Note: this trip was made at Christmas 1995. In the time since then I'm sure much has changed so it may not be a great idea to treat this as a guide. Treat it as a memoir, which - give or take some editing - is exactly what it is.About two hours before dawn I had had enough. My sleeping bag was reduced to little more than a soaking sponge and I decide that I would be better sitting in waterproofs in the remains of the dining room. I stood around waiting for first light and chatting with others who had made the same choice.
When dawn eventually came, creeping in slowly like thick honey spreading on a plate, the Mangyans began to prepare breakfast. Those few not engaged in this held an impromptu catapult contest firing rocks at a can suspended from a bush about twenty metres away. They were all pretty accurate, their chief Bina being the most accurate - hitting six times in seven shots and only missing the seventh by a whisker. A few of us had a go but once again our efforts were laughable by comparison.
Breakfast was what Alex had described as 'Mangyan Muesli'. It consisted of strips of banana and coconut boiled in coconut milk and served with plates of fried aubergine for the more adventurous palate.
Rather than carry down my sleeping bag which, now waterlogged, weighed about twelve pounds more than when I had carried it up, I gave it to the Mangyan chief as a gift and then changed into swimming trunks and a T-shirt and packed everything else into waterproof plastic bags in my rucksack.
When dawn eventually came, creeping in slowly like thick honey spreading on a plate, the Mangyans began to prepare breakfast. Those few not engaged in this held an impromptu catapult contest firing rocks at a can suspended from a bush about twenty metres away. They were all pretty accurate, their chief Bina being the most accurate - hitting six times in seven shots and only missing the seventh by a whisker. A few of us had a go but once again our efforts were laughable by comparison.
Breakfast was what Alex had described as 'Mangyan Muesli'. It consisted of strips of banana and coconut boiled in coconut milk and served with plates of fried aubergine for the more adventurous palate.
Rather than carry down my sleeping bag which, now waterlogged, weighed about twelve pounds more than when I had carried it up, I gave it to the Mangyan chief as a gift and then changed into swimming trunks and a T-shirt and packed everything else into waterproof plastic bags in my rucksack.
The initial part of our trip retraced yesterday's steps. Now however, after seventeen more hours of torrential rain the river crossing was so much worse than before. The water had gone from a mere raging torrent to something much worse. Eventually we made what was promised to be our last crossing and stopped for a break. The Mangyans scampered up the rocks at the side of the water and gave an impromptu diving exhibition before we set off again.
Now the character of the walk had changed and took us alongside muddy rice paddies and once up a steep and slippery mud slope which could be climbed only with the aid of a rope. Descending the more gentle slope on the other side brought us into a meadow from which an easy and flat half an hour saw us on the beach which we then followed to return to our original starting point. Here we had a rather unpalatable lunch of fish head soup before we went back to Encenada by bangka and Jeepney and a replay of two days ago with a little swimming, a little relaxing and a buffet supper.
Now the character of the walk had changed and took us alongside muddy rice paddies and once up a steep and slippery mud slope which could be climbed only with the aid of a rope. Descending the more gentle slope on the other side brought us into a meadow from which an easy and flat half an hour saw us on the beach which we then followed to return to our original starting point. Here we had a rather unpalatable lunch of fish head soup before we went back to Encenada by bangka and Jeepney and a replay of two days ago with a little swimming, a little relaxing and a buffet supper.
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