Cave Guides in Sagada, Mt. Pinatubo and COS
Trip Start
Mar 21, 2006
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39
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Trip End
Oct 05, 2008
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Tublay, Benguet,
Philippines
Tuesday, April 22, 2008
I few weeks ago, as I mentioned in my last entry, I took the cave guides I have been working with to Sagada. Sagada is known for their amazing caves and strong eco-tourism development. This exposure trip was a wonderful opportunity for my guides to continue to learn from the expertise of the Sagada Guides and experience caving, rock climbing and rappelling in a new community! Needless to say this last training with the guides was a huge success thanks to the amazing hospitality of the Sagada Guides and I don't think my guides will every forget their experiences there.
Last week prior to attending our Close of Service Conference some PCV friends and I headed to Mt. Pinatubo a few hours north of Manila in Zambales Province. Mt. Pinatubo who is home to the indigenous peoples the Aeta's. The mountain erupted in June 1991 and displaced thousands of people and rocks and ash flew to provinces all over the region. The eruption was the second largest eruption in the 20th century and while many people were able to evacuate the lahars and ash flows in the days following the eruption continued to kill people and our guide recalled that the entire area reaching as far as Metro Manila and Tarlac City were covered in ash and darkness for days following the eruption. The terrain and scenery leading to the mountain reminded me more of the Mojave Desert then a tropical zone. The entire area is still covered in ash and lahars; it is incredible that the remaining Aeta population in the area is still able to grow anything on such damaged soil. The eruption caused a beautiful crater lake to be formed and this is now the tourist destination. As you will see in my pictures all the mineral deposits released from the eruption have caused a brilliant crystal green/blue water. It almost looks fake but I promise I was really there!
Last week was an emotional, fun and in many ways surreal few days at our Close of Service Conference. The conference was held at a resort in Cavite Province just one hour from Metro Manila. Island Cove the name of the resort is where we spent our first week in the Philippines so returning to literally where it all began over two years ago brought back many memories. Most of the session during the conference were about reflecting on our past two years of service and life here and thinking about moving on from this incredible experience. One of my favorite activities was looking back on the aspiration statement we wrote during out application process to the Peace Corps nearly three years ago. It was incredible to see what a self-fulfilling prophecy my two years of service have been here. I wrote in my aspiration statement, that I wanted to find a second home in the Philippines, increase my hands on understanding of environmental sustainability and learn from others life experiences. I have done all these things and so much more over the past two years! The COS conference was indeed an emotional time reflecting on all the amazing relationships formed between PCVs and with Filipino's, the varying levels of preparedness fro moving on from here but most of all it was so wonderful to have three final days with my batch mates hanging out and enjoying each others company one last time in country.
I so vividly remember our second day in the country two years ago, walking across the street from Island Cove and playing basketball on a local court. Adorable little kids surrounded the court and returning there to play another game last week made me recall my first impressions of the scene. I remember thinking how happy but dirty all the kids seemed and how long it took me to get used to checking the ball on the side of the court, not the top. Now, two years later, returning to play on the same court, I took a moment and scanned the scene; the precious faces of the kids, the excitement that American's where coming to play let alone two women, and I realized that over these two years my initial perceptions have changed. While the court was still dirty and had trash everywhere and yes many of the kids are what may seem "dirty" I know that they are happy and have found scenes like this and so many more to be those little snapshots I will take with me when I leave this amazing country in a few months.
Hope this update finds you all well, sending all my love and peace!
Sherry
