East Coast to West Coast

Pumunta kami sa hiking trail galing sa Barangay Irawan hanggang doon sa Barangay Simpocan noong  nakaraang  dalawang linggo. Ang hiking trail ay maganda pero napakahirap. Meron akong isang kasama na si RPCV Rich at saka siyam na pinoy. That enough tagalog for today…

Recently got back from a wonderful hiking trip from Barangay Irawan on the east coast of Palawan to Barangay Simpocan on the west coast of Palawan. It was a trip with only one other Resource PCV (RPCV) Rich and 9 local pinoys. I was thankful that I have been actually trying to use and expand my tagalog speaking skills and it was a great time to polish them further. It quickly became apparent that they were very surprised at my progress so far. A sudden slip or fall was quickly followed by a “Ay Naku!” (Oh my gosh) that brought hysterical laughter. I said the “ay naku” so quickly and without thought that I am a little worried when I return to the United States and accidentally say it in front a group of confused Americans. I think this will happen a lot…

In most parts, looking forward through the “trail” that we followed was like looking down an abandoned, debris strewn tunnel with thick thick jungle on both sides. It was amusing to follow our pinoy friends through this trail as they cleared it with their bolos (machetes) but only at about their height which is quite a few inches below my own height. Not only did I often run into branches and have to generally hike in a ducked position but I often ran into spider webs, which as every hiker knows is the job of the person on point! It did bring about thoughts of home, however, when winter hiking through the White Mountains where so much snow had fallen that you were hiking several feet above ground, amongst uncut tree limbs.

The entire hike itself was difficult and was probably as steep as the Bee Hive Hike in Bar Harbor, ME that Krystal, Drew, Dory and I hiked but without the cool steel rebar bridges and hand holds (also without the really cool couple that we went hiking with J) We may have to add some form of hands like those in certain parts to increase safety.

Below I have posted several picture and a video of the alimatic (leeches) (or i will post when i find it) that we encountered in abundance on the trail. The first ones that we saw gave everyone quite a shock, and by everyone I mean every white guy on the trail, but after the next five or so they were no big deal, they did very little harm. There are also pictures of the “Mother Tree” near Simpocan. (It requires ten people stretching their arms in order to circle it) Also please notice that each pinoy is only wearing tsinelas (flip flops) and their falls were a rare site indeed but invoked the same amount of laughter and comment as our falls.