Back to Kalubihon

"Be careful when you get there. The place is enchanted", was all that my mom could say when we told her we were planning to go to Pampam falls which is situated near their family's farm in Kalubihon, Iligan City. well, we took her word for it. after all, she knows the place more than any of us who have not been there for decades now.

upon picking us at the airport, esmond has promised to take us to another falls and this time he mentioned Pampam falls. so it was quite timely that when aunty Tina went to our house last fiesta, she learned that we wanted to go and immediately volunteered to take us there. it's so near the Yanez farms' and she said we'll start the trek from their land up there. so off we went the very next day, after packing up some few foods leftover from day before's festivities. aunty took another cousin with her. she even promised that we'll be having fresh buko from their trees. happy, yippe, yehey, indeed!

we left by 10am. mom said it's late. we should have had an early start because we'll still go hiking. but we follow esmuky's time. there's just nothing we can do. :-) mom and dad stayed behind because they had guests coming for lunch (fellow choirmates at the church).

we parked the car at aunty's place and started walking.. first downhill, then uphill, then up again, and down... and it went like that for like 15 minutes. and me, who's not been exercising, was starting to pant and thus taking short breaths while happily taking shots of the others ahead as i was the last one on the trail.

and this is Pampam falls. but, upon getting there we were told by the kids living there that the place was amess. trees were cut (see, on the pics... horrendous monster, whoever it was who had the trees cut!!!)

just look at the waters down there. it was filled with bamboo cuttings as well.

so the kids advised us to go to the langub. langub is a visayan word meaning cave. they said the water's better there to swim in. though it is more difficult to get to and further uphill. since there was nothing that we could do, we followed them uphill. but before that, just had to take a pose.  op kors!

here we are, again on the trail to the next falls.

finally, we arrived!! after about 15 more minutes uphill.

this is the entrance to the cave.

what clear waters... it's continuing to form limestone.

and here's my 'gutter'.  hehe.. forever gutter girl that i am, who can't swim, my kuya pointed me to where to tread so i can go up to the falls inside.

and here's the falls. when my kuya looked it up in our list of falls to go to, we realized this is the Kalubihon falls. we have heard so much about it before. my mom's dad's family basically grew up in Kalubihon. the name of the place is rooted from the visayan word lubi meaning coconut. Kalubihon, is a place in iligan city situated uphill and predominantly coconut farms. it was even said that during World War II, my lolo francis (mom's father) utilized the falls to make electricity in their area. lolo was a very good electrician. as i have mentioned somewhere before in this blog, he was the first one to open a radio shop in Iligan. back in the days, the Yanez family were well off and the neighboring farmers go to them to ask for manok (chicken), eggs and rice. later that afternoon, upon going back to the farm and having our fill of buko and buko juice, the old man farmer living there in the farm said he does not know us anymore. he only knew my lolo and his siblings and my mom's generation of the Yanez clan. but for us third gen, it was his first time to see us. so he was really happy that we took time to visit the farms up there. and we were, too. we felt happy and full, with the experience. happy to be back in Kalubihon.

Kalubihon falls. it enchanted us alright. we just loved the place. esmond enjoyed it so much he even went back with his friends. i just saw his friends upload their pics today on facebook. aha... i also intend to go back!

Oh My Goat-ness

am posting here some pics which we took when we went home. we usually take a turn in naawan to buy goat's milk and soap. and that's just what we did since we were running low on our supply of goat's milk soap back home.

our visit to the goat farm....

A Taste of Home

am back in manila. and enjoying my lechon paksiw, katas ng piyesta sa amin.

the return trip was quite uneventful. my niece, nicole, and i got the same seat numbers as what we got coming home. oh yeah, i just remembered, on our inbound trip to Cagayan de Oro, we reserved seats online (paid extra charge for that) but we learned that these were given to someone else when we arrived for check-in. my sis-in-law asked for a complaint form (but she never filled it in.. thought she'd rather avoid the hassle). hah, if that was me, i'd be all clackety-clack at the customer counter in a huff. i'm really disappointed with Cebupacific's service these days. it has lost its customer focus. in its bid to be number one, it is looking at the volume and number served and not the quality and delivery of service anymore.

well, as we were waiting to board at the airport lounge, my niece asked me, "aunty, do you think we'll be seeing that black dog again?" To which i replied, "Nah, fat chance of that happening again."

we got home slightly before nine in the evening because of the traffic. having foreseen we'd be stuck in traffic along makati/guadalupe route as it was still around 6:30pm when we got our luggages, we decided to eat at the airport before hailing a cab. we settled at the tables of Chubby China and what can i say, i felt replete with my dinner of Breaded Fish and Chopsuey. but their serving of chopsuey was rather small for me. would appreciate if they can add to the serving size.

we've lots of pasalubong. of course, mommy did not forget to pack us around three kilos of lechon and the food for the gods she hurriedly baked early that morning. we had cheding's, vjandep pastel, maestrado coffee and cocoa chips. ahhh, sarap! comfort food... tastes that bring us closer to home.

Home Again

we're back in iligan for a 5-day vacation, mainly to attend this year's fiesta celebration.

a funny incident happened when we touched down at the airport in cagayan de oro. i was looking out the window when i suddenly noticed two ground crew running after something. looking ahead, i saw three more crew running. then there it was... the object of the race... a black dog scampering around in the runway. hahaha, only in the philippines!!! 

well, we're going out tonight to visit my aunty alma and mamimiyesta kami in advance.  ",)

due to a friend's request, am posting pics from the baking class i took several weeks back. really enjoyed it!

i now know how to make pizza pie crust. syempre, iyong simple lang, hindi iyong may cheesy crust or something.

look at this swedish tea ring, sobrang hindi adept ang fingers ko in all the twisting and turning. kelangan pa ng practice talaga!

ma-trabaho ang pag-gawa ng pastry dough. at wala pa akong pastry dough ruler, di ko pa ito magagawa sa ngayon. pero try ko bumili na lang muna ng dough. hahaha... shortcut, kumbaga. basta ma-practice lang muna ang pag-gawa ng croissant. at natuto na din ako gumawa ng ensaymada, sa wakas. i want to try experimenting on variants of this special ensaymada, as suggested by our mentor, especially as we have lots of green veggies and rootcrops in our farm.

ito na muna. have more pics from our cake decorating class. 

for now, inuunti-unti ko pa ang mga gamit ko for baking. i have mentioned sometime before (when i was still in dubai) that i have become fond of this new hobby. medyo magastos (ehem, magastos talaga). but im so happy there's an as is where is store where i can get surplus items from gourdo's at 50% off. happy dance again!

March-ing Out

The month is Marching out already. Sandstorms are signs that the weather's a-changing. Kuwait is pretty much hit by serious sandstorms these past few days. But not here in Dubai. It's getting cold at sundown. And that's another of the tell-tale signs for changing weather. Soon the air is going to be hot at any time of day.

This is one of those times when i start dreaming of our Philippine beaches. Hooo...

Sweet November

we're going to have an outing... hooray!

for a long while now, we've been taking picnics every 3 months or so. now, the bosses have finally decided to gather our dept's budget allocation for outing and take it this year. whew! we dont have to worry about food and transpo. we're just gonna go there to have fun. sa wakas makakarating na din ako sa ibang emirate. ",)

meantime, here are a few more pics from my last vacation... home sweet home!

Sept 30, Iligan- Ziplining at Ma. Cristina Falls & Nature Park Trip

my bros and mom kept insisting on our going for a ride in the white waters of cabula. so off we went for our family bonding time. the experience (nahulog si langga sa rapids), the fun (and fear), the memories... priceless!

Oct 2, CDO- Water Rafting at Cabula

mom related she wanted to visit a cousin in davao so i insisted to come along so i can meet them too. of course, didn't forget to take pics while we were road-trekking.

Oct 8, Bukidnon-Davao Road Trip - Davao City Tour

and of course, paying homage...