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Published: December 15th 2010
Let's try a post in English :o) After this first rocking week I found a truck with a carabao (water buffalo) that accepted an extra passenger, and drove me to Bontoc. Gate to Kalinga province, but a bit too late to catch a bus or a jeepney, so I decided to visit the local museum which turned out to be full of interesting informations about the local tribes. Talking with the sister in souvenir shop led her to propose me to overnight in a tribe hut located in the nearby courtyard...no need to mention she received an enthusiastic "yes !". On the morning after I'm heading to Tinglayen, modest village nested in the moutains of Kalinga province. I turf out randomly, and after a few minutes I happen to meet a local guide, Francis, who put forward his services to pay a visit to the mountain local tribes. I don't say no, and settle in a local guesthouse, enjoying the afternoon with a sunny walk along the Chico river banks.
On the next morning we start with an egg/rice breakfast, and then toploading the jeepney starts a 20 minutes ride to the not-so-nearby village. Now we're talking turkey, here starts
Tricycle
A local institution, up to 6 people can fitthe hike. After a little two hours we arrive in Buscalan, where lives the last hand-made tattooer in the Philippines, and likely in the world as well. Historically the tattoos had two roles : for women, on the arms (from the wrist to the shoulder) as an ornament and seduction asset (it was hard to hold my laugh when I heard the story of a poor ugly girl that didn't have any pretender and from the day she got tattooed half of the village guy bowed before her), and for men on the chest as a proof of their headhunting skills. Because yes, until recently if there happened to be a local conflict, people were taking their sharpest spears and hatchets and went in the forest for couple of days to solve it out ; unfortunately this sane and plain way to solve problems faded out ;-) I was really tempted to get one, but seeing this nailed stick shook my resolution...I still regret it to be honest. Then the day went on crossing rice fields, a bit of forest and back to Tinglayen.
The following two days were even more interesting, because the program had more or less
been the same, but we overnighted in Torgao, one of the village we went through. It means more time to get in touch with the natives, talking with them thanks to Francis (the Philippines official language, along with English, is Tagalog, but most of the people there don't speak it, hence the necessity to be with someone able to cope with the multiplicity of dialects), and enjoying the time. As an arrival present I bought an alive chicken, who was promptly turned into a proper meal (intestines in vinegar are a must). Then some singing, with and without guitar and nose flute (the latter I got as a present, despite due to the fact my nose doesn't exactly look like local ones I still have to train just to produce a sound, to their great joy). The next morning was dedicated to climbing down, with an unpredicted obstacle : the harvest ceremony. Held twice a year at a time the mountain ancients decide, the seeds to be planted are blessed, and strictly no one is allowed to enter, even the inhabitants that for a reason or another had to go out. We sneaked a little bit, discovering more of the
rainforest, and in the evening one old man I met two days before invited me for some traditional singing in his company, a delight =)
I took my decision : I'm going to extend my visa, I decidedly love this country. Teguegarao is the closest town supposed to have a Bureau of Immigration (BoI) to do that, let's try. This BoI moved recently, and no one in the town knows how to get here...I'll find another one, let's go to a place my Sagada guide told me about : Palaui island. Located at the very north of the Philippines, it seems pretty remote and calm, I want to give a try : so far I had nothing but mountains. Nice though, but still. At the time of my arrival the weather is not too bad, but not too good neither. After waiting for one hour I decide to take a bangka (nice small boat with two floaters) to go. Twenty minutes on the sea, my first since a while...arriving there it indeed seems veeery calm. The local Navy representative makes me sign the register, and starting talking we end up having dinner together, and he lends me his partner
couch. The next morning walk to Cape Engano with a guy I met the day before, two and a half hours barefoot in the mud, but a cockfight (light one, with boxing gloves) and a Spanish lighthouse made a good reward. Then between fresh coconut tasting, fresh fish grilling and fresh gin drinking...see you in the next post, whose I can't promise to be still in English ;-)
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elgitus
non-member comment
oufti
alors celle la de photo, elle dechire tout. Elle a une tiesse trop puissante. C'est éclatant comme on peux sentir cette mamy petante de vie et le cigare en coin de bouche, la cerise sur le gateau