Encounters with an Oracle

When my girlfriend had to go Singapore for work reasons, I found myself going alone on a long planned trip with a big group that I only met for the first time. I was expecting to be isolated and uncomfortable with the group since I know no one of them.

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“Taga saan ang mga Ibanag?”

“Dito sa may Cagayan area.”

“Taga-saan yun mga may buntot?”

Not sure I heard it right, I go, “Alin, yung mga taga-Bontoc? Sa may Mountain Province naman yun.”

He was persistent, wide-eyed and apparently serious, “Hindi, taga saan dito yun mga may buntot?”

“Ahh.. Uh, yung may buntot sa harap pag lalake? Haha. Kilala nga yata sila dito na malalaki.. Haha”. I tried to look polite.

Sheesh. There is no faster way to lose interest in a conversation than this. I am talking to an ignorant bigot here. That is the thing about talking to someone you know nothing about, you can get surprised real bad.

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In Kalinga, our destination, we were waiting for the rest of our group when 6 guys stepped down the bus to join us. I notice that they were all men, glamorously lady-like men. Our guide, the outfit operator comes to us and says, “Their major concern is if they will be accepted here. Let us accept them.”

Apparently, where they last vacationed, some locals where not too happy with their group and have jeered/shooed away/threw stones at them. Hmmm.

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I got to know some of the people from my group during the trip. One of them was a self-proclaimed oracle. His friends say that 9 out of every 10 predictions that he says come true. We decided that on that night, we would get him drunk and ask for his predictions. Little did we know that his predictions would make one guy in our group cry, one couple to start fighting right there and most of us agreeing that his guesses on us were quite accurate and promised to keep tab if his prophesy would indeed reveal themselves in the near future.

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We were drinking that night and were quite smashed when one of the girls I found quite pretty and sexy stood up, hushed us and offered a toss: “To great life, great sex and great love.”

Two other girls concurred: “To great sex, to great sex and to great sex.”

Hehe.. I perspired a bit. This is getting interesting. And hopeful that this would end in one of those unforgettable and totally unexpected endings you would keep telling your friends about and maybe even write about :>

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The self-proclaimed oracle began. He described one of our group as “si Masarap”. And he goes, “Yang dalawang yan (him and his girlfriend), lugi yung babae. Pinakikisamahan lang sya nung lalake. Pag nakakita ng iba yan...”

Whereas, just a few minutes ago, the girl was talking about floral arrangements for their wedding. “Kung matuloy kami.” Cooed the girl. While the guy just smiled. But said nothing.

When we were really drunk, one friend of the guy said that the gay oracle was quite accurate. Score one for his predictions. Note that we didn’t know each other and were just drinking in one big group because we had to while away the night for the trip the next day.

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He described one couple as nearing break-up. The girl and the guy both drunkenly professed their protestations and insisted they were solid. And while they were both doing so, they got into a disagreement and remarkably, began quite a fight that ended with them excusing themselves from the group so they can talk privately.

Quite dramatic. Score two for his predictions.

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And so it went… As for me, the oracle foretold that I was quite secure and happy and would get married soon. Pleased to hear that; and please to be blissfully drunk.

on rafting, kayaking and boredom..

The work was kind of getting boring. I would wake up listlessly in the morning. I would go to the office and go through the motions of work. The overtime would come, and I would go home late.

The work is starting to appear less and less interesting. I am starting to stop caring about the work. The energy is starting to bottom out.

When I found myself asking a doctor friend for ecstasy so I can enjoy the parties better, I was like, shit, has it become this bad?

You see, the company I am starting to lose interest in is the one I started. I shouldn’t be losing interest in something I started. I shouldn’t stop caring in something I know I really care about.

Baka naman tipong lo-bat lang to. Maybe, mag-recharge lang ng battery, ayos na.

It was in this frame of mind that when some friends decided to go rafting in the Chico River in Kalinga, I jumped at the chance to join them.

We took the Victory bus in Kamias to Tugegarao, Cagayan. Our host there would be Anton; he owns a rafting outfit that got featured in some of the local travel/tv shows.

First day activities included exploring the Callao caves. We got ourselves all muddy, crawled in between tight rocks, climbed up a steep rock formation using ropes with knots that can be grabbed to pull yourself up, climbed down a sturdy tree using ropes tied around your waist and butt, and for lunch, had some inihaw sa tabi nung river. It was fun and I was loving it.

After lunch, came the formal instructions on the basics of kayaking. We were paddling like crazy as Anton showed the various techniques of paddling, navigation and such. And nuggets of information like, “The bottom of the river is not your friend. Do not fall.” We then spent some 4-5 hours kayaking in the Pinakanawan River. Anton says it is a government-protected site and it seems the Cagayan government did a good job protecting as the water was crystal clear and the riverbanks were unspoiled.

By nightfall, we drank beer and dried ourselves in the riverbanks while waiting for our ride home. Ang galing. Nakaka-relax.

We started the second day with a 3-hour jeepney ride to Kalinga for the Chico River. This river is quite a character in itself – it was the heart of the protest movement against Marcos at its heydays. This is where Macliing Dulag came from (he is supposed to be the first hero martyrred for environmental reasons, not political). Not only that, the Chico River is very beautiful, virginal even.

Chico River is perfect for white water rafting. You could see the white foams created by the water slamming violently all over the river. Anton says it makes for good world-class rafting.

There were about five teams who started, one team per raft. It was not yet one hour after starting that one team over-turned. And then another. Pretty soon, every one of us has rolled-over. And it was fun! As Anton says, you do not fully enjoy rafting unless you have capsized.

It was also difficult. There are points where we had to bring our rafts to the riverbanks and go survey the river downstream before going at it. There was one point, called the Washing Machine, where we bumped into a huge rock, capsized and got caught in a mini-whirlpool.

No one was seriously injured in all these. All got thrown overboard. Most got scrapes and bumps. Most drank some of the river water. A couple of flip-flops were washed away. A sunglass fell or “donated to the river” as the guide would say. But everyone was okay. Everyone liked it and everyone wanted to go back and do it again. Everyone had his own rafting story to tell.

As they say, in midst of rafting do we truly feel alive.

And alive I was. This is what I needed. Fully re-charged na nga pagbalik ng Maynila. I have no doubt pagbalik ko work sa Monday, the energy, the interest and the creative juices will be back as they used to be.

... on Jack's Rice

Restaurants along the Halsema Highway have this thing about "Rice". For instance, Morning Star Restaurant, one of the more famous dining stops in this rugged and lonely roadway, would serve a special dish called Morning Star Rice. Jack's Restaurant would serve Jack's Rice. And being unfamiliar with these eateries, a traveler is advised to go for these "Rice" meals. Most often, it is their most impressive dish.

Halsema Highway is arguably the Vegetable Highway of the Philippines. It originates from La Trinidad, Benguet and goes all the way to the Bontoc area. And it winds through kilometers of vegetable gardens through most of it. Those cabbages, beans, tomatoes, carrots, potatoes in your refrigerator most probably passed through these roads. Most of the traffic here would consist of jeeps, elfs, pickups and trucks filled with vegetables. Carved in the sides of mountains, Halsema is a narrow road with significant sections that are only one lane - often with a vertical drop inches away from the wheels of the passing vehicle. It winds through most of Benguet and Mountain Province, passing through villages with a handfull of houses, rural communitites and the occasional settlement with just one or two houses.

I think that the Halsema Highway is one of the last unexplored frontiers in the Philippines. Unlike Sagada that is at one of its nodes, tourists do not intentionally visit the Halsema Highway. Thus it is unsullied by these tourists, letting it maintain all its gentle roughness and geniune charm. This is a place where the locals listen to folk and country music - most wouldn't know who Britney Spears is but would recognize such country music stars as Alan Jackson or Garth Brooks. This is a place where leather jacket and cowboy boots (with spurs) is high fashion and is the definition of formal attire. This is a place where to partake in an 'inuman' session would mean drinking Ginebra San Miguel with water as chaser - I once asked for San Mig Lite only to be laughed at, "Walang ganyan dito." When a newcomer arrived for a drink, and was informed that I asked for San Mig Lite, there was much dirisive, albiet good-natured laughter.

This is the place where a kilo of cabbages could sell for PHP2.50; sayote are routinely fed to the pigs; and when a road slide closes the highway and prevents the gardeners from transporting their goods, you can see sacks of carrots, tomatoes, potatoes being given away to anyone who would like them because the only other option is to just to let them rot besides the road. This is also the place where pears, persimmons, peaches, strawberries, mulberries and blackberries are common everyday fruits. And a place where gardeners often complain that their vegetables are destroyed by frost, hailstones and below-10-degree-celcius temperatures.

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Anyway, I always wanted a blog of my own and after several false starts, I hope to keep this one going... :)