Try the Road Less Travelled: Continued

I have earlier posted here the first segment of the "Try the Road Less Travelled" posts. Then a second segment, Attempt for the Extreme, was posted in an online US magazine, Mother Earth Living. I still have lots of photos to share so here is another part of that week-long escapade.

In one of those days we returned to our cottage earlier in the evening. That seems to be not conforming to the normal days we have, which normally starts very early and ends very late. So we maximized the time by passing by a mangrove area very near the sea. We hurriedly walked through the bamboo foot bridges through the mangrove trees because we can see the sunset rays seeping through the trees seemingly very inviting. Literally we ran to catch the sunset. And here are some of the episodes.

 Top and below are some of the most naughty pictures from that sojourn. Our two men companions hurriedly posed for a crime drama! As three of us ladies were taking their photos, we simultaneously were laughing so hard for the scenes they portrayed. One was raising his hands in submission of guilt, while the other is attacking him with the bolo.

 This is not a very obvious scene, but one is supposedly doing the guillotine to his companion. That was a morbid scene, but we just cooperated in taking the naughty photos. We just fulfilled the drama without any conversations.

 Each one of us took chances in posing for our silhouettes among the branches, illuminated by the fast receding sunset. We were so quick because the sun cannot wait for us for better poses. That was I above joining the certificate of appearance poses.

 One of our male companions is a herpetology hobbyist, so we all chimed in that a big snake is trying to impress us! It even showed its toungue to us. Do you see our Sunset Snake?

 an idyllic sunset photo

 there was even the moon at the east, but is still dim because the sun is still bright

my small lens cannot give justice to the rising moon at the east

Nature Notes
Our World Tuesday
Through My Lens

Another Try on the Road Less Travelled

It felt like i am doing the unusual at my age. I have not been doing these things in my younger years, and now before i really call myself an old lady, which i might am already being called that by younger ones, i joined some expeditions with real hard core mountaineers, sea experts, and extreme adventurers! To places not ventured by many, nor by tourists, there we go. I've done that in November last year to Palawan also with the same persons, and that time we traversed very difficult rugged, rocky and slippery roads backriding daily for several hours on motorbikes. Then last January i joined a lady friend in this group to the island of Sabtang, Batanes in the northernmost islands of the Philippines for a traverse hike from east coast to west coast. This April, we went to Palawan again for another unusual itinerary. We were three ladies here, guided by our ever reliable, responsible, caring two new friends. And this time i hope i have already a  fulfilled soul.

We were supposedly a group chasing and photographing butterflies, but instead we tried enjoying the place, whatever we can cover. We hiked for waterfalls, crossed several rivers, camped in beaches, stayed for a night in a deserted island, climbed a mountain of caves complexes, looked for snakes a night in the forest, and a lot more! I guess in totality that is not a simple feat done in 6 days, the 7th we returned home.

                                                                                                                                                            (photo credit: not mine)
We were looking for the path to a low mountain called the Devil's Peak. Our two guys tried clearing the vegetation to pass through. It turned out nobody seems to have gone there for a couple of years, so the path is already like a forest again. We used up our time clearing the way, so we just climbed half-way because we lacked time. We returned to the beach camp before it got dark.

                                                                                                                             (photo credit: not my photo)
Our age differences are in decades; 30s, 40s, 50s and 60s. The men are in the lowest brackets. Who says old women cannot do the jump shot!

                                                                                                                              (photo credit: not mine)

When we are bound to go back, frustrated of not conquering this peak, we just opted to have photo shoots of ourselves inside the forest. 

                                                                                                                           (photo credit: not mine)

In another day, we crossed 4 rivers and 2 streams in between kilometers of hiking uphill, just to see a waterfalls. The water is not very deep, just above the knees of my companions. The sad part for the water level is, that level is already almost near my waist! I am the shortest among us, haha!

                                                                                                                              (photo credit: not mine)
Look at the normal pace of the pack, the one with the shortest legs is always left behind with a wide distance between them. At the above picture, we will still traverse that ridge, and the falls is down at the other side.

                                                                                                                         (photo credit: not mine)
The rivers are not always smooth with just plane water. It is good that there is no strong current, but the rocks beneath are very slippery that i once slipped, wetting my whole body. There are also crossings with big rocks and boulders like that above, but we always have time for anything unusual like a very big praying mantis we saw on that rock!

                                                                                                                            (photo credit: not mine)
This is the small motor boat that carried us to the Tabon Caves Complex, an hour and a half from Quezon Beach. It was originally an island but has now attached to the mainland by mangrove forset. The skull of the Tabon man, supposedly the earliest Homo sapiens  in the Philippines was found in one of the caves in Tabon, Lipuun Point, Quezon. The skull and jawbone were said to be remains of three people who lived in these caves 16,500 years ago. (However, in 2010  another metatarsal was found in Callao Caves, Cagayan and dated to be 67,000 years old).  Some of the caves in Tabon are said to be Stone Factory, while others are burial caves for the Tabon people. Roughly 238 caves are found but only 12 are open to the public. We went to just 6 caves, which are the easier ones to visit.

                                                                                                                         (photo credit: not mine)

Concrete stairways are already built to the more accessible caves, with rails for support. There are very steep stairs and there are undulating ones which cascade to the more level areas. Unfortunately during our visit,  the rails are full of ants that we cannot just hold on them for support. We just relied on our own two feet. 

One of the entrances to the caves, with apparent stalactites from the roof. The Tabon Complex has already been proclaimed in 1972 as a National Protected Area. 

                                                                                                                     (photo credit: not mine)

Each cave has a different characteristics, because those considered burial caves have been cleaned of stalactites and stalagmites, making the roof like a clear dome. 

Another cave with still growing stalactites and stalagmites. Mosses, lichens and fungi sometimes give different colors to portions of the caves, giving almost discernible figures of faces and animals. 

Our first camp near the beach is full of coconut trees. We attached 2 hammock in these trees and we had four separate tents. 

My extremely adventurous lady companion can even climb very tall coconuts. She actually just climbed it for the picture, which i took lying on the sand, there was no coconut fruit gathered there. She seemed not to have any difficulty at all, going up and down! Look her weight seemed to be only on the right foot, she is not even holding on tightly there. Oh My God, i cannot even lift my behind even for just a meter up. 

More posts on this trip will be posted soon! 

Early Morning at Sabtang Lighthouse

We stayed for 3 nights on my third visit to Sabtang, Batanes. We even used 2 homestays on those 3 nights, 1st is at the Sabtang Lighthouse near the port. It was awesomely located on a promontory and the homestay is literally at the foot of the Lighthouse. Apparently, the lighthouse is on a private land and since the location is very idyllic the landowner decided to utilize this unique location for a homestay. At present there are 3 small cottages there with a few rooms each, me and my buddy stayed with a mother and son team. They were at the room and we at the livingroom, which was fun. There is a common bathroom and a kitchen. We all left to roam around in the morning and we transfered to another homestay in Chavayan on our 2nd and 3rd night. Of course our days seem to be very short to roam around the island.

We were literally forced by the sunrise to come out early and experience its effects on the landscape. Unfortunately, due to the urgency of the moment i was not able to bring with me the better camera in recording the sunrise. So i just have these photos to at least show you a semblance of the truth.

 This promontory is on an almost vertical ridge from the sea level. We explored every nooks and crannies to get most angles of the landscape. 

 To our right is the Sabtang port and the business center, where houses and some government offices are located, together with the school and the church. It actually is a very small community.

 At the lower left are stairway steps to an almost secret cove where visitors can privately swim or have picnic near the water. 

 It is windy and a bit cold to our standards in the tropics. By this time the sun is already up, we just cannot get in yet for breakfast as there still are some subjects to photograph, like ourselves. 

 My travel buddy, unlike me, is not afraid of heights nor depths. She prefers going to scary places. That area she was on is already a very steep vertical ridge, a slip will bring you down to the very sharp rocks below! By the way, that island at the horizon is Batan Island, where the airport is, and concentration of commerce and people are located. 

 It is nice to watch big waves breaking on the boulders. This just looks small because our location on the top gives us an angle that projects shorter sizes. 

 A nicer designed stone cottage is at the back, i surely prefer that cottages here should have been designed like that. However, the cottage at the right is already a modern structure, almost like a temporary makeshift cottage in the area. 

The view to the mountains, where cattles and goats roam freely to graze. 

Again, that is my extreme adventurer travel buddy looking for more difficult areas to explore. Despite my already softening knees, trembling while looking at her location, i still have to get this picture to document what she has been through. I actually don't know how she was able to get there! And with all my summoned courage i immediately press the shutter to be done with and already go to safer grounds. Her passions even made this trip more memorable.


Our World Tuesday
Nature Notes

Traverse Hike from Chavayan to Sumnanga Batanes

The Batanes group of islands is the northernmost part of the Philippines. But the waters in between the mainland Luzon and Batanes is wide and not very friendly for travelers, so the only option for tourists is by plane. There is even a joke that Batanes is even nearer Taiwan than the mainland Luzon. Not many Filipinos reach Batanes because of the difficulty going there and the cost of travel. The main island is Batan whose capital is Basco, where the airport is located, Sabtang is the 2nd most inhabited island and often visited by tourists aside from Basco. Sabtang is 30-40 min boat ride from Basco depending on the conditions of the waters.

Our stay in Chavayan, Sabtang, Batanes would not have been very significant if not for the trek we did to Sumnanga, a residential area at the other side of the mountains. We decided to do a traverse to look for butterflies, so we left our Homestay at 8:00am after breakfast. The path was the old Procession Route considered short cut because there was a longer path starting from the other end of Chavayan. The start was laden with medium sized stones, i assumed put there because it was so muddy during rainy days. The farmers also use the path going to their farms in the mountains, bringing their cattles or goats to pasture, and people in Sumnanga said they passed that road to attend fiesta in Chavayan.

This is just maybe a few hundred meters uphill from Chavayan, the road is still 
clear and we still see some farmers going to their farms.

We climbed inclines, crossed creeks, scrutinized vegetation to discern the real path, 

and as we get higher we get better views of the mountain ranges. We only stopped 

when we see some butterflies, of course we will take all possibilities just

 to take their pictures.  . 

we stop if there are some interesting something even not butterflies

it is easier if there are trees like this, with signs of being trimmed in the past

It is amazing to have a travel buddy who has GPS in her feet, because they seem to know where to go in cases like the above! We encountered lots of these chaos throughout this hike.  I didn't put on rash guards on my arms, so i had some itchy markings that are still with me even after 2 weeks.

There are crossings where we spent a few minutes looking for the real original path and not just another path to individual farms. As we go higher the vegetation becomes denser and the real path got lost to weeds and bushes. Of course we were walking slow specially if there are butterflies, and we saw some though most are on top of the trees, sunning themselves there to dry. At the summit we had a little dilemma as the paths really got lost, aggravated by a fire consuming the cogon grasses. We were lucky most of the grasses are still green, so we were able to cross it, downward at the mountain side. In these parts there really was no path anymore. We passed by a fern-landscaped area, a cogonal area, and some tree-tunneled areas delineating the old route. It is easier if those trees are still there, showing the signs of trimming creating the tunnel effect. We joked that there was the proverbial "light at the end of the tunnel".

OMG, there is fire! How can we cross that?

downward now to wherever our feet will lead us

at last we saw Vuhus Island at the horizon, we are on the right track, just down there is Sumnanga

We walked relentlessly, and we reached Sumnanga after 5 hrs. After a few minutes of looking for tricycles to bring us to Chavayan, we learned that there are only 2 there and the owners are at the other island tending cattles. We had no choice but to go back to the path where we just came by. OMG! My travel buddy was worried for me, so she took all the contents of my backpack leaving only my small camera on my neck. At 2 pm we left Sumnanga for the return hike, this time we did it faster for 2 hours, already forgetting the butterflies. Or else we might really get lost if it gets dark. 

That really brought me some sore muscles!

can you imagine this as a path?!!!

that is my backpack clinging now at my buddy's backpack

i can now appreciate the quality of the paths and i documented them on our return

At last that is already Chavayan beach, and in a little while we can rest. A few 

hundred meters and we are already home for dinner and sleep. 

Below are some butterflies we saw, and some other interesting finds. 

 a wasp moth

 a white tiger butterfly, Danaus melanipus edmondii

  an extremely dry season form of Bush Brown, Mycalesis igoleta

lovely mushrooms on decaying trunk

(Post Script: This would not have been possible if not for my very responsible, effcient, caring, very good mountaineer buddy Linda Alisto, whose intuition in finding the path is very concise.)

Through My Lens

Our World Tuesday

Image-in-ing

A hurried visit to Sumnanga

Upon arrival at Sabtang Island after lunch,  our guide tricyle took us to Sumnanga, a fishing village at the other side of the mountains from Sabtang Centro. It was through the north side. We did not go there during my first 2 visits. Roads to Sumnanga are more difficult than other roads in Sabtang Island. The roads are more narrow and steeper, and there are also some roads under construction.

We did not have the usual itinerary so we can tell the guide where we want to go. We actually have only 3 hours to spare before it gets dark, so we were actually hurried.

Above is one of the steep rockies on the roadside to Sumnanga.  Tricycles there now have cogon roofs that entice tourists. That is ours, i rode at the side car, while my buddy rode at the back side of the driver. My travel buddy has a penchance for a little extreme, she is not scared of depths nor heights, and she wants these feats documented. I do not share such, so i normally do the photography. 

 She likes high places. At her left is a very steep wall to the sea, and my phobia will not

 allow me to stand on that ledge. Sometimes when she does that, 

my knees want to buckle down and I actually feel them weaken !

After about 40 min. we are in the fishing village of Sumnanga. There are the typical legendary stone houses of Batanes. Only a few houses are in this village. Above is another group of houses at the other side of a hill, and they call this Little Hongkong. I have been to Hongkong, but i don't see the comparison. Maybe it is in a part of Hongkong that is far from the tourists usual destinations. Actually it is a small cove. 

This is the view immediately catching one's attention in entering the village. Those rockies are very typical hardened lava from some volcanic eruption. I think Batanes in the past are under water, just emerged by some volcanic eruptions and tectonic movements. Those white patches on the rocks are drying cuttlefish backbones. That is a small falowa boat for fishing. 

Most men from this village are also cattle raisers at the Vuhus Island, which is only devoted for cattle grazing. It is about 30min from Sumnanga Island by smaller falowa boats.

 

 A small red falowa boat; and a very big papaya that fell off the tree because of its heavy weight. It is almost as long as the cart, at 2 ft long.

My travel buddy tried pushing the cart of the local resident.

 typical stone house in Batanes, but this one is smaller than those in other parts of Sabtang

 those are flying fish being dried; one-day old fish like these are preferred by the Ivatans

This is on our way back to Sabtang Centro from Sumnanga. There is still an hour before dusk so we can still have some photo opportunities.  The width of these roads are only wider than a tricycle so they cannot be on opposite sides at the same time. There are some wider lay-by portions where one has to stop to let the opposite one go ahead. 

The nice thing about Batanes Islands is that most of their roads are cemented even if they are in the remotest barangay. Even some roads to the fields are paved. 

 This mountain has to be cracked at the middle for the road to pass through. The road is a bit steep but still manageable by the tricycles, although we hear the engine complaining.

 It is after sunset when we finally reached Morong Beach and Nakabuang Arch on our way back to Sabtang Centro. It is cloudy and we did not sea a nice sunset. I remember having our lunch of lobsters, fresh fish and turmeric rice during my first trip here in 2008. Our guide then joined the three of us to a group so we can partake of the famous Sabtang Arch lunch. That time there are no huts or restaurants here in this area, in contrast to what they have now. A few resto huts are already built above this area.

 the expanse of Morong Beach

my fascination in expanded beaches, documenting the lacey waters

Our World Tuesday