Hike for Light - Mt. Pulag

Hike for light number 4, Mt. Pulag, had by far the largest group of hikers.  Our team included over 60 people, 2 or 3 times the number of climbers participating in previous hikes.  Mt. Pulag is closer to Manila than any other peak, and is the least strenuous of the 6 climbs.  Our transportation from Manila to the town of Baguio was a chartered overnight bus ride courtesy of Victory Liner.  After a frigid bus ride (there is a tendency to over air condition in the Philippines), we arrived in Baguio at about 5:30am Friday morning.  The majority of our group met up at the bus station, then headed to the ranger station at the foot of Mt. Pulag in a caravan of 4 Jeepneys (bumpiest road ever).

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:

http://www.virtualphilippines.net/Panoramas/H4L/Pulag/H4L_Camp_Stars.html

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:

http://www.virtualphilippines.net/Panoramas/H4L/Pulag/H4L_Pulag_Summit.html

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

Hike for Light - Mt. Madja-as

The Mt. Madja-as Itinerary, from my end, was a bit crazy to begin with.  I had booked a flight the US months ago, leaving at 8:00am on Monday Dec. 19th.  The Madja-as hike, longer than the previous two, was scheduled to take place from Thursday to Sunday, with flights back to Manila on Monday morning.  This clearly wasn't going to work for me.  I talked it over with Fred Jamili, the climb leader, and Bambi the coordinator, and we worked out an alternative plan.  Fred and I would rush down from the summit on Sunday, and if we were moving at a fast enough pace, we might just make it back to Kalibo for the last flight of the day, 7:45pm, to Manila.  Fred believed this was manageable if the weather was good.  Famous last words…  

 

Our turnover ceremony with local government was in the town of Culasi, with speakers and chairs set up on the basketball court in the middle of town.  We were 32 climbers in all, including Bambi and I from the Foundation, Fred, Leo, and Janet from Team Everest, and a large group of climbers from Iloilo. Our hosts had prepared lunch for us, Chicken Adobo, and thanked us profusely for choosing the Mt. Madja-as community to donate solar lanterns.  The first man to speak was from the city council, and apologized that the basketball court was the only location they had available for a group our size. However, this was actually one of the warmest receptions we have had, and the court was a perfect gathering place. 

Chinie and Hybrid Social Solutions General Manager Jojo Mansala flew down for the turnover ceremony.  Both spoke at the event, with Chinie explaining the mission of the solar energy foundation, and Jojo giving an introduction to the solar lantern itself.

After the event, Jojo and Chinie headed back to manila, and we got ready for the hike.  We were informed at this time that hurricane Sendong was traveling across the northern tip of Mindanao, moving our direction.   It was unclear at this point if it would hit us, and it was still about 1000 kilometers away.  Just as we began discussing this possibility, as if on cue, rain began to fall heavily.

Our first stop was the town of Flores, a 20 minute drive and 2 hour hike from the town center.  The drive turned out to be in the back of a pickup truck, no cover.  It poured rain the entire drive, so we were all soaked from the moment we hit the trail head. The hike was over a steep muddy road that wound its way into the foothills of the mountain.  Our hosts in the town of flores had hot coffee waiting for us upon arrival, and we were able to change out of our wet clothes indoors.  Our accommodations were on the floor of a local school.  There were about 15 little kids living in the village, all super cute, who peered in the door of the school at us pretty much from the moment we arrived until we turned out the lights.   They were fascinated by all of our antics, and even sang some Christmas carols for us while we cooked dinner.

That night we got another report that the typhoon had moved closer to us, and was still on course to hit us some time in the next couple of days.  Fred, the hike leader, definitely gave it to us straight.  He has climbed Mt. Madja-as 5 times, and told us that it is miserable and potentially dangerous in rainy conditions.  The trail is quite steep, and there is the potential for flash floods.  Fred wanted to wait for the update in the morning before deciding if we would push on. 

When we awoke Friday morning the skies were cloudy but it wasn’t raining.  The weather report was still inconclusive, so we headed out early for the first camp.  This was another absolutely beautiful hike, the first few hours or so were along a steep muddy trail through rice paddies, that eventually led into the jungle.  Mid morning we got another inconclusive weather report, and continued heading up the mountain.  The hike into the first camp goes down a very steep trail  into a river valley.  The campsite is on the edge of the river, which is the last water source on the way to the summit.  It rained progressively harder throughout the hike, and by the time we reached camp it was pouring.   We had started at around 7am that morning, anticipating a 6-7 hour hike.   A group of us, knowing that I had to be back at the airport by Sunday evening, were trying to move quickly, in case it was possible for one group to get up really early the next morning and make a summit attempt.  That first day we made great time, and actually arrived at the campsite just after 11am.  However, we couldn’t keep moving without knowing the group plan, so we set up our tents and waited for the rest of the group to arrive. 

All hikers had reached camp by about 1pm, and we pretty much huddled under a tarp for the rest of the day, just chatting, playing cards, boiling coffee, and cooking food.  That night the reports became a bit more conclusive.  All accounts had the typhoon hitting us directly the following morning, right when we would be headed up the steepest part of the climb.  Our sponsors back in Manila were worried, and we got reports of evacuations in a nearby town due to flooding.  Given all of this, Fred told us we would head back to base in the morning.  We were all pretty bummed, but after hiking through the rain all morning there was a bit of relief in the back of our minds along with the disappointment. 

From the time it started raining on Friday it didn’t stop until we were back in town.  It rained all day, all night, and throughout the next day’s hike down the mountain.  We managed to stay relatively dry inside the tent Friday night, but another full day in the rain and we would have been in bad shape Saturday night.  It’s very tough to keep things dry when it rains while you set up and break down the tent.  The hike down was, as Fred had warned us, miserable.  We were basically hiking down through a small, cascading stream.  There are much fewer tree roots to gain footing on this hike, and there were about 5 extra river crossings that hadn’t been there on the way up.  We were trekking through ankle deep water and sliding down mud banks for the majority of it. 

Near the bottom, we passed by a father and son hiking up the trail barefoot, as is common in mountain communities in the Philippines.  Fred chatted with them briefly, and found out that the local village captain just delivered a handful of the solar lanterns we turned over on Thursday.  We would be passing nearby their home on the way down, and offered to stop by and give them a short lantern tutorial.  Their village was tiny, 3-4 huts nestled into the side of the mountain, about an hour hike, over steep muddy terrain, from the nearest electrified area.  Their main source of light after dark was tree sap.  They told us that burning the sap produced a ton of smoke, and dripping sap frequently led to accidental burns for their children.

Bambi went through the recommended usage of our lanterns as we sat on the floor of their hut, and they seemed very eager to put them to use.  The light was much brighter than what their sap lanterns provided, and they got very excited about the ability to charge their cell phones.  Bambi asked them for a cell phone to demo the charging capability, and sure enough the one presented was out of battery.  After a few minutes connected to the unit the phone came to life and the owner’s eyes lit up.  Fred would chime in occasionally with a joke or anecdote, and the whole event was very cheerful.  I couldn’t understand much of the dialogue, but could tell that these families were grateful for the lanterns, and would make use of them on a daily basis. 

Unlike the other turnover ceremonies, on this day we got to actually sit in the homes of our customers.  We had the chance to speak with them face to face, and could see that these lights would make a real difference in their lives.  At one point they asked Bambi what we wanted in return for the solar lamps.  She said nothing, but asked them to send us some photos on their cell phones over the holidays.   

Once back down the mountain, the same truck that delivered us to the trail head took us to the city municipal hall where we would spend the night.  We hung all of our gear out to dry, got some food, and just relaxed for the rest of the evening.  We got some snacks from the local sari sari store, a few bottles of Red Horse, and just hung out listening to music and chatting.  I also got a chance to try Balut for the first time.  Google it if you don’t know what it is – my “I’d try it if someone presented it to me” comment from a previous hike definitely came back to haunt me.

The next day was very relaxed – we woke up and had a quick breakfast, then headed off to the airport.  We got there very early for our flight and had about 5 hours to kill.  I spent most of the afternoon hanging out with Fred, Leo and Bambi, chatting about the early days of Kaya Ng Pinoy and how the Everest expedition came together.  Our flight left on time (there was a bit of worry given the typhoon), and I caught my flight back to Seattle the next morning.