A Great day out as an Eco Tourist - the Philippines opens up to me.
I have been constantly looking for ways to expand my horizons, and in last few days, the Philippine Islands have started to open up to me in ways that I had not considered, during my many visits over the last few years, I have tended to concentrate my holiday around the main cities, we went to places like Baguio City, Bohol, Cebu, and of course our home Island of Negros.
But do we truly see the Philippines in its true glory, I am not convinced we do, for many of us, we get the chance to branch out our horizons, yesterday was one such day, but the way in which we undertook this mission, impressed me and gave me much food for thought in the future.
My Gina tells me, that we will go and visit the Mambucal Mountain Eco Tourist resort, I have been a couple of times before, but just to swim, take a dip in the volcanic sulphur pool, and then we come home, we are normally there about 2 hours, and then we call it a day.
This time, its different, my Gina wants me to see some of the hidden treasures up higher in the mountain, she tells me, there is much wild life to see, and I would enjoy it more if we also had a Picnic.
Now forgive me about this, because I thought Picnic's died a death in UK, when Jane Eyre was written, back in 1800's England, the rich and wealthy used to take Picnics on their country estates, Picnics to me were for people who could not think of anything to do at the weekend.
I was wrong, or rather should I say, I thought wrong, Picnics to Filipinos are totally different in concept, my Gina tells me, Filipinos have to be thrifty, and if you often wonder why they are in so big a group, it has several benefits.
Firstly, the cost of such a trip, to get into Mambucal Mountain resort, it costs P30.00 per head, imagine a group with 30 people in it, well I saw such a group, they rented a picnic cabana as I call it, a shelter with seating, and a barbecue stand, for P300.00 per day, well 30 x 30 is P900.00 plus P300.00 for the shelter, and then if you want to take a dip in the volcanic spring, its another P50.00 imagine 30 x 50, thats another P1500.00 then if you want to swim in the main pool, another P50.00 per head, my Gina works it all out, that this trip would cost them around P10,000 with transport up the mountain, and then food for them all.
The figures are staggering my Filipinos standards, my Gina tells me firstly they will pay for entrance on thier own, P30.00 they will find, then to contribute for the day out, they will not eat at the food court, that is provided, they will all bring something to contribute to the picnic, plus, many of them will not swim in the assigned pools.
What I did notice, is the gushing river that flows down the resort, from the falls further up, my companion and driver JoJo, tells me, the Filipinos will find ways to enjoy themselves without it costing them.
He says, you have to be like this, the streams and gushing clear waters of the falls, are of course free, he tells me no P50.00 for this.
That is probably why i see over 50 or 60 Filipinos in the river, they are of course taking advantage of the fact that it doesnt cost anything to get in the river, also the river is clean, as the gushing waters come up through the mineral rocks in the river.
Gina also tells me, their is probably a celebration going on, someones birthday, or anniversary, or some event, so they decided to come up for the day, what amazes me, is that everyone tucks into the mountains of food they have brought, I see one man cooking barbecue pork, fish, and every kind of food.
We for the first time, have followed suit, my Gina started early in the morning, preparing food, rice, pork, snacks, coke, mountain dew, cups, ice, fruits, we take everything, towels, games, even ipod speakers and an ipod, she tells me, we can play our own music in the picnic area, we can play our own games, I said, leave it all behind honey, we dont need it, she knows different.
And it shows, when we get there, all of those things she thought of bringing, are needed, and even though we pay to get in the dipping pool and main pool, she tells me, you don't want to be eating at the food court, they dont have what we want, and you dont get much anyway.
Whereas she tells me, if we take our own food, we can eat as much as we want, and what we want.
She also tellls me, that Filipinos will eat, go and have fun, come back, eat again, then go off again to swim, come back, eat again, and then have snacks, and then she also says, the cost of pepsi and other drinks is twice as much when you buy it at the food court, whereas, you take your own, and its so much cheaper.
These calculations come from much of her life spent here in the Philippines, its a hard habit to shake, and actually a very good one, your Filipino wife will always teach you how to save money, although maybe sometimes some of us think they will spend it all, actually they dont.
Later we leave our driver and companion JoJo to watch our things, and we decided to take a trek up the mountain, I am told its not for the faint hearted, we feel its better to have a guide, and we meet Boboy, who agrees to escort us up the mountain, I am glad we did, the path up the steps of the hill can be treacherous, its slipping and I need his assistance on more than one occasion to negotiate several areas of the trek, plus when we have to cross a very high speed gushing river, his assistance is invaluable.
It takes a good 15-20 minutes to climb to stage 1 of our viewing, a beautiful view of cascading water falls, a perfect pic opportunity, then we are told to look up, and we see a wide variety of species of Bats, our guide tells us, there are 25 different species, of which only 4 of them are found in other parts of the world, he tells us they are unique to the Philippines, and seems quite proud of the fact.
Later, he takes us to see some more of his guide freinds, they have captured a live orange tarantula, of which they scooped it up in a plastic bottle, we take a look up close but decide to leave it at that, the guides tell us, it can kill instantly if stung by it, they say, its rare to be stung by one, but some of the guides in the mountain have been stung, and death was instantaneous, the sting attacks the nervous system, and shuts down the blood supply, I gulp in my throat and start looking around me quite nervously, our guide assures me no harm will come to us.
I ask about Cobras in the forest, our guide tells me they are around Sir, but not on the paths, its rare to see them, but sometimes they might sliver across the path on their way down the mountain, but its rare to see them, but just be careful as to what you step on, again I am nervous, but make a sort of nervous chuckle and we move on.
We pass several people going up, mostly Koreans I notice, who seem to be extra loud as they come up and down, I am told, the Philippines is becoming a major tourist destination for Koreans, who seem to flock to the Philippines in large numbers
30 minutes later we are the 2nd falls, my breath is taken away, it is spectacular, and my guide invites me to go in and swim, I am hesitant at first, as I am reluctant to swim in an area, that I cannot see the bottom, my guide tells me where to swim, and says, just feel your way in, its perfectly safe, and you will enjoy it.
I am still relucant, but the bravado in me seems to want to do it just for the thrill, I get in and find the stones under foot are quite easy to walk on, the guide says, the water is pefectly clean as it comes up through the mineral deposits and is cleaned, he says its also drinkable water, and tells me, that it gets bottled in local markets, and is a Grade 1 water supply.
That kind of makes me feel much better and I enjoy 15 minutes or so of cooling off in the lush white waters, the pounding of the water falls is deafening here, but its a sight I have not had in UK, and not had the chance of bathing in this type of water falls before, its my first time, and I feel quite privilidged.
The climb is taking its toll on me, I am out of breath, as it is getting quite steep now, someone has built some steps into the mountain side, but I declare my time is up, our guide quickly tells me to look up, a swarm of bats are hanging in the trees directly above us, I whince, as they are so close, but he tells me , they wont move, they are always there just hanging in the trees.
I feel like I am in the jungle, and lament on this fact, the guide laughs and says, well yes sir, you are....we all LOL
Eco tourism is fantastic to enjoy, its a side of the Philippines I rarely see, its been a great day, and there is yet much to do, from swimming in the leisure pools, walking along the hanging bridges in the trees, which again I am reluctant to do, but do it in the end for the experience, everything I do here is great, I enjoy every minute, and when the day ends, its getting slightly dark, we are still in the river sitting in the gushing waters, we have all eaten 3 or 4 times, had snacks, drink so much pepsi, with our own ice....that time has no meaning here.
What is it about time, no appointments to cover, no clock watching, time is endless here in the Philippines, and there is so much to do, what is it about having fun here, that makes you think your in another world.
My Gina tells me, Filipinos love to have fun, they like to enjoy life, you don't have to be rich to do this, and being in a large group certainly helps, they will crack jokes, make fun of people, but the fun making is innocent, no one takes offence really, she tells me, people are commenting about me, I ask what they have said, she says, oh its nice to see a foreigner smiling, I ask why is that so significant, oh she says, they just said, you are laughing and smiling, and they said, some foreigners are straight faced or maybe snobbish it seems to them.
Some children come up to me, and say hello, they want to feel my skin she tells me, the kids are really cute, and I talk to them, Filipino children are great to be around, they are polite, nice, and cute.
All the children here seem to be extra polite, they are a joy to talk to, in perfect english they told me to have a nice day, what is their secret I silently think, what is it that these people have that I dont have....
I cant work it out, I have yet to come up with an answer, like my guide Jo Jo, who acts as my driver my companion, always smiling, never complaining, just happy about life, but normally lives on about £2.00 a day.
These questions and many others still seem to occupy my mind, its around 5 pm, and its time to get ready to go, all the food is gone, the drinks gone, I go to throw the plastic bottles in the bin, JoJo, says no sir, I will take those, oh yes I forgot I tell myself stupid.....you should know JoJo will take them.
As we drive down the mountain road, a tricycle with about 7 guys on it, comes up the side of us, I have the window down, and they all put the thumbs up to me, I do the same, and wave out of the window, they shout hi Sir, did you enjoy the day, I said, yes I did, thank you Guid, they smile back, they are happy about something, I dont know what....maybe its the life here itself...
On the way back, my Gina asks me if I want to have something to eat, I said, oh my goodness, we ate so much at the resort..she tells me..that was hours ago, well i said, what shall we have, she said, I would want you to try Kikiam, its like a fish but cooked and then you dip it in sauce, like barbecue sauce or sweet and sour sauce, she asks me if I wanted to try it....I said, anything honey I will try.
She comes back 5 minutes later with 4 or 5 trays of squid balls, Kikiam, Fish balls, and says, try it all.
I said, is that our dinner, she says..noooooooooo its just a snack honey, dinner is later...I am LOL, as I thought it was for our dinner, she says, Filipinos will eat up to 6 meals a day, they start with breakfast, then snacks, then lunch, then snacks, then afternoon snacks, maybe something quick, like fish balls, then later more snacks, and midnight snacks, I am LOL, as I cannot imagine it, and then I said, but they look so thin, she is laughing, eat rice she tells me....and more rice.
I cannot imagine eating rice all day, at dinner she says, eat more rice, and tries to pass me another serving, I am floating on rice...and cannot take anymore.
Today was just one day in the my life.....I think it was the longest....tomorrow, is another day....oh..more snacks, more rice...
I wouldnt change it for the world. !!!!
