Two years ago, we have reached our 100th post, celebrating it with some of the people behind the maps we use. As we reach another hundred, on our 200th post, we celebrate it with some of our tour guides who had been with us through the dangers, excitement and adventure of placing "uncharted" roads and trails on the map. These are our local guides, the boatmen, hike guides who knew the roads; whether safe and perilous, yet decided to remain with us to ensure that a Filipino would not be a stranger to his own motherland.
We have been mapping the Philippines for a decade, mostly on locations that are poorly mapped or never been mapped. Most of the time, these places are along those that are not usually traveled. And Schadow1 Expeditions would not be able to make it on most of the places without people who have knowledge about the locations, which usually are the locals. In this article, we would be featuring the people behind the maps we use. Although not as someone who mapped the location directly, but those people who have offered their services to be with us; whether these locations are easy-to-reach or something that we have to go through hell to ensure that these locations be placed in the map for tourism, exploratory and disaster response purposes. Some of them may have offered their services for a fee, but their dedication to help us and go the extra mile in ensuring our safety or even simply by helping to fill us up and help us lessen our costs is already a great assistance.
Gaga is a habal-habal driver of Surigao del Sur. Usually soft spoken, yet his generosity, thoughtfulness and gratefulness has made us remember him. We were sleeping along the bench of the open-air transport station of Hinatuan, Surigao del Sur as we arrived there early dawn. Having been the first person to arrive at the station, he made sure that we are ok until we wake up; as according to him, having tourists who sleep alone in this transport station in their area is uncommon. What is unusual is he never talked about or insisted his habal-habal services upon us. Probably shy, we were the first to ask him if he can offer his habal-habal to tour us around as we plan to map Surigao del Sur for our mapping advocacy. We have not even started asking for a discount yet upon hearing the importance of our advocacy, he offered to drive us to all tourists locations in the province for a price lower than what others offer. I knew the price range then as I have already searched over the internet for the transport services and indeed, his offer was the lowest I heard. Even with our heavy gear in mapping (we were off for a week-long Philippine Eastern Seaboard mapping expedition), he was skillful in his balance with the habal-habal with our heavy gear tied around one side of his motorcycle. And indeed, he drove smoothly even across unpaved roads to the Enchanted River and Tinuy-an Falls. We have published his contact number in our articles and he never failed to thank us everytime he gets to drive someone as being referred from our website.
You can may contact Gaga at +63 (939) 4996428.
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| Gaga Perolino and his prowess in balancing the habal-habal |
He is a surprisingly a Caviteño who happened to be our boatman from Caramoan who decided to give us almost half the regular price of sending us to various islands in the area for our mapping advocacy. And upon posting his contact on our Caramoan travel guides, he also never failed to send us a message to thank us for all the referrals our website made. He has always been inviting us a second time in Caramoan, all-expense paid by him but we haven't had a chance to get back to him yet.
You may contact Jonald at +63 (929) 1112131
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| Our group as we map Caramoan. Jonald at back. |
Having heard of the phrase, "Through thick or thin", this boat man has surely proved himself to treat us like that. What seemed to be a quiet take-off as we left Coron port towards the farthest island of Ditaytayan about over 20 nautical miles away. As we head back, a sudden squall generated by the outer edges of Typhoon Saola has blocked our way with zero visibility and 2-storey high waves. Our boat is only small and saw how he has tried to ensure our safety. Thinking that the scenario was just a regular experience by the boatmen, yet after we survived the ordeal and stayed in the middle of the sea for 2 hours, nearly sunset without lighting, he approached me and said that what we had back there is something out of the ordinary. I actually saw that from his face too, but only thought he was just concentrating to counter the waves and make our boat to remain upright. But it was a different danger that both of us were able to endure and survive.
You may contact Marc via Kuya Tabs (our tricycle transport) at +63 (907) 4451854
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| Kuya Marc sending us to safety as we sail through a strong squall and 10ft waves |
They are a tour company based in Daet, Camarines Norte arranging tours to Calaguas and Apuao Grande. We have not hired their services but came to us for rescue from a drunkard boatman we hired from Paracale. And having heard that I like Bicolano cuisine, they have offered us their awesome freshly cooked spicy cuisine. And for that, we haven't even able to open our own supplies and our tummies remained satisfied all throughout our stay. And did I say it was for free! Annie has been inviting us to ensure we enjoy the second time we get to Calaguas (although we still enjoyed it the first time because of the food) *wink.
You may contact Calaguas Atbp via Annie at +63 (912) 3829007
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| We wouldn't be enjoying this dinner with grilled pork belly, vegetables and fresh pineapple that night if not for the generosity of Calaguas atbp. |
These guys are top notch. Upon arriving for the first time in Camiguin, they were the first people to approach me to offer their transportation. Having to arrive in Camiguin without any contacts, they were kind to offer me one of the best places to stay at half the regular price, and a good discount too for the motorcycle I rented when I was there for almost a week to map the whole island-province.
You may contact Sauro for drivers and tour services at +63 (927) 2751086 and Jonel for transportation at +63 (927) 6307606
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| This is the room or shall I say house with porch that Jonel and Sauro arranged for me at a very low price. |
Kuya Bibot was our guide to Hibok-Hibok Volcano. It was a traverse climb from the northern face of the volcano via to Yumbing Trail down to its eastern face at the Ardent springs of Mambajao to finally map the traverse trail for the first time. Just off the summit, I had an accident, hurting my left knee making the descent very difficult. His family is so kind even his eldest son went up all the way from Ardent to the PHIVOLCS volcano remote monitoring station to assist me.
You may contact Bibot for a guide to Mt. Timpoong and Hibok-Hibok Volcano at +63 (906) 1192537
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| Bibot and his son who fetched me midway along Ardent trail due to an injury. |
These people are Filipinos, amidst their simple lifestyle and through the simple work they do, they never failed to amaze me as how they have shown their hospitality and willing to assist us in our mapping advocacy with the best of their abilities. As we meet all kinds of people as we travel the country, there were those that we wouldn't be proud of and there were also those that make it count. And these are the few that have helped us along that showed us the true essence of humanity and of being a true Filipino. They are those we consider as heroes before the maps we use have been published.
We believe that we would still be able to meet more as we continue our mapping advocacy for the Philippines. May this article be one our ways to thank people like you.
Related Links:
- Philippine Mapping Advocates in Feature - a 100th post special tribute to some of the people behind the maps we use
- The Magnificence of Hinatuan Enchanted River
- Camiguin Island Roadtrip - discovering the best of Camiguin for four days
- Conquering Hibok-Hibok Volcano 1337 MASL
- Travel Guide to Calaguas Islands
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