A Different Adventure

May 24-25, 2008 - Brgy. Bueno, Capas, Tarlac

Usually, when I cross rivers and trek on mountains, it is to experience nature and witness a beautiful summit.

Last weekend, was a different kind of adventure and this time around, we did not come for anything else but the people who dwell within the mountains that most of us love to explore.

We came to bring hope for the children who are unable to afford basic necessities for their schooling.

Again, thanks to Mountain Lemmings for allowing me to join in their activity. As usual, the experience was adventure-filled, enlightening, fun and fulfilling. It is also a great reminder that one can never be too poor to share or make a positive difference in this country of ours.

It was again an unforgettable affair and just like in any football game, below are the highlights:

Elf truck ride going to the venue – it was a ride to remember because of two things 1. it was my first time to ride at the back of an elf truck while breezing through a wide road. 2. It rained which drenched most of us

The Adventure begins..dark clouds hovering, cold wind caressing our beat up bodies from the two hour jam-packed travel from Manila with lotsa boxes carrying school supplies.

And finally it rained, serving as a wet and wild welcome in the upcoming activity

But the views are too beautiful to pass up and stay under the protective, warm shield of our ground sheets...

Finally, we arrived at the beginning of another adventure...river crossing just the way locals do it..our backpacks and the supplies, were loaded into a tractor and a carabao (with the rest of our other companions).

pic from Ley

It's game time!

Rhone coordinating with the locals (pic from Ley)

Lloyd doing his thing, one of the magicians who participated in the activity

The final activity - Film Showing

This is the basketball court fronting the barangay hall where we stayed for the night.

These are the cute but smelly pigs near where we do our rest room break....Ate, pasensya na ngayon lang ako nakadalaw...

DAY TWO : Selfish time

Trek to the Hot Spring. It was a famed destination in the area. From the barangay hall where we stayed, we trekked for around 30 minutes through the mountains. It was a very easy trek, quite different from what we regularly do wherein we have kilos of loads on our back.

Our stop : The Hot Spring - this is famous in the area because the water in the spring is supposedly miraculous and should be treated with respect. Unfortunately, we were not allowed to dip our whole bodies in it. It was too hot anyway! Water is boiling and it looked just like a big jacuzzi. We were only able to wash our foot and body which were filled with mud because we had to pass by some plantation fields.

After the light trek, we rested until the master chefs were done with the cooking...

The Budle fight (I'm not sure with the spelling)...I only ate for around 5 minutes... just kept shoving food to my mouth...hehehe..we ate fried bangus, noodles...it was so yummy! Rhone cooked this dish out of a banana part ...it was also very good.

pic care of Ley

It's nice to be able to go back home.... I love the outdoors and exploring rural communities but I don't think I'll be able to last long in that kind of environment - 3 days is fine. It's too quiet...hehehe.at some point, I got so bored I ended up doing all the dishes at the nearby water pump - morning to evening - even while it was raining and while the sun was beating on my back.