Colayo’s cool waters and majestic mountains

HAPPY WEEKEND

Gina Dizon

(First of three parts)

PASIL, Kalinga  - The trek up Colayo’s  13-km route over rolling  hills and demanding  footbridges  that looked down  on roaring  and taunting waters  was worth it. 

           

The walk started at the junction of the mining town of BatongBuhay in Barangay Balatoc.  I heaved heavy breaths   trudging the 80- degree concreted stairway with an asthma ready to explode.   The stairway turned out  to be 15 minutes which seemed an hour. 

           

I found my other companions-  Samuel Tayaan from Colayo, a classmate in St Mary’s High School of Sagada, and  visiting tourist  Stephen Clark waiting at cool  tree-clad   Biyog  sitio of  Batong  Buhay before we took on the trek.  

           

Easy walking over rolling hills but a fenced part of the  rugged road got me wondering some guy did not want the road opened or maybe wanted compensation for road right of way.

           

The road  from  Batong  Buhay to Colayo was being repaired as I trudged along the way  to the village where  local folks demanded the road be opened so they could get their  farm produce to market outlets easier. 

           

We met   young and elder women carrying meat of ugsa (deer) and sayote  shoots. Samuel bought two  rods  lined with deer meat.   Deer meat was delicious at dinner.

           

I came to know from  Colayo elder  Jaime Guyang later that day that hunting was done  at one side of the mountain  for a  year.  The other side was untouched to let young  deer and wild animals  grow.

           

This side of the mountain was open for hunting the next year.  This  way of regulation was noted in the cultural practice of  “lapat” referring to the ban of  the utilization of  forest  resources within a  given period of time,  in furtherance to the Sangguniang Bayan  resolution authored by Councilor  Samuel  Tayaan  adopting  Republic Act  9147 providing for the  conservation and protection of wildlife resources. 

           

I relaxed to take pictures of the village of   Batong Buhay in Balatoc where one could see rice terraces  moving upward  while the  river murmured. Boomag showed  a side of the mining town an ecological spirited look.

           

Batong Buhay that  one   readily seen  upon arrival at the  village  were lined up with shanties along the road  which looked  like bunkhouses  where they sold  candies , sardines, instant Maggie noodles to   cigarettes  and  Ginebra San Miguel.

           

This mining area saw active mining  operations the  past   seven years with the entrance of  Makilala Mining Company and Korean BumKwang G&C Company  since the  New Peoples Army shot down the mining company’s  tower  in  the early ‘80s.

           

Boomag rice terraces perched quaintly  above the Balatoc River. I took pictures  from a road of which flowed waters  that came from Boomag  mountain. The road  heavy with  metal rods  was then  built by  BatongBuhay Mines under Philex Mining  Company management.  It was abandoned in the  ‘80s when the electric tower of the company was shot  down in 1985.

           

Rocks along  the  river were red,  evidence of  a magma filled mountain  from the  dormant   Boomag volcano.  I smelled the stench of  sulfur vapor  smelling like rotten eggs.  

           

The waters along the  Paniyew Creek were red which seemed like blood flowing. I felt a shiver and a shudder at  such a sight. Jaime Guyang told me later that day that pregnant women who passed along Paniyew Creek   lost their babies or something bad happened to the  unborn child, or to a very young child.  Strange that my eerie  feeling  coincidentally  jibed with the people’s  superstitious belief.

           

Paniyew Mountain  looked like a hundred faces. While passing through, the mountain seemed to  either  bless  one in his journey or look suspiciously. Faces of dogs and cats and depending on one’s imagination  were etched on the rocks and the trees  yonder Paniyew Peak. I guess those  faces reminds one to take  nothing  but pictures and leave  nothing but footprints when visiting and leaving Colayo.

           

Trudging the way to Colayo  amidst pine trees  and cool mountain  breezes is a  respite and a sight to see  the Balatoc  River  brimming with  bronze colored  waters.

           

I paused often times to take a look at  the towering mountain  of Binulawan yonder bordering  LubuaganTinglayan and Pasil. It must be that the towering  mountains  of  Kalinga trekked by sturdy children, women, and  men signified life’s trying edges. (to be continued next issue)