIS AGE OF INSTANT GRATIFICATION, I find myself many times at the tip of the spear. Would I yield to the temptations of the promise of something greater? Of capitalizing on the opportunity of the moment? Of letting myself be swallowed by other people’s schemes? Would I have to overstretch and overstress myself to achieve something which borders on madness, greed and arrogance?

Or of success?

Many have tried even when they have not yet arrived. The lure of something bigger is so great. Then again, immaturity would be the mother of failure. Even when you are in the right place at the right time but your strides are lacking, you are bound to stumble on your obsession because you simply are not ready in what you embarked for or pretended yourself to be.

I understand many would love to be a compleat outdoorsman. I know everyone has the industry, even willing to walk that extra mile. But how far can you go then beyond that extra? Can your mindset create something from out of nothing like I did with the Cebu Highlands Trail? Without big-name sponsors, without local guides to help you as you stitched 408+ kilometers of routes, and then walking it later in one single continuous line for 29 days?

Do you have the confidence to organize and host the Philippine Independence Bushcraft Camp, like I also did, and then subject that event, to the criticism of detractors who thought the outdoors was their exclusive domain; and from armchair experts who have seen it all in YouTube and Netflix? I can proudly say that, after 10 years, it had become a premier event here if you want to learn advanced outdoor skills.

Would you gave up your club membership so you could enjoy the outdoors better and organize your own like I did with my Camp Red Bushcraft and Survival Guild? Would you find satisfaction when the one you organized is the only one of its kind in the Philippines and it is peopled by individuals with the same mindsets? Those that love and understand the outdoors better? Well, I did and it is SEC registered.

Would one be willing to exchange their comfort zones and subject themselves to the wrath of nature, of landscapes and people, and of their own designs? Would one walk the extra ten kilometers because the box they were in has no answers yet to what lie beyond? Would one lead without even trying? Would one be bold enough to make a statement that would shake the foundations of an established culture?

The outdoors is one uncontrolled environment and it needed creative people. People that could think beyond templates of human behavior and psychology. A kind of creativity that does not move on a conventional pattern yet unmistakably so simple at the end. That same creativity which worked best with their own stamina. A stamina that is forged by the wild landscape that they so loved to tramp upon.

Would you still want to be a genuine outdoorsman? If you have the patience and the humility, you might.

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Image Nr 2, Nr 5 and Nr 6 courtesy of Ronald Abella.

Image Nr 3 courtesy of AkyatCon 2.0.

Image Nr 4 designed by Jhonrey Armilla.

2022-002 | ADRENALINE ADVENTURE HIKE: SEGMENT IV-B

noreply@blogger.com (PinoyApache) — Fri, 07 Jan 2022 01:00:00 +0000

TEAM ADRENALINE ROMANCE HAD walked through the first half of Segment IV and came out stuffed with better appreciation of the Cebu Highlands Trail. The challenges of the fresh sceneries that the “no man’s land” route provided have excited Team Adrenaline Romance so much so that they filed a leave of absence the soonest time possible.

When we breezed past Mount Manunggal on our way to Lawaan, Danao City the last time, they begun to enjoy the landscapes of their backtrail and picked off the familiar landmarks which had given their confidence a shaky ground to stand on. The second part of Segment IV – Segment IV-B – has different difficulties than the first and it offers another different side of Cebu. This is still a “no man’s land”.

We choose the Cebu North Bus Terminal as our meeting place on October 13, 2018. Gian Carlo and Sheila Mei arrived first. Later, Apol came, and we found an empty bus bound for Danao City. The bus left Mandaue City at 05:30 and arrived at Danao at 06:45 and we found a small eatery to take breakfast. We also bought extra food for our lunch which our itinerary says 12:30 at Mount Mago.

We left the busy city center at 07:30, each astride in tandem on a motorcycle-for-hire, bound for the village of Lawaan, our last place of engagement two weeks ago. We arrived there at 09:10 when the motorcycle I rode conked out and we waited for another. We hit the trail at 09:15. We were following a paved road that was quite shady and very peaceful. We faced a road junction and followed the one on the left.

The road rose in elevation and we were now exposed to the morning sun. As we walked over a ridge, we saw Mt. Kalabasa of Danao City; Garces Peak of Asturias; Mt. Matun-og, Mt. Mauyog and Mt. Manunggal, all in Balamban; and – surprise! – Mt. Babag, Cebu City. These were the great landmarks that we saw on our northerly quest that created furrows on our foreheads. As we checked our backtrails, these were now just drops of water in a pail.

Walking on, we passed by a farmer harvesting pomelo from his fruit-laden trees and gave us two which Sheila Mei and Apol devoured without a trace and brought another with us. We walked on and we arrived on the trailhead in the village of Pili, Danao City. There is a trail that goes to Mt. Mago but I have to make a courtesy call first to a military detachment located nearby.

After my business with the authorities, we pushed north at 10:20, following the trail that go over the ridges of this unnamed mountain range. The path is soft earth blazed by generations of feet while all around us are green meadows. It is rolling terrain without forest cover. On a rise, I read an elevation of 755 meters from my Casio Pro Trek.

We still brought a pair of Versa Quicktalk Go UHF/FRS transceivers which we used for our communications in Segment IV-A. While I took the point, Gian Carlo swept last and Apol and Sheila Mei in between. We used the radio to check each other out when visibility is hampered by rolling terrain or when a branch of a trail placed Gian Carlo in a bind.

We arrived at the camping grounds of Mt. Mago at 12:40 and quite famished. We spent noonbreak here under the shade of one puny tree, enjoying lunch from food we bought earlier and finishing the one last pomelo for dessert. I noticed a pond. It had always been there the two times I was here. I excused myself and made a brief inspection.

I found out that it is a seep that overflowed to a very tiny brook. I deduced that it became a small stream, ultimately dividing Carmen from Tuburan, until it became a river that flows out to the Camotes Sea. This unassuming pond could be the headwater of the Panalipan River! We took water from the pond and washed our plates, spoons and forks from twenty meters away dowhill.

We left Mt. Mago when dark clouds appeared with the clap of thunder and followed a trail in a forested area. The ground is dry and plenty of loose soil and pebbles. We came upon a very steep part which was kind of tricky. This path is so enchantingly silent that only locals know and, of course, me. Overnight campers would never go beyond Mt. Mago. We rested after that descent and rehydrated.

From then on it would be rolling terrain once more, passing by solitary houses and farms and, sometimes, a family of cows blocking the way. The trail goes down to the remote village of Bangkito, Tuburan. We passed by a public school, going into their center where there was a basketball game in progress. Everyone stopped playing and looked at us.

This was one of the critical areas during the insurgency problem in the ‘80s until the early years of the third millennia and everyone wanted to make sure that we were not armed. When they resumed their game, I released a sigh of relief. Then and there, I did a courtesy call to their village council while Team Adrenaline Romance stayed behind to fill water from a water reservoir.

On the way back, I brought a cold big bottle of Coke. We emptied it fast and we hoped we could produce another one later. We prepared our campsite and then our dinner. When the food was almost cooked, I went back to the community store to buy another cold big bottle of Coke. But it was the last they sold to me earlier.

We had our dinner and pairing it with warm Coke was not bad after all. That night there was another basketball game and there were many onlookers from the different places. After the game there was a disco. The noise interfered in our quest to snatch that sleep. Motorcycles would park nearby and leave. Nevertheless, it did stop at 03:00 of the next day, October 14.

We woke up collectively at 05:30 with eyes that hungered for more sleep. We prepared breakfast and, after eating, we broke camp. I went back to the village center to give the village council my appreciation of thanks in the form of a certificate, as I did yesterday with the villages of Pili and Lawaan. This was for their hospitality in accepting us in their localities and aiding me and my team during the exploration phase of the CHT and that epic Thruhike.

We left Bangkito and went east for that deep valley under the shadow of another mountain range found across us: Ngipon-sa-Ilaga. I almost missed a trail were it not for a girl who was observing us. After asking her directions, we followed the trail down the deep valley of Anahawan. It would twist and wind its way among the lower foothills of Mt. Mago.

Cows and carabaos were tethered along trails and we have to make wide detours. When we reach a stream we rest for a while from the brunt of the morning sun. This was the same stream that I suspected to have originated from that small pond at Mt. Mago and this could be the upper portions of the Panalipan River. Downstream of me are small waterfalls and Team Adrenaline Romance had to change to Project BLUE t-shirts for a photo ops.

After a generous rest of thirty minutes, we resumed our journey. The trails pass by meadows and farms and a very old oleander-leafed euphorbia (Local name: soro-soro). The biggest I have seen. This marked the start of the ascent to Taguini. The trail is well beaten and easy to follow.

We arrived at Taguini so early at 10:00 but it was empty of people and traders. I expected a market fair. I missed by a day! Anyway, we are two hours early for a noonbreak and we decide to have that at the village of Caurasan, Carmen instead. So we spent rest here and bought locally-baked bread and paired it with cold soda drinks.

After twenty minutes, we resumed the last few kilometers of Segment IV-B. Team Adrenaline Romance, perhaps, assured that the last half of the CHT was about to end, walked with a confident and springy stride this time. We reached Caurasan at 12:30 and checked in at their village center with our identification cards with a civilian interloper who insisted on voter’s ID!

After that, I did another courtesy call on a military detachment nearby and then we ate lunch there. We left Caurasan for the town market of Carmen astride motorcycles-for-hire. The ride down to town was a long one and we arrived at 14:00, time good enough to take it easy for our return to Cebu City. Team Adrenaline Romance celebrated their feat with an early dinner in a Japanese restaurant inside SM City.

Team Adrenaline Romance had achieved one-half of the CHT by finishing Segment IV-B, which was 17.68 kilometers in length. With that, they extended their mileage total to 207.73 kilometers which was quite impressive! They had adapted to the rigors of what it was like when walking a long trail like the CHT which is partly wild, very humid, unimaginable difficulty in terrain and somewhat dangerous!

The lands we passed by in all of Segment IV, to include parts of Segments I, II and III, were indeed very dangerous if we walked it in another time, say 1987 or 1995. That is the reason why adventure tourism and outdoors leisure activities did not grew beyond the known safe havens. Many have tried to open these corridors among Cebu’s mountains but it never prospered.

The exploration of the CHT and its opening to the public as a guided adventure hiking tour came at a favorable time when such threats and troubles to foot travel have disappeared although residues of it remained which comes in the form of suspicion and distrust. By and by, people will come to terms with their past and embrace change which is harmless, fun and productive.

Gian Carlo and Sheila Mei wrote about their Segment IV-B experience on the Adrenaline Romance Blog under two installments:

Cebu Highlands Trail Segment IV-B: Lawaan, Danao to Bangkito, Tuburan.

Cebu Highlands Trail Segment IV-B: Bangkito, Tuburan to Caurasan, Carmen.

2021-050 | TRANGIA SPIRIT BURNER

noreply@blogger.com (PinoyApache) — Fri, 24 Dec 2021 01:00:00 +0000

IN OCTOBER 2014, A US-based benefactor provided me a TRANGIA Spirit Burner set for use then of my ongoing route-finding explorations of the Cebu Highlands Trail Project. This project is a long trail of a north-to-south axis that would traverse over the middle backbone of the island province of Cebu, in Central Philippines, which I finished in November 2016.

The exploration has no source of funding nor big-name sponsors and I was asking a little for blessings from friends and appreciative people. A trickle came and one of these significant donations was a TRANGIA Spirit Bunrer set. It is made of brass. It weighs 108 grams, 7.5 centimeters in diameter and 4.5 centimeters in height. It has a screw cap and another cap where you could adjust and control the flame.

It comes with a windscreen that can be dismantled in three pieces and assembled, which has a total weight of 115 grams. The windscreen complemented well with the burner as it propped the pot above it aside from its other function as a mechanical wrench. By its size, weight and simplicity, I favored this burner set in all my outdoor activities. Fuel I used is denatured alcohol which are sold in 375-milliliter bottles.

During my explorations of the last six segments of this project between 2015 and 2016, where weight was very essential, the TRANGIA Spirit Burner set was just perfect. Each segment was between two to seven days duration and the volume of fuel I carried was fixed at 3 bottles x 150 ml or 450 ml total. With a self-contained load, the burner set fit into the tight spaces available, to include the fuel bottles.

Because it was very simple to set up and use, I found myself many times, boiling water for coffee or cooking instant soups by the trail. The process takes just inside of fifteen minutes and the TRANGIA Spirit Burner set had saved me many times regaining my strength where I need it most. This burner set have done well to the demands of my explorations, the terrain and the tropical climate.

Although this was an equipment designed for the individual, I have used it many times to cater to two other persons while in camp. The simmer cap regulates the flame and saved fuel consumption as well as of overcooking; but when you have used this so many times, you could already estimate the amount of fuel you need and discard the simmer cap.

When I tested the Cebu Highlands Trail with a thruhike, naturally, the TRANGIA Spirit Burner set was part of my equipment. This thruhike was done in 29 days of January and February 2017, from the southernmost point of the island of Cebu up to its northernmost tip, covering 408+ kilometers of rugged terrain along the middle cordilleras.

The alcohol burner worked mornings and evenings everyday; be it rainy or warm; cold or humid; and, on a few occasions, mid-afternoon coffee breaks when I arrived at my destinations very early. I have never experienced with a component failure since it has no movable parts. For as long as I could feed it with denatured alcohol, I will have my meals. Or coffee.

On other instances, like dirt-times with my bushcraft guild or travelling during training sessions, I experiment in pairing the TRANGIA Spirit Burner with a Swiss Army Wood Stove, when I still have the latter, and, lately, with a Solo Wood Stove. I would use the wood burner as an effective wind screen while increasing the heat efficiency of the alcohol burner, utilizing the construction and design of the wood stoves.

Presently, the TRANGIA Spirit Burner totally complements my Solo Wood Stove by providing the latter the capacity to use denatured alcohol when not using wood. The alcohol burner perfectly fits inside the wood stove when packed that it transforms into one unit although each could function without the other.

The TRANGIA Spirit Burner set has seen a lot of rough handling and use. I had seen it used for more than an hour of cooking under warm tropical conditions, stopping only when it burned all the fuel down and refilled and re-lit and repeating the process a couple of times more. Once the flames turned blue, it told me that the burner achieved a stable temperature ideal for cooking.

I had seen it fall several times with nary a dent. Saw it explode a few times when invisible flames lit fresh fuel poured in its superheated cauldron. I once saw the metal surface where the blowholes are located glow red hot. One time, spilled fuel burned all over it and I have to wait for several minutes before I could intervene and cool it down.

The TRANGIA Spirit Burner is built to last. It is old technology yet quite relevant in these present times. It is made in Sweden and probably was designed in temperate and arctic regions yet it performed well in the tropics without fear of a meltdown. So simple and no movable parts and valves. What it has are a couple of screw caps.

This is an equipment that I highly recommend for the active individual engaged in leisure outdoor activities, like overnight camping, light backpacking and hiking the long trails. Its fuel, the denatured alcohol or its similar derivative can be acquired everywhere, comes very cheap and very safe to store. It does not need a special container.

The TRANGIA Spirit Burner, which is a set, is available online in Amazon, eBay and most outdoors specialized stores. The windscreen is sold separately. Closer to home, it is available online in Lazada Philippines at 1,350 Philippine peso ($27.92), to include a mini-windscreen. But watch out for imitations. Insist on the original.

Picture Nr 1 grabbed from Trangia website.

2021-049 | THE QUEST FOR EL GRAN CAMINO DE SANTIAGO

noreply@blogger.com (PinoyApache) — Sun, 19 Dec 2021 01:00:00 +0000

I AM CONTENT JUST WALKING and leading pilgrims on the three Camino de Santiago in my own Cebu, Philippines. These are the Camino from Badian in the south, walked in 10 days; the Camino from Sogod in the north, walked in 5 days; and the little Camino within Compostela, which is 2 days. These three were inspirations from the Camino de Santiago in Spain.

All three terminate at the Archdiocesan Shrine of Santiago de Compostela, in Compostela, Cebu. Visiting this Jacobean parish in a pilgrimage like the Camino de Santiago, is like doing this in Spain, with the same plenary indulgences recognized by the Metropolitan Archdiocese of Santiago de Compostela in Galicia, through a spiritual bond of affinity.

Two of these three Camino Cebu, I helped establish for the Archdiocese of Cebu, with blessings from Fr. Scipio Deligero, formerly of the Santiago de Compostela parish. In July 2017, I did the 175-kilometer Camino from the South, removed the rough edges and refined it in 2018. Last June 2019, I delivered the Camino from the North, 65+ kilometers in length.

The question is: “Why should I have to do a Camino de Santiago in Spain?”

The first not-so-best answer: It is a bucket list of most Filipino Catholics devoted to St. James the Apostle, which include me. Second best answer: A Swiss friend wanted to walk the Camino de Santiago and he personally asked me to accompany him. This request does not cover free travel though. I would have to finance myself to go there with him, I guess. Third mysterious answer: St. James beckoned me.

This is the hardest part! “How should I fund myself?”

Nevertheless, if St. James the Apostle is my backer, it is not an obstacle. If ever I wanted to do the Camino de Santiago, let that route be the longest and the hardest one. Puslan man! So be it! So I choose the Camino del Norte and the Camino Primitivo combined – which excited my friend – and that ending to Finisterre – which gave him a frown. 2021 is the jubilee year of Santiago de Compostela.

After choosing March 15, 2021 as the start of our journey, I set about tracing my chosen route on both Google Map and Wikiloc before creating the itinerary. Each day of route finding brings with it excitement and challenges even in my armchair state. These were the usual things I did before embarking on my own successful little explorations here and my creative juices set to work overtime.

By the way, these little explorations I talked about produced and established the 408-kilometer Cebu Highlands Trail and the two Camino de Santiago which I already mentioned. I never backed down from a challenge and I was totally engrossed on this work when the news of the lockdowns interrupted my euphoric state on March 22, 2020. I was dismayed because it is less than a year to my target.

Despite that, I was quite optimistic and refused to be distracted by this pandemic. I made a list of the things that I would bring, and began acquiring the most essential ones like small solar panels, a portable power charger and an extension cord EU-standard multi-port charger, because the Spanish Camino is a documentation-rich environment. I also bought cheap but equally essential items like web hooks, small carabiners, tent pegs, elastic undershorts and hangers.

I am still debating with myself if I should bring a tent or a hammock-and-shelter set? The tent would be heavier and bulkier, with tent poles, and it needs a sleeping bag liner and a ground pad, at the least. The hammock would need two trees to support it, which I do not know if they have enough trees on their caravan camps, and it gave less protection from the cold.

I had a small savings but it could have been better if only Wuhan the Virus did not escape from his laboratory. In 2020, there were many events lined up for me plus a government contract work which could have placed me in a better position to engage this in 2021. All these were scrapped or postponed to when, I do not know. The good thing was this small savings kept me and my household afloat for many months despite loss of income. I have none now.

There are 34 days on the el gran camino de Santiago. For each day, I identified three separate places to choose from for the night’s rest. It could be an albergue, a cheap hotel, a caravan camp or a pension house (all with contact numbers). And for each day there is a list of restaurants along the way, placing emphasis on the Spanish penchant for late lunch and dinner – at between 14:00 to 22:00.

Part of the itinerary are the estimated expenses for billets, meals, refreshments, ferry transports and other incidental costs for each day; sub-totaled under Camino del Norte, the Camino Primitivo and the Camino Finisterra. International travel and transfers were not part of this costing. My itinerary is a DIY effort. It is a work of art. I could even sell this but let me try it first then I could design one for you.

Our el gran Camino de Santiago would start from an international boundary found on a bridge of the Bidassoa River, separating France and Spain and the first town would be Irun, found in the Basque Country. We would spend ten days in Gipuzkoa and Bizkaia; six days in Cantabria; nine days in Asturias; and another nine days in Galicia, which include Fin de Tierra. I reserved three days for rest.

All expenses shall be in euros, which is about 65 pesos to a euro, and it bites into my pocket. I am in a daze of where to source the funds? There were people who were so kind to pledge certain amounts when I started to let all know of my pilgrimage but it is just a drop in a large bucket. I am also embarking on a fund-raising campaign in the form of commemorative t-shirts but it is more of the same.

Anyway, the pandemic have stopped or mired severely all international travel and, within Spain and as everywhere else in Europe, lockdowns are still severe in these last few months of 2021 which helped to my cause. The voice of hope came from Pope Francis, who extended the Jacobean jubilee year to 2022, with which year I and my friend placed all hope instead. It could be middle of spring or in early autumn, whichever.

Currently, I am shopping for the best shoes and have Silangan Outdoor Equipment outfit us our backpacks, a tent, sleeping bag liners, hiking pants, dry bags, sports shirts and other hiking accessories. Even when it is encouraged to travel light, I would bring extra like giveaways to the kindest hosts and to the friendliest Basques we would meet along the way. I would carry a heavy load but it would be a diminishing load as the journey lengthens.

Aside from the funding, I would need just a pre-owned but functional point-and-shoot camera, and your prayer requests. Just message me directly in Messenger and Signal. My backpack and my heart are always available to accommodate your personal intentions which I would whisper everytime I find myself in deep meditation in the route’s holiest places, and at the Cathedral of Santiago de Compostela where the abrazado is.

I would be preparing for a Camino de Santiago on the colder months where the albergues would not be crowded. The virus, and the variants, would be travelling with the asymptomatic ones and we could never know for sure. I would not want to join the expected large crowds on its most favorable season. My friend is now 70 years old and he needs protection as much as I do. We would be following all health-safety protocols required.

The el gran camino de Santiago is a journey which shrouds another journey. It is about my heritage. My great-grandparents originally came from Bizkaia and I seek to stay in their lekua and breathe in the air that they breathed when they were young. To inhale the spirit and the essence of their hometown. To touch base. I designed this route which would go out of its way from the box. I intend to lose my way, for a few days, where there are no signposts.

This would be a difficult pilgrimage for me. I have never travelled outside of the Philippines nor engage with a tour agency like most pilgrims do. I still have to apply for a Schengen visa. I would be exposed to culture-shock; the language barriers; unfamiliar terrain and vegetation; different time zones; temperate climate; maybe discrimination; and even infection from that dreaded virus. I would be completely disoriented for a few days.

But my beacon is St. James the Apostle; my comfort is my faith as a Catholic which I shared with Spain; and my prayers, my strength. Please help me.

St. James the Apostle, please pray for us.

St. Pedro Calungsod, please pray for us.

St. Lorenzo Ruiz, please pray for us.

Blessed Virgin Mary, please pray for us.

Jesus, have Mercy upon us.

iBuen Camino!

Photo Nr 1 courtesy of Camino Ways.

2021-048 | OUTDOORS SAFETY & CULTURAL SENSITIVITY

noreply@blogger.com (PinoyApache) — Tue, 14 Dec 2021 01:00:00 +0000

OUTDOORS COMMON SENSE TIPS: Respect our Local Communities.

First seen in Facebook

August 7, 2018

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I AM REPOSTING VERBATIM an article by ADRENALINE ROMANCE about cultural sensitivity, which the blog attribute to expedition and wilderness emergency services physician, Dr. Ted Esguerra, and adventure guru, Ramon “Jay Z” Jorge. Read and overcome your short attention span and learn from these experienced travelers.

THE DO’S

1. Study the place, its culture, and political and economic setup where you will pass by or immerse.

2. Be courteous to anyone you meet along the trail.

3. Upon arrival, signify the intention of your visit to the chieftain, elder, tribal council, or barangay captain of the community.

4. Stay in one place where you can be seen by the majority of the community members or elders.

5. If you intend to hire porters/beasts of burden, deal only with the community coordinator.

6. Accept food offerings of the community with expressions of gratitude.

7. Ask permission to any community member when doing/asking something (e.g. ask to fetch water in a well).

8. Treat mountains, caves, rivers, etc. as sacred places. Most of the resident tribal communities consider these places as gods, havens of the gods, or holy grounds.

9. Join community gatherings, activities, and celebrations only if invited to do so.

10. If you are invited to teach, teach only what can be appreciated by the community.

11. Respond appropriately to friendly gestures.

12. Respect their beliefs and superstitions.

13. Observe silence. These folks enjoy the tranquility and peace of their environment.

THE DONT’S

1. Don’t drink alcohol, take drugs, or make revelries in tribal areas. This is common sense, but you’ll be surprised as to how many visitors would do this.

2. Don’t expect luxuries. Accept and appreciate what they have.

3. Don’t ask for anything. The problem with social climbers/trekkers is that they ask for conveniences—their conveniences.

4. Don’t be boisterous, arrogant, vulgar, or rude. Be polite.

5. Don’t wear indecent or offensive clothes.

6. Don’t show off gadgets, cell phones, jewelry, or other items that are alien to the community.

7. Don’t do these things without asking permission first:

~ taking photos

~ approach women, children, and old people

~ visiting ritual sites and burial grounds

~ enter homes and properties

~ touch ornaments. They may be sacred items for the community.

8. Don’t correct or make fun of their beliefs. Each community has its own distinct and unique beliefs.

9. Don’t comment or show disapproval to some “grotesque” rituals such as breaking of chicken’s neck in a tribal dance.

10. Don’t kiss, hug, or do indecent acts in front of a community member.

11. Don’t laugh or giggle in front of the community. That’s because even if you didn’t mean anything, they might assume that you’re making fun of them.

12. Don’t leave trash behind, whether biodegradable or non-biodegradable.

13. Don’t pollute rivers, creeks, wells, and other water sources.

14. Don’t vandalize such as etching your name on artifacts or rock walls.

15. Don’t destroy traps set by community hunters. Don’t hunt!

PREVENTING CULTURAL CONTAMINATION

1. Pay the local only the amount that was agreed upon. Do not bribe or give tips. When you introduce the concept of bribing or tipping to a normally honest community, you change their idea about money. This later manifests to exorbitant rates and questionable fees, which we all complain about.

2. Don’t visit a remote community as a large group. Remember that these people are wary of single strangers, so you can imagine what they are thinking if they see a group of strangers.

3. When taking photos, be unobtrusive. Don’t ask people to pose for you. Keep a distance between you and the subject that you’re shooting.

4. Avoid teaching things or giving stuff that the community doesn’t need.

5. Avoid showing interest in buying items from the community. Never establish trade without the knowledge of the elders.

6. Don’t introduce another paradigm that is alien to the community such as playing loud disco music in a community that values their own music.

7. Never assure the community that your knowledge, medicine, food, equipment, tools, etc. are better than theirs.

8. Tribal communities are fond of communal eating. Don’t eat separately from a family or a group.

The most meaningful travel happens when you go down deep, listen to the stories, and immerse in the ways of life of these wonderful people. It’s incredibly inspiring to see how they value their environment and culture.

However, you should remember that you are just a visitor. No matter how you think highly of yourself, you are the odd person out. As thus, you should leave as little trace as possible, whether it be on the environment or with the cultural practice of the people.

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Screened shot photo and quotes, in italics, attributed to Adrenaline Romance, with permission.

2021-047 | THE PERFECT KNIFE

noreply@blogger.com (PinoyApache) — Thu, 09 Dec 2021 01:00:00 +0000

WISDOM TRAILS: There is no "Perfect Knife". A knife could not do all things safely even if it has a very skillful owner. You need a certain knife for a certain kind of work and vice versa.

First seen in Facebook

September 24, 2018

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I TRIED MY BEST TO HAVE the perfect knife in my whole life, the one knife that could do it all, but I simply could not hold on to it (as a teaching model) and I failed. Despite the skills learned the hard way, it was not enough. I may succeed but I may double my effort if in case I was cutting a large branch with a folding knife or lose my poise if I was carving something delicately small with a machete.

However, I have seen local mountain kids with their bolos, longer than their femur bones, who effortlessly used these as if they were handling a small blade. I watched Tata Kasoy, the venerable elder of the Pastolan Aeta, who nonchalantly whistled and talked in broken English while deftly creating things out of bamboos with his long panabas as if it was an extension of his arm.

The skills with a blade are earned. You may achieve something but at a cost of breaking the blade somewhere along the way or ruining your project. There should be blades dedicated for brute force and blades for delicate jobs and then the blades in between. George Washington Sears have solved that by creating a system to handle different works. People later called it the “Nessmuk Triumvirate” in his honor.

Quite practical and this system ensures that you would not break your one and only blade. The system creates a redundancy favored now by modern bushcraft enthusiasts which is fail-safe. That idea of the perfect knife disappears and replaced by a perfect mental state where you have an almost unlimited option to approach each problem with a different blade.

In Philippine bushcraft, the best big blades to use are those that are made locally. They are tested by time and the most frequent materials used against it are the wiry types of vegetation like cane grass, vines and the very deceptive bamboo. These type of blades could chop any wood found in the tropics like Tata Kasoy’s panabas. These blades are valued by their owners and most of them are heirlooms.

Nessmuk was referring about his pocket knife as the least component of his system. Quite clearly, by its build and make, it was used for light work like peeling fruits, slicing thin strips of meat, and smoothing out the rough edges of wood that his bigger blades missed. When it came to pocket knives, or folding knives, we choose the imported ones and, many, come with so many extras.

The blade in between the big and the small, could be any make. Local and imported blades compete for the attention of our local bushcraft enthusiasts here. The real guys, those that go out regularly doing dirt-time, prefer those that were made by here or carry the cheap imported types. Why? They are not there to impress but to develop their craft.

Since outdoors activity now are more leisurely, bushcraft here shunned the large blade and replaced it with a folding saw, thus lessening the weight you pack. We gave more teeth to the saw by increasing the size of the pocket knife with a bigger Victorinox which has a tiny saw. Compensating for the loss of the big blade are two medium-sized blades and a baton stick foraged for the occasion.

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Image Nr 1 courtesy of City Sports Club Cebu

2021-046 | THE 3RD CAMINO DE SANTIAGO OF CEBU: DAY 4 & 5

noreply@blogger.com (PinoyApache) — Wed, 01 Dec 2021 01:00:00 +0000

A RAINBOW GREETED ME as I enjoyed a cup of coffee on the balcony of the San Pedro Calungsod Parish rectory on the fourth day (June 21, 2019) of this Camino de Santiago from the North. The hills were still swathed in mists as an early rising sun bathed it in golden light. It was a magical feeling, almost surreal.

Behind me was the imposing height of Mount Manghilao, a great landmark of Masaba, Danao City, as seen from anywhere. Across me, far more distant than these hills swathed in mists, was another landmark: an unnamed peak. That mountain would be my signpost later on my journey to Compostela.

I arrived here yesterday at the San Pedro Calungsod Parish together with fellow pilgrims Renita Reynes, Erl Durano and Grace Lina. Fr. Junly Cortes, the parish priest, had welcomed us and took care of our comforts and needs. We had taken baths in the early morning and were now seated with Fr. Junly at the breakfast table.

This Camino de Santiago from the North was the last of the three Camino de Santiago established in Cebu, at the behest of the former parish priest of the Archdiocesan Shrine of Santiago de Compostela, Fr. Scipio Deligero. We started from the St. James the Apostle Parish in Sogod four days ago and this exploratory Camino Cebu has brought us here in very good hands.

We have stamped our credenciales with the parish seals of St. James in Sogod; the San Guillermo de Aquitania in Catmon; the St. Joseph the Worker in Binongkalan, Catmon; the Our Lady of Mount Carmel in Cantumog, Carmen; even that of the St. Benedict Monastery in Corte, Carmen. We have also secured one from Fr. Junly’s parish.

This was a journey that had turned out well despite it being exploratory in nature. I was commissioned by Fr. Scipio to find and identify the routes but I decided to involve the three ladies instead, who really were all veterans of another but much longer Camino de Santiago from the South which they walked in January 2019.

Fr. Junly, who is an adventure racer, knows the hinterlands of Danao City for this was his training ground. He showed me a path and mentioned all the places that we needed to pass in order to reach the next parish: Our Mother of Perpetual Help in Ibo, Danao City. This time, the Camino Cebu would pass long stretches of trails and unpaved roads.

We left Fr. Junly and his parish at 07:30, following a low ridge which goes amongst farms and homesteads. The appeal of trails on this fourth day for the Camino de Santiago was a different experience. The soft ground that crunch underneath your shoes was most welcome for any feet but it brought with it a certain caution when you experienced the usual skids.

These part of the Camino Cebu was unexpected and was never thought of in my itinerary. I literally created another itinerary based on this and shall be permanent. We were walking over ridgelines, among meadows, within pocket forests and small communities where residents helped us with our journey.

We crossed a small stream and went over another trail that led to an unpaved road where there was a chapel which then led to a paved one in the village of Mantija, Danao City. We arrived at 08:30. After fifteen minutes of rest, we resumed our journey. Then it passed by sparsely-populated areas, farms and more pocket forests.

The weather cooperated and we really enjoyed this part. We just walked without so much strain. We were just killing time. I even forgot the mandatory rests of fifteen minutes after each hour of walk. This casual-like walk led us to a steel foot bridge. Below us was the Danao River. Across us was the village of Ibo, Danao City which we came upon at 10:15.

While I was walking searching for their parish, I mistakenly presumed a local wearing a palm hat and an open-carried bolo as a farmer until he identified himself as Fr. Porferio Mahinay Jr., the parish priest of the Our Mother of Perpetual Help. What humility! I even learned later that he was a licensed civil engineer!

He welcomed us into his rectory. His parish is kind of busy since their village fiesta was approaching. On the dining table were fruits and vegetables brought by his parishioners as offerings and donations. There were no concrete structures yet for the church. Fr. Jun utilized a chapel as their temporary house of worship.

Fr. Jun was very much happy to receive us but he has no word of our coming since his locality has no cellular phone signal yet, much less, the internet. It was cool inside and we were served cold juice which helped to our cause. After 30 minutes of rest, it was time to leave again for the Camino de Santiago.

Taking the hint from Fr. Jun, we followed an unpaved road bound for the village of Togonon, Danao City. Midway, the road became paved and the air became warm. This familiar landmark of a mountain that had left me marveling in the past was now in my midst. It has bare karst formations which are used by local rock climbers.

We stayed under the shade of a small store by a road junction to spend our noonbreak. The lady storekeeper was most happy to serve us instant noodles and, later, just coffee for me. After an hour, after asking directions from her, we took the road on the left which goes up to the higher elevations of this unnamed peak.

At 13:00, we huffed and puffed on an ascending road but, once we were on a level terrain, the road became unpaved and showed its true character. It was very shady, due to presence of a second-growth forest and there were no houses along the route. Another enchanting road that gave you the creeps.

This was a rather long stretch and I liked it that way. I could see valleys below and the mountains that shaped this new landscape that I have seen for the first time. Beyond, far away, are familiar trysting grounds. Then the enchantment gave way to a small community and more of it as the gravelly road became concrete again and goes downhill.

We now crossed into the village of Dapdap, Compostela. In a very spacious community shelter, we found rest at 14:30. I have never been in this part of Compostela. After 15 minutes, we proceed passing by a junction which led to the village center of Dapdap on the right and to another village, Mulao, Compostela, on the left. I took the left.

The road goes downhill, crossed a stream, goes a little up and goes down again and we were in another junction: the right goes to village center of Mulao while on the left to the village of Basak, Compostela. I know this part very well and what to expect. Just like yesterday, we climbed a hill in the morning and another in the afternoon. This time it was at lesser proportions and I know where I was going.

We finally arrived at our resting place for the night at 16:00. It was not a parish that we were so privileged to rest for three nights but a humble home that a family had dedicated to welcoming pilgrims of the Camino de Santiago. This was the third time that Frank and Minnie Catampatan hosted me and my pilgrims and I could not find the happiest second home but here.

Woke up to the crowing of the cocks for this fifth and final day (June 22) of this Camino de Santiago from the North, we were treated to a good breakfast again. We were that pampered, thanks to Santiago de Compostela, who provided, from out of nothing, comfort, kindness, empathy, protection, nutrition, charity and piety. At 08:00, we left our kind hosts and proceed to finish this exploration and pilgrimage today.

It was getting warm by the time we left Basak although the path was very shady. We were approaching the great highlight of all the three Camino de Santiago: the “Cross of Triumph”. This cross was erected in 2016 on top of a hill and is a hundred feet high, the biggest in the island of Cebu. Upon this cross, pilgrims leave their pebbles carried since Day One of their spiritual journeys.

We arrived on the great cross in Bagalnga, Compostela at 09:15. I left another pebble. Renita, Erl and Grace did, likewise. Aside from pebbles, which actually represents our old self, we said our personal prayers here as well as prayer petitions from relatives, friends, classmates and neighbors, hoping for small miracles in their lives. These prayer petitions came in verbal requests or written on papers.

The morning was just so perfect. There was no pressure and we just enjoyed the view and prayed the five decades of the holy rosary facing the lowlands and the Camotes Sea. By 10:00, we went down the hill and followed a narrow concrete road down to a much busy road in Guila-guila and sate our thirst with cold soda drinks inside a small store at 10:45.

After 15 minutes of my standard rest time, we walked again this busy thoroughfare, muddied and hosting puddles of turbid liquid after a hard rain last night. We turned right on a much better road but lacking in shades. It was now very warm and the road rose up but I know where it would take me. This was the last obstacle.

We arrived at last at the Archdiocesan Shrine of Santiago de Compostela at 11:40. Bells herald our coming and the welcoming committee was most happy of our arrival for we had accomplished our mission: that of establishing and completing the third route of the Camino de Santiago for Cebu. Fr. Scipio Deligero had delivered his promise before ending his stint in this parish come August where another priest would assume his post.

Renita, Erl and Grace had the distinction of the only other pilgrims who walked this Camino de Santiago from the North, as well as that rare feat of walking both this northern passage and that of its much longer route from the south. All three have grasped the full meaning of being a pilgrim and so have found a different avenue of spirituality. However, Renita, most of all, had achieved a most rare deed: that of walking the three different routes of the Camino Cebu.

On my part, the opportunity to work with the Roman Universal Catholic Church, notably with the Archdiocese of Cebu, and to my close devotion to St. James the Apostle, had transformed me into someone that I have not had dreamed of before. It was a calling and I answered it. I am in a unique situation after I helped establish the two longest routes of the Camino de Santiago here.

This special relation granted me certain spiritual privileges, or indulgences, if you may, which I could never achieve with my sinful ways, past and present. This was more than monetary compensation, titles and prestige. My church is kind enough to give me certain earthly privileges as well to work as an independent guide. While it may have a certain air of prestige but, do not be misled, it is a very demanding work.

Cebu now has three Camino de Santiago routes. The first one was the one from the south, starting from Badian, 175+ kilometers long and walked in ten days. It was established in 2017 and is now the premier route. The second is the one walked around Compostela and Liloan, which is 28+ kilometers and walked in two days. This was first walked in 2018 and is the most popular. Then we had the one from the north, walked in five days at 65+ kilometers.

iBuen Camino!

2021-045 | ADRENALINE ADVENTURE HIKE: SEGMENT IV-A

noreply@blogger.com (PinoyApache) — Sun, 21 Nov 2021 01:00:00 +0000

SEGMENT IV OF THE CEBU Highlands Trail is the beginning of where leisure mountain camping ends. The latter had been popular, especially at its two prominent peaks: Mt. Manunggal and Mt. Mauyog. These had been shaped by constant activities of outdoor clubs beginning in the ‘80s. What lies beyond is terra incognita or “no man’s land”.

I decided to break that impasse by boldly walking through those areas in October 2015 with which places have confined the activities and stunted the growth of the collective outdoor community only on those two peaks because it was risky to do so. That exploration opened a corridor of passage where I eventually used during my Thruhike in January to February 2017.

Segment IV is divided into two sub-segments because of its length: Segment IV-A starts from Mt. Manunggal, Balamban and ends in Lawaan, Danao City. Segment IV-B takes off from Lawaan and finishes at Caurasan, Carmen. These were the very places which were frequented by armed groups in the ‘80s up to the earliest years of the third millennium.

But Gian Carlo and Sheila Mei of Team Adrenaline Romance were ready. They understood that mindset which only long trails could provide. They honed this, starting from Mt. Manunggal to Mantalongon, Dalaguete, churning a mileage of 166.56 kilometers on four sets of weekends for Segment I, II and III. It was beyond my expectations considering that segment hiking the CHT was still an experiment yet.

Experiment, in the sense, that I could not choose the people who desires to walk the CHT’s rugged length, the tyranny of the humid tropical climate, the remoteness from help and the very inquisitive locals. There was one major adjustment that I had made in the light of these and this was the deliberate reduction of pace. I cannot afford accidents in the middle of nowhere. I had to have a modicum of control on people’s movements, especially at places where you cannot observe them. Then, of course, there is the radio.

So the paths to the north of Mt. Manunggal were ripe for the taking on that day of September 29, 2018 and Team Adrenaline Romance were in the right place, at the right time, with the right person leading them to places where only a handful had been. Going with them were Apol and Swiss adventurer, Markus. This was the very first time that adventure tourism would be exposed on these misunderstood places.

After a meet-up at the Ayala Mall van-for-hire terminal at 05:00, we cruised over the Transcentral Highway in a passenger van and to our preferred starting point, on a lonely corner where a feeder road led to Mt. Manunggal. On this very spot, Team Adrenaline Romance launched their campaign of the CHT seven months ago, which was the first half of Segment I. It was an extraordinary feeling for everyone who were here.

We transferred by motorcycles-for-hire to the campgrounds of Mt. Manunggal and proceed to acquire something to eat for we simply forgot to eat breakfast, except for Markus. Then the journey for Segment IV lurched under a controlled pace at 07:15. The weather was mild but, once out of the mantle of fogs, it would be humid out there. We followed the route I explored in 2015 and it remained wild.

The forest had reclaimed what was theirs after a road was created in their midst. On a trail in between tall grasses, I spotted a large bird scat. It was made by a mature grass owl, perhaps a pregnant female. This was her breeding ground. Trees abound on both sides, 20 meters away and, ahead, were wild raspberries (Local: sampinit) which branches were heavy with succulent fruits.

The path narrowed as we passed through it, plucking as many raspberries as we could and enjoying the freedom of the hills. We delighted the solitude of the moment, for we know, in five years’ time, people would come to settle and claim farm patches here. That would be alright if you are a subsistence farmer but what I feared really are outsiders who would buy rights to big chunks of land and then fence off both humans and beasts away in the name of “development”.

I saw a couple of homesteads along the way but I know also that the lure of money from these outsiders would make them exchange their way of life for the lowlands, forfeiting their children’s rights to the land and its bounties. It is a cycle as moneyed lowlanders from the cities purchase properties to do “farming” while the true farmers on the mountains sold those rights to make a living in the urban areas. Then they exchange places, maybe in a hundred years.

After snaking our way through that beautiful forest, we were met by wide open spaces – Cebu’s “Big Sky” – where you could see beyond the highlands rolling north before you without any obstacle. We stopped here for a while to rest and rehydrate. Markus carried with him binoculars and I saw better with a larga vista than with my own naked eyes.

With magnified vision, I noted Garces Peak of Asturias, Mt. Kalabasa and Mt. Mago of Danao, Ngipon sa Ilaga of Carmen and Mt. Kapayas of Catmon. Beyond was a blur of blue. All of these are on the fringes of Segment IV. These might be very far from where we stood but, in a matter of a day, we would be below Mt. Kalabasa. Another 2-and-a-half days, Mt. Kapayas. Team Adrenaline Romance have used my assessments to gauge their strength, stamina and rest time since day one of their journey.

If Markus had brought a binocular, he would be bringing other items as well. While a binocular is a valued item, it is not a necessity on this long trail. He has a backpack with him and another big sling bag made of canvass. He answered to my appeal in bringing a gift for the grandchildren of Candelario Garces, who lived on a very remote mountain of Kaluwangan, Asturias. It was a board game and I decided to remove the burden from him and carry it myself.

We all carried extra loads for the Garces grandchildren. We would unload that tomorrow and we need to reach Cabasiangan first for the day was getting warmer. Tech1 Corporation, distributor of VERSA 2-Way Radios, loaned me a pair of their VERSA QuickTalk Go, for field tests. It is in FRS/UHF band which is ideal for urban areas with transmission distances of up to 200 meters but equally effective where there were no obstacles like unpaved mountain roads. I let Gian Carlo carry one of the pair.

This heavily-furrowed road brought us to a small community which has a small store that sells cold soda drinks. They did not have something cold, this time, since a ref conked out. What the place had was a wounded, leopard cat (maral). It was breathing heavily half-alive and I cannot understand why people here did not put it out of its misery. Pity aside, it was my first time to see it so close, although I saw glimpses of this many times on the mountains.

Leaving that poor animal, we decided to move on. We took a short cut but the imperious sun was still bearing its heat to our exposed skin no matter how we tried to be smart. As I was with Apol, a hundred meters away from the village center of Cabasiangan and waiting for them, my VERSA QuickTalk Go caught a transmission from Gian Carlo. I left my bag with Apol and proceed to their location.

It was very warm at 11:15 yet I overtook a male local and appealed to him to carry a bag of one companion who may have been bogged down by the severe warmth. After a few minutes, Gian Carlo, Sheila Mei and Markus emerged with the local carrying a backpack. We thanked the local and paid him for his valuable services and we all decided to enjoy our noonbreak under the shade of a covered basketball court.

At 13:30, we left Cabasiangan but not after ensuring that Markus gets a motorcycle ride down the lowlands and safety. The tropical heat was just too much for him. When we continued our journey, it was really warm. No amount of breeze could stymie the heat. We rest when we find a shady spot where there were no houses. We city people have habits, ways of talking and body language which locals might find unusual and might gave off a different connotation if espied.

We arrived at the village center of Ginatilan and, fortunately for us, their village chairwoman was present and I personally asked her approval to let us stay for the night at their old village square found at the bottom of this mountain where it meets the Lusaran River. It was downhill walk but, at least, it hid us from the overpowering heat of the mid-afternoon. At 16:00, we arrived there and claimed their granary as our billet area.

On the second day, September 30, we left Ginatilan to cross the Lusaran River at 07:45. The water was just right as against the last time where it was thigh level. Everyone crossed the stream safely to the other side, which became the Municipality of Asturias. On the higher bank was a community square and a public school.

Seen a familiar face. It was the farmer whom I talked to during my 2017 Thruhike. He was the son of a Korean War veteran and currently employed as a sentry in the said school. I gave him my extra Swiss Army Knife as my token of friendship and as my gesture to establish rapport in this place, as I did so on other places.

Of course I printed certificates of appreciation for those villages which welcomed me during the CHT route explorations and the Thruhike. In Segment I, it was the village of Buot, Cebu City. In Segment II: Tubod, San Fernando. In Segment III: Mantalongon, Barili; Mompeller and Balaas, Argao; and Mantalongon, Dalaguete. Here, in Segment IV-A, I already gave Ginatilan.

Soon, I would provide a different appreciation of thanks to Candelario Garces and his wife for welcoming me during the October 2014 exploration and for sharing what little food they had during the Thruhike where I passed by here last February 2, 2017. We have gifts for the Garces couple and their grandchildren. Yes, we have extra cargo but it would be worth its weight in bringing it here.

I followed the trail up a ridge. It was another very warm day but I have one person less to look after this time. The view from up here was superb and you could see the serpentine path of the Lusaran River below, shining as the sun reflected its surface. I struggled with my breathing under the naked sun until I reached a forest line and stopped to rest, leaning my weight on a live tree. The canvass sling bag with its cargo were both heavy.

After a few minutes of catching my breath, the covered trail led to a high meadow where there were two children playing. Instantly, the kids recognized me and respectfully took my hand to kiss it. The kids, a boy and a girl, were very happy and laughing to see visitors. They led us to their remote home. We finally arrived at the Garces Homestead at 09:40 and unloaded our gifts.

There was the expensive boardgame bought by Markus which I carried on his behalf. Gian Carlo and Sheila Mei unpacked their bags to produce two loaves of sliced bread, chocolates and more food. Apol has notebooks, pencils, ballpens, crayons and writing pads. On my part, I brought two books, four paracord bracelet assembly kits and free giveaways from a popular fastfood chain.

Apol was most helpful with her experience in dealing with children, orphans and youths in conflict with the law. She made the children overcome their shyness and sang and played with her. She even taught them how to create a paracord bracelet from the assembly kits. We gave all the food we brought to the beaming grandparents.

After an hour of rest and interaction with the two children, we bade goodbye and proceed on our journey to finish this sub segment. We were feeling blessed to impart something which would be appreciated very well by them as well as to their grandparents. It was a nice feeling and the hour-long rest was well deserved for the four of us.

So I followed the rest of the trail through the graces of a kind memory. Sometimes I missed a path but most of the time I was correct. If I was in doubt, I brought out my compass for the cardinal directions. If it could not help me, I consult my map but it rarely came to that. Navigating in an almost unfamiliar terrain by memory sometimes burn you out.

When I missed a trail, I retraced my path until I found a familiar something. It could be a landmark, a familiar smell or just a gut feeling. But a chance meeting with a local is most valued. So I found the true path on the premise of the familiar and I found the unnamed river that separates Asturias from Danao City. It is a long descent and somewhere up ahead would be the pot of gold.

We reached the bottom and prepared our lunch at a time. We are behind schedule. It was already 13:00. While Gian Carlo was at it, Apol and Sheila Mei took a dip on a deep pool of a stream where there was a small waterfall. God, it was so warm. I keep Gian Carlo company and exchanged stories to keep us occupied on dry ground. It was a good moment under the shade, recouping strength with coffee even on a very warm day!

After a more than an hour of noonbreak, we crossed the stream and were now in Danao City. A path led to a large tree where there was a bull blocking the way. Although it was leashed, it could still reach us should we took any of the safest spaces to walk. The best thing to do is walk as one tight group so as to intimidate or confuse him. Small fries do that to keep at bay bigger fishes.

There was a community and we moved through it and over a steep hillside which was bare and loose. Then we crossed a smaller stream and we were now in the village of Sacsac. We reached a paved road and stopped at a store to hydrate with cold RC Cola, just like I did during my thruhike here. For a good 15 minutes we took our rest ignoring a huge but empty jeepney calling out for passengers. We disregarded the opportunity, afraid that it may stay longer and ruin our itinerary.

By 15:20, we moved out, following the ascending road that offered a view of the imposing karst formation and forest that was visible from yesterday’s walk. At the steepest part of the road, the empty jeepney roared ahead of us on its way to the Danao City terminal. Pride kept us grounded afraid to cheat for just a while. Anyway, after an hour of walking up several rises which seemed to have no end, we arrived the main road at Lawaan.

We made it at 16:45 but, at this hour, in these places, transportation were scarce. After a longer wait, we were able to convince two motorcycle-for-hire drivers to ferry us down to the city center. Although downhill, the distance was great and we arrived 30 minutes later. We transferred to midget public jeepneys, dropping by at Liloan, to grace the opening of a friend’s halo-halo franchise and ingratiate ourselves with the specialty of the house to recover lost energies.

Team Adrenaline Romance, after Segment IV-A, have amassed a total of 190.05 kilometers and there is the Segment IV-B that is scheduled for October 13-14, 2018, which would surely goad them over the 200-kilometer mark and complete the first half of the CHT. That was a tough walk and the trail north has lots of these. But Team Adrenaline Romance is now in the groove of things of how the CHT ought to be walked…and enjoyed.

Gian Carlo and Sheila Mei wrote about their Segment IV-A experience on the Adrenaline Romance Blog under two installments:

Cebu Highlands Trail Segment IV-A: Mt. Manunggal to Ginatilan, Balamban.

Cebu Highlands Trail Segment IV-A: Ginatilan to Lawaan, Danao.