Upon arrival we set up camp and prepared for the turnover
ceremony. This included speeches from
Jim Ayala, chair of the Solar Energy Foundation and Founder of Hybrid, Art
Valdez, the leader of Kaya Ng Pinoy, Ben Muni from the Baguio mountaineers
club, and elders from the local community.
After a discussion of our mission and a lantern tutorial, the event
began winding down.
Link to 360 panoramic photo of group at the turnover:
http://www.virtualphilippines.net/Panoramas/H4L/Pulag/H4L_Ranger_Group.html
It was at this point that a couple of gentlemen led a wild
pig down the road into the center of the ceremony. It quickly became apparent that there would
be a pig sacrifice taking place in the near future, which had not been on the
itinerary.
WARNING - Vegetarians, or others not interested in pig sacrifice, should quickly scroll to the bottom, then scroll back up to “back to the
hike” section. In
particular avoid the video below, which is not for the faint of heart.
Three men simultaneously seized the pig and tied his legs
and neck, holding him down so he couldn’t move.
However, he could shriek for his life, and he did right up to the
end. Extremely loud, ear piecing squeals
continued throughout the ritual dancing and music playing which continued for
about half an hour. Got to see many of
my colleagues from the Solar Energy Foundation dance around in circles to the
beat of metal drums during this, but had trouble fully enjoying that. After all of the formalities, a man came out
with a long wooden stake and stabbed the pig repeatedly in the heart, just
behind the right front leg.
This was difficult to watch. Probably the worst part was that the pig knew he
was going to die for quite a while before it actually happened. It also took a full minute of stabbing before
he finally gave his last struggle and lay still.
A number of our group members decided to move into a nearby building in order to not
watch the sacrifice, but I’m sure they heard the screams. Our photographer had tears in his eyes. I realize I am a giant hypocrite for being
bothered by this. I have eaten way too
many pigs in my lifetime to have trouble watching a pig die. But he was such a cute little pig! I kept having Charlotte’s Web flashbacks, and
trying to think of ways to help him escape.
Once deceased, the pig was carried off and briefly roasted
on a fire. Our hosts then carried him
back out and methodically carved him up with a machete. When they served us the meat, I felt like I
should eat some. He had been killed for
our benefit, and I watched him die. I
figured the least I could do was enjoy the meat. Not gonna lie, he was tasty.
BACK TO THE HIKE
The next morning we hiked up to camp 2 where we would spend
the night. Another beautiful hike, but
extremely short. All groups reached the
camp within a couple hours, and had another day to just chill at the
campsite. Unfortunately it rained most
of the day, particularly while setting up our tents. It was very cloudy and quite cold, which
killed just about everyone’s motivation to do anything for the rest of the day
other than sit in the tent and cook warm food.
Throughout the day about 200 additional hikers came through and camped
in the site directly above us.
After an exhausting night’s sleep (for some reason we
decided to set our tent up on the bumpiest incline this side of the
Mississippi) I was relieved when 3:30am rolled around. I climbed out of the tent, pulled on my wet
socks and pants from the day before, looked up, and realized the sky was
completely clear. This was GREAT news for
the sunrise we hoped to witness from the summit.
Link to 360 panoramic photo of stars in the campsite:
We headed off for the summit at around 4:15am, only to find
we were stuck in the middle of 300+ hikers making their way to the summit. I did a quick calculation in my head, and
decided a lot of these hikers weren’t going to make it to the summit before
sunrise. Determined not to be one of
them, I elected to be that jerk excusing himself and passing people whenever the
trail width allowed. Eventually I
managed to pass everyone and found I was all alone. I stopped hiking for a minute, turned off my
headlight, and just stood in complete silence, enjoying the stars, moonlit
hills, and sweet smell in the air. The
majority of the 2 hour hike to the summit I was completely alone.
I began to notice a bright light on top of the summit as I
drew nearer, that I reasoned must have been a light tower...seems pretty
foolish in hindsight. Hey Danny, the
point of being here is that there is no electricity, how the heck would there
be a light tower on top of the mountain?
What can I say, it was early. As
I approached the summit I saw the light was moving, and realized it was a
fellow hiker, a representative from one of our sponsors – none other than
Century Tuna.
At the summit, an amazing amount of stars lit up the night
sky. Both dippers, the southern cross,
my old friend Orion, and countless constellations I can’t identify twinkled
like a van Gogh painting. A long line of
hikers below, headlamps shining, continued making their way to the summit as if
on a pilgrimage to some faraway holy land.
At around 6:30am, a dim light began to emerge in the
east. What ensued was the greatest sunrise I have ever witnessed. As the sun
rose the dark sky faded into a deep purple, and eventually a thin strip of blue
appeared. The bright yellow sun soon
rose, creating a strip of orange just above the horizon and illuminating a sea
of clouds stretching infinitely into the distance. We began to feel the sun’s warmth, melting
the cold that had gripped us since getting out of our sleeping bags 3 hours
earlier.
Link to 360 panoramic photo of SEF group at the Summit:
The Hike down over grassy hills just continued to get more
beautiful. Each mound, lit on one side
and shady on the other, cast shadows on the slopes above and to the west. Green mountains rose and fell in the distance as
far as the eye could see.
Highest bathroom in the Philippines:
Post-hike feast in Baguio, just prior to overnight bus back to Manila. Great group of folks here:
Facebook album located here:
http://www.facebook.com/media/albums/?id=14502359
That was pretty brutal. There has to be a more efficient death blow than that wooden stake. Glad you enjoyed the organic bacon.
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