Philippine Trip – Episode 3

We got very little sleep that night. I think I sat up half of the time. I did my best to elevate my right leg on a bag which helped a bit to reduce the swelling. It seemed that morning would never come. Throughout the night I kept turning from my back to my side on the hard wooden planks—a bit uncomfortable.

But the love, friendliness and hospitality of these dear Filipinos far out weighed the physical discomfort. The food they prepared was scrumptious--Filipino tantalizing dishes that I haven’t eaten since leaving the Philippines in 1975. The bananas and mango's were beyond description.

These delightful mountain people were looking forward to leading our group down the mountain to a small crystal clear waterfall that emptied into a swimming area. So after breakfast, they gathered everyone together for this adventure. Everyone was excited with the exception of me.

I knew it would be impossible for me to climb down this steep mountain and then climb back up—a three hour round trip. So I graciously tried to bow out. But they had already eagerly planned ahead. Shortly, a horse arrived with a homemade saddle prepared for me, whom they referred to as lolo (lolo is grandpa in their language) At first I thought it would be a fun experience even though I can hardly remember ever riding a horse.

As the horse was going down this step mountain and attempting to maintain its footage on slippery rocks, I felt at times I was going to fall off. They kept saying, “Lean backwards!” “You’re leaning to the left; straighten up!” It seemed like I was constantly being corrected. To make matters worse, Norman, my son, was taking pictures of my struggle. He thought it was so funny. Apparently, there’s something in my personality that causes people to take advantage of me. Just kidding…or am I? ha, ha. Frankly, I enjoy being made fun of.

The entire group really enjoyed swimming, going down the waterfall, jumping off the boulders protruding out of the cliff on the right side of the swimming area. After an hour or two, we proceeded back up the mountain. This time it was, “Lean forward, you’re going to fall off backwards!” “You’re leaning to the left, straighten up” and on and on.
When I finally got off the horse, I was bruised between my legs. In fact, I was a bit black and blue.

To be continued…