Colayo’s cool waters and majestic mountains

Ma-an-anibut Creek at Colayo 

HAPPY WEEKEND

Gina Dizon

(Second of three parts)

PASIL, Kalinga -- Visiting Colayo was too tempting an invitation not to take. Samuel invited me, or rather me inviting myself  to the Salip Festival  held   May 2-5 at  the capital barangay of Amdalao here.

           

This meant  trekking to cool places like Tumuyok  waterfalls,  wading  through  Ma-an-anibut Creek   and  trekking  the mountain  slopes of  Pitti  mountain,  wondering if I could ever  trek the neighboring towering  mountains of Sapukoy and  Mosimos which seemed  to have 80 degree slopes and above. 

           

I can hear  Aklay saying, "stop dreaming" hahaah!  This trip was a break from same routine every day.   I had the chance to talk to  villagers about what they thought of the  proposed geothermal  project  of Chevron which  covers 11 barangays of Pasil. A topic I would like to reserve for another story

           

Reaching the  boundary of  Colayo and  Balatoc, one was treated to fresh air.  Even  Pasil  River as it snaked through pine  nestled  slopes smoothly  flowed  on with its white  and bubby waters  washing off the bronze colored  sulfur filled and magma colorated  waters that met  the sulfuric Balatoc River. The rotten egg smell was nowhere in the air.

           

We  found two  children  with ages around  10 to 13  who  alternately carried   a half sack of rice  from Batong  Buhay and who stopped for a rest at the  waiting shed.       The rice so I was told, was for Chevron personnel  staying in Colayo.  And how much  were they paid carrying the heavy 25 kilo load  all the way from Balatoc junction to  Colayo over  hills and  rivers?  One of the children told me  both of them were paid for something like P230 each.

           

I was thinking it was not fair enough. I told them to demand something like  600 pesos  because the trek was heavy and for their  young ages,  P230 was cheap. 

           

Anyway,  I found out later  that porters who carry a load of  vegetables from Colayo to BB junction was 100 pesos.

           

The walls of the waiting shed was  written with  mixed messages. One message  said something about  an invitation to the Cordillera  Day at  Lower Uma, Lubuagan  on April 23-24. 

           

Another  said ‘Dina loves Salubot’. The name Salubot  sounded one who always  farted hahah! And one who    goes from one place to another.  I couldn’t stop  laughing. Either I was laughing the tiring trek away or I was  really amused at such a name. Anyway, both  sounded close to the  connotation  of what Salubot seemed to mean.  

           

My  perception of such a name was correct. Samuel said  Salubot was the name of a  guy who impregnated his wife then left. Whoaah! Then he came back again after sometime that the baby  grew up. Ahuh…. amusing.

           

The cool breeze of  Colayo’s  scented air  signaled the place was  is just around the corner. Not what I thought.  Trekking was another two-hour hike passing through  rolling hills and cool path ways under the heavy  foliaged  forests, taking pictures, and stopping by another waiting shed where I found the same written  invitation  to Cordillera Day and  the  boldly written  ‘Dina loves Salubot’!

           

We  walked through  at least two foot bridges.  The first footbridge was  familiar with  hand rails  low  enough for me to hold on.  Not that  exciting  as  the footbridge  was just another  ordinary footbridge like those4 in  Gonogon or  some other parts of the  Mountain Province.

           

The second footbridge was thrilling  and a dreadful  experience. The waters down seemed to measure something like 300 meters   from the bridge I dreaded the sight of  looking down. A look down the waters got me  dazed  I had to walk straight  and held on to the rails  which reached just enough above my head. 

           

I gathered my wits and called myself into one piece lest I lose control and my hands will go off the handle. The waters down the river were just as  haunting and taunting.

           

It was a  trek up an 80 degree slope before reaching the village. I took the walk up for another 30 minutes where one could  regularly trudge to the  village for 15 minutes. It took me time to marvel at  the  rivers of Pasil – gurgling and  strongly  slapping by the rocks   to find the  Chico river.

           

Colayo was  hugged  by towering mountains- Mosimos, Patang, Sapukoy, and   Binulawan . 

           

Kalinga’s highest Mt  Sapukoy with an elevation of  2554 meters above sea level borders Boliney, Abra; Balbalan in Kalinga and Pasil.  Mount  Mosimos  bordering Tinglayan  and   Colayo is  the second highest mountain in Kalinga  which reaches an elevation of 2310 masl.  These  watersheds of life  including Pattang source  headwaters  flow down  Tomyangan  to the Chico river  and serve irrigation waters to Isabela and Cagayan.  

           

I reached rice fields signaling that houses were just a walk away.  And so similar with every village found in the hinterlands in the remote hinterlands,  ricefields  signaled that there were houses nearby.

           

It was nearly 3 p.m. when we reached the village. We had been trekking  from  BatongBuhay  since  10:30  a.m.  That  meant we took the road for  five hours. The residents took the  hike  for  two and  a half  hours!

           

We stayed at  the house of  Samuel’s sister and her family. We found two surveyors from Lomar Company who were also staying transient  in the same house. So this was the place  where the two boys delivered the rice they carried all the way from BatongBuhay. I came to know Lomar Company was hired by  Chevron to do survey exploration activities. 

           

I was amused by the coincidence of staying in the same  house while I enjoyed a two-day brief stay  in Colayo. A brief chat with them gave information that Chevron planned to drill 50 trial  and  error  production  wells of geothermal  energy potentials in Colayo. 

           

We were supposed to  go to the picnic grounds  that  afternoon  and were stopped with the  pouring of rain for three attempts whenever we set out to go. The gods must have said,  don’t go. Okay, so here we were stuck in the  house.  What was there to do? There must be something good to happen while sitting in the house  for the next three hours  before night hits.

           

Turned out  yes.  Village leader and elder Jaime Guyang, the  husband of  Samuel’ s older sister Wagay,  came  after some minutes. We talked about  the names of the mountains  and why Paniyew is called Paniyew and why Mosimos and why Bawac and why  Tumuyok  Falls were named that way.

I was curious as a cat why Paniyew Creek was called such.  I was told of a story of a pregnant woman who passed by Paniyew creek and to avoid anything  bad  which could happen to her child, she collected  a small amount of water from the creek and mixed this with the  waters she bathed in  when she got home to give back the waters to Paniyew creek.

           

It reportedly became a custom to drop coins or a comb along the creek when passing so nothing bad would happen to a child or to an unborn child.  In Sagada where I come from, ‘paniyew’ refers to a belief of casting out anything  evil that might happen so one says  ‘paniyew’ when one senses danger.

           

Meanwhile, Mosimos mountain got  its name from  mosimos” , meaning  embers, where a motit (civet cat) carried “mosimos” in a pot  to  the other side of Binulawan Mountain where  people then, after the  great flood, used the embers to cook their food.  Kalwitan mountain got its name  referring  to the tail of a ‘kalwitan’ (rooster) that the mountain resembled.    

           

And so on with  elder Guyang’s  other  views about Chevron, that is another story for its  complicated angles and  issues I would like to reserve for another  story.

           

Nights in Colayo were  super cold that I needed  three blankets just like  cool Sagada. Colayo was much more cooler  though with profuse pine trees   swooshing  around the mountain sides  and roaring waters  nearby. 

           

With not many  houses around,  Colayo was cool, made much more  charming  with the  crowing of  roosters  at dawn.

           

The mornings were comfortably soothing. Had to get up early and  take a cool bath. The waters seemed heavenly and functional.  A  morning chat at the veranda with Balcito, one of the sons of  elder  Guyang revealed he  installed a 1.5  kilowatt  hydro unit  which lighted up at least 12 houses  and  some 20  houses when waters  came on strong during the  rainy season.  

           

The hydro unit was installed in 1999 when he was  then 20 years old.  Remarkable that the  young man did not study formal schooling  in either  electrical or mechanical engineering yet was able to set up an improvised hydro unit using a  dynamo of a vehicle to power   energy. 

           

Three other men installed three  separate   hydro  dynamos  lighting up 25 houses more the past  five years. At least 40 houses were lighted up among  72 households in the community.  The   hydro power  also   sent current to a  blacksmith shop where   Lorenzo Sumail  made bolos and other cutting tools  used in the farm.

           

It was an inspiring morning.   I wondered why Colayo is the subject of a geothermal energy  project  when the people here can set up their own hydro power  units for their energy needs.