Short hiking trip in Bulacan

My friends and I decided to go to Licao-Licao in Bulacan last weekend. This is our second trip there. We discovered the place last year. It was a short hiking trip that ended in a quaint waterfalls. Its not too far from the city. Maybe just an hour away from Tungko but it looks pretty remote. Very very few people, saw four houses in the entire village and they dont have electricity. I wonder what its like to live without electricity. What would be the use of TV? The water was clean and the falls was breathtaking. We had to go down the mountain and trek the river for about 20 minutes to get to the falls. We had fun swimming and taking silly pictures that you will see on our profile. It did rain however so we decided to go home earlier than what was planned. But nevertheless, we really did have fun. On our way back home it started to rain hard. We found a little hut that had a porch and we went there for cover.

The house had a caretaker and said we could come in and change clothes for 5 pesos each. So we paid and agreed to stay there for a while while waiting for the rain to stop. When the rain stopped we decided to just rest for a while until the sun goes down so we wont get torched. Then, a drunk man came and approached us. He talked to Jun. I didnt understand what they were talking about. But we all had the feeling that he was asking for money. The man was stinking drunk. I felt like throwing him off the cliff. I pictured it several times. We gave him our leftover chips to shut him up and off we went. The jeepney that goes back to Tungko was way too slow on our way home. It was like riding the chariot of Sto Nino on fiesta. We got home early. About three o clock. I said id just take a nap but when i woke up it was already 2AM. I went to bed at 4PM. And my legs hurt for two days. Even though it was only a short hiking trip. Im sure the others were pretty exhausted too.

The other pictures i've posted in this entry (i had longer hair dyed brown) was taken last year in the same mountain but it was a lot farther. 3 hour hike. I felt like i was in Lord of the Rings when Aragorn, Gimli and Legolas were looking for the dwarves. The scenery reminded me of that movie coz we were on top of a mountain surrounded by more mountains. It always surprises me to see that some of the mountains would have a lone house on it. Maybe its for the loggers. We went into a cave but for some weird reason we dont have pictures in the cave. Maybe b'Coz the hike to the cave was so difficult. There was no trail. We asked for help from a man who lived there and he made the trail on our way up with his bolo. There was a trail before but the forest reclaimed it. There were these giant ants from hell that i think takes a fraction of your skin when they bite. Seriously, it was so painful. We scream (including me) when they bite. Those were the largest ants I ever saw in my life. Forests are dangerous. Found sea shells there. Weird. The ocean is like four hours away. The cave was cool though. Its like going down a well. I think we scared the bats when we went in so they all fluttered out of the cave and one hit my face. It was rather scary especially for the girls. The local kids were playing with some small bright green snakes. They said it wasnt poisonous. But i wouldnt touch it even if it were not for the life of me. We visited one of the locals. Her name was Beth and shes got three kids. She invited us to stay for the night but there were too many of us to fit into her small hut so we politely declined. However poor she was she offered us food. We couldnt say no to that. It was the best sweetened cassava ive ever had! Free food tend to give me that feeling. Beth's family lives on growing fruits and vegetables which they bring down the mountain to sell in the market.

I saw some boys carrying wood. illegal loggers. Although it makes me sad to see that, i cant blame them. Wood is the quickest way to make money and theyre very very poor. No electricity! They have oil lamps. If we ever decide to go back i'd buy Beth a solar lamp. It's only about 700 pesos here. And clothes for her kids. Their clothes looked dirty. I dont think they use detergent. We slept there for a night in our tents and it was soooooooo cold. Like 9 or 10 degrees Celcius. Thats cold by Filipino standard. At least they dont need air conditioning. We left the following day. There was a little store there that sold rice, canned goods and vegetables. I was amazed to see that the man was selling Halo-halo! Its a Filipino dessert thats mostly ice with milk and lots of sweetened ingredients like bananas, beans, coconut, purple yam, leche flan etc. The big chunk of ice that they shave to make halo-halo came from the nearest market at the foot of the mountain. Three hour hike. They store it in a styro container filled with rice husks. That store also serve as a restaurant for hikers. You can ask them to cook rice and vegetables for you. Canned sardines is a staple in rural areas. So thats what they cooked for us. A soup of sardines with egg noodles poured on a bowl or rice. Simple food tastes great when you know theres no other choice.

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