Bayugin is not just a waterfall

Bayugin Vicinity, 28 May 2014

A local guide and a guest on their way to Bayugin Falls.

Lapinig, one of the hardest woods there is and a critically endangered species still stands proudly in Bayugin.

The waters of Bayugin is so fresh and clean, you can drink straight from it.

Two days ago I took the above photo of my guest with a local guide trekking the heart of a tropical mountain forest while I was trailing slowly at a distance for some flora shoots.  The rushing waters of Bayugin Falls can be heard clearly while walking on this  mountain trail adding a dash of excitement to the short trek.

I was just expecting a medium-sized waterfall since I have already seen a lot of photos of  Bayugin Falls from several web sites promoting Bulusan tourism and travel. But Bayugin to my surprise  is more than that.  Bayugin is a visual treat — enchanting and magical.  Pitch perfect for a fairy land scenery complete with a tropical forest picnic grove, crystal clear natural pool endlessly flowing to the lower slopes of the forested Bayugin Falls’ vicinity.

The center piece of course is Bayugin Falls that fills the air and the dense greenery with the sound of a rushing stream flowing happily.

Bayugin Falls is the centerpiece of  this tropical forest picnic grove.

The picnic grove is a scene straight from fairy land.

According to Abraham Tan, the chief researcher of the Bulusan Historical Society, the name Bayugin originated from the word Bayog, a species of bamboo growing in Kapangihan (San Francisco) the village where Bayugin is a ‘sitio.’

Local boys enjoying their daily summer plunge in Bayugin River

Local children were enjoying immensely the cool waters of Bayugin River just beside the waterfall  the short minutes that we were there.  The boys dive, plunge and swim in the freshest and cleanest of inland body of water I have ever seen in Bulusan as we snapped the beauty around us.

I was mesmerized.

Note: The mountain village of San Francisco (also called Kapangihan in Bulusan) can be reached via tricycle from the Poblacion of Bulusan. Tricycle fare costs 15 pesos one way.

Photos: Alma Gamil

Bulusan, Sorsogon, Philippines

Now blooming part 2

Flowers at the church’s patio (1)

Yellow cosmos along the pathway to the grotto.

The beauty is in the details for this native rose.

Punta Diamante main grounds with flowering trees just in time for the Lenten season.

Roses for Our Lady at the grotto.

The most intense and subtle yellow with black as highlight is a wonder.

Simply called kanda by locals. These flowering trees bloom the most during the months of Aprl and May.

Demure beauty.

Crawling ornamental plants at the old fortress.

View at the ground of the patio.

Sky view at the patio.

After my visit to the grotto to make a ‘pailaw’ (light offering), said my prayers and whispered my wish for  a very special day, I took photos of the ‘masitas’ (ornamental plants) inside the church’s patio.

From the ground and up towards the tree branches, the flowers were all vying for my attention. Gazing at the flowers I somehow felt that my prayers are already answered.

What a beautiful day to live!

Photos: Alma P. Gamil
Bulusan, Sorsogon, Philippines

Sea bounty from Gubat

Marine harvests from Gubat town.

Above photos show assorted marine harvests from Gubat sea coast being peddled near the jeepney stop to Bulusan. Crabs are similar to Bulusan’s kamilo — a local marine crab with polka dots on the outer shell. Notice also the noodle-like green seaweed.

Photos by Alma P. Gamil

Happy Valentine’s Day!

Bulusan ornamental plant with heart-shaped leaves. (Bulusan, 2014).

These heart-shaped leaves are natural expressions in nature. For this flora species, Valentine’s Day is everyday. But broken hearts are  facts of life too even for these showy hearts (notice the torn leaves).

It is no reason though to not celebrate Valentine’s Day says this flora. Be fabulous!

Happy Valentine’s Day!

Leaf details of a heart-shaped leaf from Bulusan.

Photos: Alma P. Gamil
Bulusan, Sorsogon

Sunday morning kiss

A flirty butterfly displays some tricks in courting a pretty flower. The demure flower says nothing. The answer is obvious. It is a yes!

Photos: Alma P. Gamil
Bulusan, Sorsogon, Philippines

Red clusters along the highway

A pandanus species growing along the road of Barangay Porog, Bulusan, 2013.

Bulusan is a town that is immensely rich in flora diversity. This is the main reason why I started contributing plant photos to a botanical site of Philippine flora. For instance, this fruiting pandanus species (photo) was spotted along the highway of Barangay Porog just 2 kilometers from the Poblacion during one of my photo ‘expeditions’ in the countryside.

There seemed to be no end to these photo forays. A good thing since these activities will keep me occupied for many years to come and  photo shoots are perfect to the slow rural rhythm of my hometown.

Accompanying  images for this pandanus species are shown at the Phytoimages’ gallery: http://phytoimages.siu.edu/imgs/pelserpb/r/Pandanaceae_Pandanus_plant7_78086.html

Photo: Alma P. Gamil
Bulusan, Sorsogon

The Marvelous Anahaw Palm

Bright colored berry-like fruits of the Anahaw palm attract wild birds and fruit bats that serve as its dispersal agents.

Anahaw palm grove along the road in the village of San Jose.

Anahaw leaves ready for harvest. The palm thrives best in almost all the areas of the mountain villages of Bulusan.

Sadok hat is an all-weather sturdy indigenous hat made of the whole anahaw leaf spread in a bamboo frame and stitched with nito vine.

Beach cottage in Bulusan with anahaw thatch roofing.

I received a comment recently from one of my posted photos asking me where to buy anahaw leaves. I suggested  to my blog visitor to instead ask the jeepney drivers plying the mountain villages of Bulusan town. As far as I know, these anahaw leaves have no known dealers in our town. It is common practice in many Anahaw growing villages in Bulusan to just approach a farm patch with anahaw palms visibly growing on it and then simply order the stuff.

The leaves of these anahaw palms such as that in the above photos prolifically growing near the mountain road of San Jose  are ideal roofing materials for a native themed cottage. The seeds are free I presume  if in case you’re planning to have a marvelous anahaw grove in your own farm.

This spot is only about 30 minutes from the Poblacion where I live.

The leaves of Anahaw palms are used for thatching houses and for making fans and sadok (photo), a native all-weather hat in Bulusan. Fresh anahaw leaves are  also utilized as food wrap.

Aside from jeepney drivers, the tricycle drivers plying these mountainside areas are also good informants on where to buy good quality anahaw leaves.  The Kapitan (village chief) I am sure will be just as willing to recommend farmers with anahaw palms in his/her village.

An added zest to the trip to these villages is the refreshing green mountainscape. Bring a local guide though for this trip.

Note: The foliage of anahaw (Saribus rotundifolius) is the unofficial national leaf of the Philippines.

Photos by Alma P. Gamil
Bulusan, Sorsogon

An accidental walking tour in the mountain village of San Jose

Buri palms growing naturally planted by fruit bats that feeds on the buri palm fruits. Also in the photo is the local farmer who made my photoshoot a serendipitous farm tour.

Native santol fruits are rich source of vitamic C and a local delicacy when cooked with coconut milk in the ‘suli na santol’ dish*.

Death inevitably follows after the once-in-a-lifetime blooming and fruiting phase of the Buri palm (center) but not after over a million seeds are dispersed by wild bats and birds.

The farm owner showing me the Buri palms and assorted vegetables and root crops growing in his farm lot.

Tuba is a fish poison plant that does no harm to the water ecosystem. It is traditionally used for artisanal fishing.

Karagumoy leaves sell from 50 to 70 pesos per hundred. This pandan species is the main source of the materials used for making bay’ong and the common karagumoy hats.*

Fruits of the Karagumoy are usually cut off from the stem before they ripen to prevent the plant from stunting.

A Pili seedling finds a suitable growing spot inside the stalk of this Karagumoy. Intercropping the Pili trees and Coconut with Karagumoy is a common practice in Bulusan.

Dolaw a.k.a. turmeric is a popular folkloric medicinal plant in the villages of Bulusan.

While shooting a wild plant along the road of Barangay San Jose, I spotted an elderly farmer tending his front yard garden of assorted vegetables and crops. As good custom dictates, I said my “Mayad na adlaw po, (Good day),” to greet the village resident. My gesture was met with enthusiasm as soon as he learned that I am into photographing local plants. It was a spontaneous hospitality.The next thing I knew was I am being toured to a biodiverse residential family farm – a product of long years of dedicated and devoted farming life. Coconut trees interspersed with Pili trees, intercropped with Karagumoy and Buri palms and so many assorted fruits and vegetable –  more than my camera could capture extend from end to end of the most livable farm patch I have ever seen in Bulusan.

Voices of family members from a modest cemented house (a child and elderly grandmother, and a mother were discussing what TV program to watch) can be heard from the spot where I was busy taking the photos (above). Mixed with the ambient sound of the village farm, the voices arguing at times added to the bucolic charm of the place. No wonder why the resident farmer seemed so enthusiastic to tour me around. “Almost everything we need, I get it from here. My children though are advising me to retire because of my age. They can support me well even if I stop farming. But this is where I get my energy. I’ll become weaker if I stop tending the farm,” he related as we walked around the farm.

My tour was cut short though because the tricycle ride that brought me to the village was only good for an hour or two as agreed upon me and the driver. Despite of the shortness of time, the hurried trip turned out to be a serendipitous farm tour that yielded several plant photos with some ethnobotanical notes to boot.

*Suli na santol recipe :http://pamughaton.wordpress.com/2012/09/06/suli-na-santol/

*Karagumoy hats :https://bulusanruralvagabond.wordpress.com/2013/01/21/karagumoy-hat-capital/

Visiting a tree after Yolanda

Tree growing near the cliff along Porog road in Bulusan. (Photo taken a day after the super storm Yolanda struck the nearby provinces of Leyte and Samar).

The first thing I did a day after that super storm that hit the neighboring provinces of Samar and Leyte was to check the tree, which I mentally noted some  months ago, for a photo shoot. As always these photo trips were always relegated for some mundane household tasks at hand. But after the super storm (Yolanda) I felt an urgency to visit the site and I did not postpone the trip this time. I immediately hired a tricycle and we proceeded to the marked spot of the tree with sitaw (string beans)-like fruits growing  in the village of Porog. I was a little apprehensive though during the 30 minute ride to the village on whether the tree still has its intact leaves or fruits to help the identification.

Luckily, the tree still stands magnificently near the roadside cliff with its leaves and fruits still attractive for a photo shoot that day. Typhoon Yolanda spared us this time, I mumbled to myself.

The sitaw-like fruits were still hanging from the branches like dried up elongated brown strips of brown cardboard swaying stiffly with the wind. Only the pericarp remained with no seeds in sight. I could only wonder where the seeds went.

A lesson learned again in plant photography – not to postpone shoots whenever there is a blooming or fruiting tree around. Well, I guess I have to wait for another fruiting season… this hoping no Yolanda-like monster will come around.

Photos: Alma P. Gamil
Bulusan, Sorsogon, Philippines, 2013

Relishing Pigafetta’s travel ‘blog’ about the coconut

Coconut grove as seen from the road in Dancalan, Bulusan. Photo taken while on a jeepney commute, 2013 October.

Thanks to the irresistible column of Ambeth Ocampo. My files still keep his PDI March 9, 2005 article in his column discussing the wonderful 1521 account of Pigafetta about the country’s most ubiquitous flora. It gave me an absolutely different perspective in seeing our most abundant* and common crop – the coconut.

“Coconuts and coconut oil have been with us a long time. The earliest detailed reference to them can be found in Antonio Pigafetta’s account of the voyage of Ferdinand Magellan.

In March 1521, after escaping the thieves in the place they christened Ladrones Island, they sailed toward Samar and anchored on an island south of Samar called Suluan. Magellan ordered tents set up by the beach. While they were resting there and fetching fresh water, a boat with nine men on board arrived. Magellan offered food and drink to the men who were ornately dressed and later presented some fabulous (to him) gifts to what they presumed were heathen primitive natives. The gifts consisted of red caps, mirrors, combs, bells and other trinkets. In return, the men gave Magellan fish, a jar (earthenware or perhaps even Oriental ceramic vessel) with palm wine they called “vraca,” and bananas which Pigafetta, who was seeing them for the first time, described as “figs more than a foot long.” They were also given smaller better-tasting bananas and two coconuts.

Due to the language barrier, the men spoke in sign language and made it understood that they would return in four days with rice, other types of food, and, again, coconuts. So Pigafetta describes the coconut and its uses in great detail:

“…Just as we have bread, wine, oil and vinegar in their several kinds, these people have the aforesaid things which come only from the palm [coconut] trees. Wine is obtained from these in the following manner. They make an aperture into the heart of the tree at its top which is called palmito, from which is distilled along the tree a liquor like white must, which is sweet with a touch of greenness. Then they take canes as thick as a man’s leg, by which they draw off this liquor, fastening them to the tree from the evening until next morning, and from morning to the evening so that the said liquor comes little by little.

“This tree bears a fruit named cocho [coconut], which is as large as the head, and its first husk is green and two fingers thick, in which are found certain fibers of which those people make the ropes by which they bind their boats. Under this husk is another, very hard and thicker than that of a nut. The second husk they burn and make of it a powder that is useful to them. And under said husk there is a white marrow of a finger’s thickness, which they eat fresh with meat and fish, as we do bread, and it has the flavor of an almond, and if it were dried it would make bread.

“From the center of this marrow there flows a water which is clear and sweet and very refreshing, and when it stands and settles it congeals and becomes like an apple. And when they wish to make oil, they take this fruit called cocho and put it in the sun and let said marrow putrefy and ferment in the water, then they boil it, and it becomes oil like butter.

“When they wish to make vinegar, they let the water of the said cocho ferment and put it in the sun, which turns it into vinegar like white wine. From the said fruit milk can also be made, as we proved by experience. For we scraped the marrow, then mixed it with its own water, [squeezed] and being passed through a cloth it became like goat’s milk. This kind of palm is like the palm tree that bears dates, but not so knotty. And two of these trees will sustain a family of ten persons.”

Reading Pigafetta’s 1521 narrative and knowing all the coconut products and by-products we have today, the coconut can really be called a “tree of life.”

*Total number of coconut trees in the Bicol Region approximates to around 70M  according to a PCA (Philippine Coconut Authority 5) informant.

Photos: Alma P. Gamil

Bulusan, Sorsogon, Philippines