Going back to Gabaldon felt nice. Ocular-wise, the soil wasn't hard anymore and there were more vegetation (or there were probably just more cogon grass). It seemed to be at a better condition for CAREFOR this year. The sad part though was that there was an area that caught fire. But it's recovering, thanks to the rainy season. Despite these, however, going back felt odd--but I can't seem to put my finger to why it's so. Was it the absence of the chikitings? The new arrangement of the houses? The wider river?


Besides the ocular that we had, we went there, as I said, for adventure. Seven river-crossings (14 in total back and forth) were done just so we could jump off from some 20-foot high rock (correct my estimates if I'm wrong though) and see more of Gabaldon's beauty. The place was really breathtakingly-pristine. I would go through those river-crossings all over again just so I could see it again. Next time though, I would want to camp out there, too, and wake up to that sight.


From Pinagkampuhan, we went back to where we camped out during last February's CAREFOR and had lunch. And saw. . . Live porn. Thing is, no matter how we tried to reason out why a guy's and his girlfriend's position was like so--the guy, sitting on a rock and was on the lookout, and the girl probably looking for pebbles in the water somewhere in between the guy's legs, we only got to one conclusion: No, they weren't having sex along the river. [inside joke: "mag-ilog nalang tayo" Ha ha ha]


But if these didn't seem like much of an adventure to you, I would love to expound on my river-crossing experience.


The river was a beauty--clean and clear water making its way through the valley in a ravaging speed. Of course the current wasn't like that the whole time. It could be likened to a white water rafting experience in CDO where the course wasn't entirely fast and rapid and there were still waters. But the "still waters' "current in Gabaldon was strong enough to actually pull you away from your stance in the water. And it did.


Hand-in-hand, the tres marias of LM/Batch 19 were slowly but surely getting dragged away by the current. It was because of the sand they were stepping on which made resisting the current all the more harder. We were denying the possibility of getting dragged into the rapids. So with laughter, I and Elle were seriously dragged into the current; Ces was luckily caught in time by our guide. With my head bobbing in and out of the water, I was wondering how far it was to the next rapids full of rocks. I was scared, but more importantly, I was excited.  Is it near? Will I die? Will I still find my slipper that got lost in the river? I used what I learned in my white water rafting experience in CDO: float like as if you were sitting--face the current but legs must go first. As soon as I saw a large rock, I took hold of it. But the current was strong enough and the side of the rock was too slippery that I slid and lost hold of it. Not wanting to wait until the rocky rapids arrived though, I counter-swam the current with whatever strength I had and as soon as I grabbed the rock again, I felt safe. The rock actually became a protection from the current. I went up the rock and saw Elle at a farther distance on the other side of the river being grabbed by one of our Dumagat guides. The other guide was pursuing me, as well, by letting himself be dragged by the rapids, too. Amazing naturals.

Like I said, LM never seem to run out of adventures.

So as our day ended, we talked about a lot of things like having to try everything and anything and having to make mistakes as early as possible. As our conversations continued, we ended up asking each other over a glass of weng-weng and beer, "Are you happy?" and looking back at the day, of course I was! It was probably a near-death experience; But now that it's done, we laugh at it. More importantly though, we drank to the gift and blessing of LIFE!

Labels: Gabaldon, life, LM, weanne