Trips - Leyte
Nature Trekking in Baybay, Leyte
by Antoinette Go
The judge promised a fun trip, a river trek. We got more
than we expected. This trip that was to be a comedy of errors and one big
miscommunication. (This is getting to be a habit.) Just the night before,
at the pier ready to board the 10 p.m. boat to Baybay, Leyte, Judge P discovered
to his consternation that he left our boat tickets in his other wallet
back home. Vanessa and I were amused that a guy would actually have two
wallets. "No, I have three," the wise judge clarified, "one for formal
occasions, another for casual, and this one for trekking."
We arrive in Baybay, Leyte at 4:30 a.m. We were in high spirits. Judge
P checked our gear at Jimbo's place, told Ross to leave behind the plywood
he brought with him. "You're not bringing that," he echoed what he said
to me in our Manunggal trek. He had visions of Atty. Ross Brillantes carrying
this plywood to put up a sign "I was here" in this trek. Ross thought
it would make a good sleeping mat.
After ensuring that we brought the right provisions and that these were
securely packed in plastic, the judge gave the signal for us to leave.
We crammed our backpacks and our bodies into a puny multi-cab for the 10-minute
ride to the campus of the Visayas State College
of Agriculture (VISCA) situated at the foot of Mt. Pangasugan. Judge
took the time to buy plant hybrids and fruit tree seedlings at the school
nursery, while Jimbo went to contact our guide. The rest had their breakfast
of fish in clear soup at a more leisurely pace in one of VISCA's many eateries.
At the kitchen, the teenage cook was already preparing our packed lunch,
fried fish.
From VISCA it was another short ride to Barangay Marcos. Our guide was
a chain-smoking 67-year old farmer who goes around barefoot. He is subbing
for his son who was indisposed, guiding a group of 40 researchers and teachers
from VISCA on a cross-country trek in Mt. Pangasugan. His two grandchildren,
16-year old Tata and 15-year old Rachel begged their Lolo (grandpa) Erning
to let them join. Looks like Tata is going to be the next in this three
generations of mountain guides in the family.
And off we go. We were in high spirits. We took a trail from Lolo Erning's
house and headed off to the mountains in the interior, past coconut and
banana trees as the sweetest scent of an unknown flower embraced us with
its welcome fragrance. Around the bend of a stream this sweet smell was
replaced by a more earthly one of carabaos! A family of the farmer's best
friend -- there's papa carabao, mama carabao, baby
carabao, yaya carabao and their cousins ...
Continued on next page ...
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Antoinette Go works for the
San Miguel Corporation and is a member of the Green Earth Mountaineers
in Cebu. She is also a journalist and you can read her work at Antoinettes
Life in These Islands web site as well as her Southern
Miss web site where she is currently studying.
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