Funny Sign Board at Vilches Beach Resort

The resort is located in Brgy. Lebas, Buenavista in the province of Guimaras.
While strolling in the beach, I saw this signboard. Hehe

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Mt. Manaphag (Pan de Azucar)

by: Singarong Backpackers

Mount Manaphag is situated in Pan de Azucar (also the other name for the peak), an island which could be reached by a pumpboat in 45 minutes from Concepcion town in Iloilo province. With white-sand beaches, spectacular crags and verdant hills, Pan de Azucar Is. belongs to a string of small scenic islands dotting the northeastern coast of Iloilo.

With an estimated elevation of 2,900 ft. ASL, Mt. Manaphag is a relatively low peak. However, it possesses two remarkable features - its spectacular crags and very steep incline. Perhaps the steepest peak in the country, Mt. Manaphag flaunts of slopes ranging from 60 to 90 degrees.

According to legend, a giant named Toya used to inhabit the summit of Manaphag. Toya takes a bath in a lagoon on the summit, using for a scoop the shell of a gigantic manlot or clam. As modern man seeks ways to to distinguish the facts and fictions in a myth, testimonies abound, either negating or upholding, some elements in the Manaphag legend. Based on the observations of many climbers who had reached the summit, the peak of Manaphag is very narrow to be able to sustain a lagoon of a size. However, some sources adamantly maintain the belief for the existence of the lagoon, found in a sizable tract of flat ground slightly below the summit in the northwestern side. As to the presence of a giant manlot, one version has it that the manlot is merely a rock with the rough semblance of the real thing. A contrasting view holds it however to be a real oyster; allegedly, it was taken out for its pearl aboard a helicopter a couple of decades ago.

Another thorny issue about Manaphag is the standing claim that it is an extinct volcano. A steep cone resembling the hard core of a long eroded volcano, it naturally perpetuates the notion of the common folks who consider it as a kulob nga bulkan or inverted volcano - whatever that means. At any rate, the dominant rock of Manaphag is dalepe or sedimentary rock - not igneous or volcanic. Whatever is true, only the experts could tell with authority.

The Motherpacker

by: Amy Hunter

A motherpacker is someone who is able to pack lightly,
sufficiently, and effectively. Hindi po sya masamang tao hahaha!

With zero-impact backpacking, the hiker’s goal is to carry everything out of the wilderness that was brought in and to disrupt nature as little as possible. Under the umbrella of these principles, the zero-impact hiker:

removes extra packaging from gear to reduce the material brought into the wild. For example, floss is removed from its plastic carrying case and rolled into a ball. Duct tape is wrapped around a tool or walking stick handles.
avoids making fires, since fire changes the composition of the soil. That means carrying a lightweight stove into the wilderness and leaving the weighty axe or saw behind.
wears shoes that have less impact on the trail. The zero-impact backpacker will wear light-weight trail shoes rather than heavy boots, which greatly reduces the wear on the trail, especially in wet weather when the terrain is muddy
–
Note: Don't bother the Kid...hehe :p

Top 10 Laziest Ways to Fight Global Warming

If you have seen the documentary movie entitled “An Inconvenient Truth,” you might have been convinced that our world nowadays is truly doomed if we continue abusing our resources what we have today .Our Earth does not deserve all the pains it suffers from right now. The consequences are horrifically not convenient but there are expedient ways to avoid them from happening .Be aware. Make a move. It’s time to take care of our environment.


Top 10 Laziest Ways to Fight Global Warming
by: yoshke


10. BUY IN BULK
Buying in bulk is not just practical but also eco-friendly. Items are much cheaper when purchased in bulk and it is a nice way of doing the environment a favor. You’re not just spending less money. You are also expending less energy. If you have so many items stocked at you home, you don’t need to make so many trips to the store; thus, saving gas or fare. You also save energy because of the reduced packaging. Do you have any idea how much plastic you’d save by choosing a six-in-one pack of toilet paper over six separate rolls? You also don’t need to worry about running out of toilet paper while doing your thing inside the bathroom because hey, you purchased lots of them.

9. EAT LESS MEAT
Yes, you’re tired of hearing this from your doctor who has been crazy worried about your ailing heart. But if you don’t care much about your health, then care about the environment. Aside from the health risks that red meat poses, more energy is required in producing and transporting meat. Did you know that much of our forests have been cleared just to turn them into grazing lands for livestocks? Fruits and vegetables require 95% less energy than meat so why not start a diet rich in fruits and vegetables? After all, they are healthier.

8. OPEN YOUR WINDOWS
Many of use are so used to air-conditioners that even when it is warm inside but cold outside, we still opt to use them instead of just opening the window. If you are living on the higher floors of your apartment building, you may give your air-con a rest and take advantage of the free cold air outside. If it’s not enough for you, then turn on the fan hanging comfortably upon your ceiling. You have no idea how circulated air does wonders for regulating the temperature in the room without cranking down the thermostat further. Besides, if you find it hard to sleep at night, you’ll be surprised by how the whirring sound could help you sleep.

7. PLANT A TREE
Oh yes, it takes too much effort digging a hole on the ground and burying the roots of a cute, little mahogany plant in your garden. However, are you not tired of drawing your venetian blinds throughout the day? You don’t to worry about dealing with those nasty blinds every now and then if you just plant a tree where the sun hits directly. By doing this, you can cool your home without relying too much on your air-conditioner. It will dramatically reduce your power costs. Now you see what a humble tree can do? Plant a tree now.

6. GO LITTLE
The smaller the vehicle you drive, the less you make global warming worse. That’s why instead of bigger SUVs, drive smaller cars. Furthermore, don’t forget to keep your car tuned up and all its tires properly inflated. This will not just save you much on fuel costs but also help in the reduction of carbon dioxide emissions. A single tune-up could boost your miles per gallon up to 40%. You might also want to get a new filter. It could get you 10% more mpg. And if you’re not using the roof rack, take it off to save more.

5. AVOID PLASTICS
Plastic is ugly. If you are the type who always uses wrinkly and pathetic plastic cups just because you feel lazy to wash your glasses, stop it. What you don’t realize is that disposing countless plastic cups take more time than washing glasses or mugs. Aside from that, mugs and glasses are far sexier than plastic cups. They can also make you look more professional. Know that every year around 24,000 tonnes of polystyrene (which is non-biodegradable) end up in a landfill.

4. PRINT BACK-TO-BACK
Do you realize how much paper you waste every time you print out each page of an unimportant document on a separate sheet of paper? Each year, an estimated 150 trees are wasted by overprinting documents. Isn’t it sad to know that some trees sacrificed their lives for rubbish? Admit it, you don’t even use the back page of the drafts you print out. That’s why if the document you’d print is just something you’d throw away after reading, then you better set your printer to duplex and use both sides of the paper. You’ll be helping the environment and saving money. But wait, there’s a bonus! You’ll also get to see the paper do a cartwheel in your printer as it prints the other side. Paper acrobatics, huh?

3. WALK
In the United Kingdom alone, 10 million car seats are left empty each day. Imagine if vacant car seats were prohibited, there would be far fewer vehicles on the road which means less traffic, less petrol and less pollution. That would truly help the environment. But of course, we all know that forbidding people to leave car seats empty is an absurd idea. The point is, you don’t need to use your car every single time you’d go out of the house. Take public transit, bike or walk if you’re not chasing time. If people made it a habit to leave their cars at home for at least two days a week, we would have been reducing our carbon dioxide emissions by at least 1,600 pounds a year.

2. TELEPORT
Or at least, telecommute. If you don’t need to meet up with your boss to give him an update of how well you do or how much you suck at work, then just telecommute. The telephone and the Internet were not invented for nothing. You don’t need to have superhuman abilities to break the distance-time relationship. If your house is 47 lightyears away from your workplace, why don’t you just find a place to stay nearby? This way, you won’t have to worry about getting late and waking up early just to arrive at the office at the last minute. If you live closer to work, you’ll be doing yourself, the society and the environment a huge favor. Again, less cars on the road means less pollution.

1. SPREAD THE WORD
How hard can it be to tell people how easy it is to care for Mother Nature? Share everything you have learned from this article with your family, friends and colleagues. Tell your office management that the company can also go green while improving their image along the way. Words can do wonders. Sometimes, all we need to do is spread the word and everything else will follow. Fighting global warming has to be a collective action. Anyway, no matter how lazy you might be, it surely wouldn’t hurt to convince the people around you to care for the world they live in.

Mt. Madia-as 2007 (First Major Climb)

Province: Culasi, Antique
Major jumpoff: Brgy. Flores, Culasi
Elevation: 2117m (HP - Panay Island)
Days required / Hours to summit: 3-4 days / 14 hours
Specs: Major climb, Difficulty 8/9, Trail class 1-4
Features: Open slopes, Mossy forest, Waterfalls, Highest Point

Some questions have been raised whether Mt. Madjaas (or Madja-as; Madia-as) is the highest or second highest in Panay, but for now it is recognized as the highest. And regardless of this dispute, Madja-as is certainly the mountain that makes Antique a truly rewarding destination for climbing.

Madjaas means 'mataas' in some local dialect, but in English it can suitably described as 'lofty' instead of just tall. This loftiness will definitely be felt in the summit which opens up to the view of Western Panay island and the surrounding seas, but it extends to the mossy forests of the mountain, in which several unique flora and found have been identified. - www.pinoymountaineer.com

Mount Madia-as
by: Maningning

MT. MADJA-AS, the highest peak in the island of Panay, was first scaled by a team led by John M. Fortes of Philippine Airlines in January of 1977. In May of that year, Mt. Madja-as was assaulted by a group comprising of members of the Ilonggo Mountaineering Club, among others: the brothers Dodot and Vic Pison; Babes Galuego of the Provl. Governor's Office; Arch. Tony Sangrador; Pakit Mandar and Virgilio of the local DOT Office; and Negrense climber Ed Gatia.





The summit of Mt. Madja-as is 2,117 m above sea level. Its peak is always shrouded with clouds but the mountain can bee seen during clear weather and late afternoons. All year round Madja-as keeps its forest and vegetation evergreen with fourteen waterfalls around its base. Trekking to the summit one has to endure a 15-kilometer stony road leading up to a dry river bed; brave an improvised wooden and bamboo bridge over boulder-strewn river, hurdle numerous hills before reaching a village at its foot where the ascent actually starts; tightrope walk on a two-fool bridge floating on a sea of clouds; clamber up near-vertical slopes precariously holding on rocks, grasses and roots of trees on to more than a thousand feet above, contrive schemes like rubbing soap on pants, tucking in tobacco grains in socks to ward off leeches; be ready with a raincoat for heavy rains occurring anytime.



A journey to the mountains of Madja-as is an experience, a beautiful mountain scenery, different species of flora and fauna, rare orchids, pitcher plants, wild herbs, wild deer and boar, cloud rat, a bonsai forest looking neatly trimmed, a lagoon, and a rainforest that provides Madja-as a weather of its own.



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Second Climb at Mt. Taripis

It was September 15, 2007 when I reached the peak of Mt. Taripis, and it was my second climb with CPUMS. Some Iloilo Mountaineering Club Inc. persons were there too, but on that day, they were planning to explore Mt. Lobok.

9:30AM >>> when we arrived at the last barangay of Igbaras, Brgy. Igcabugao. This barangay is the jump-off path going to Mt. Taripis.

12:00PM >>> we had our lunched at Tay Morot’s house, our guide when we climbed at Napulak last August 2007.

1:00PM >>> when we leaved the house and headed to Taripis.

4:00PM >>> at the SUMMIT!

5:00PM >>> going back to Tay Morot’s house. We did not set up our tents, because of the heavy rains.

6:00PM >>> we prepared our dinner, ate our dinner, socials.

LIGHTS OFF>>> Tay Morot let us slept inside his house with the IMC.

More Pictures here (With Mt. Lobok Climb)

First Climb at Mt. Napulak: Indescribable

Mt. Napulak in Igbaras stands 1,200 feet above sea level. The peak of Napulak is shaped like a breast of a woman, which is why mountaineers called it “NIPPLE PEAK”.
The peak is open in 360 degrees view; you can see the panoramic view of the lowlands.

It was August 18 of the year 2007 when we started our adventure in Napulak. It was raining in that season, and the trail was muddy. That time, I was just an applicant of CPUMS and they organized this climb for our “Frist Minor Climb”.

JM Delgado was our Team Leader (CPUMS President 2007), then the other members were Michael Greg Manlapao, Hazel John Amoyan, Dara Rose Barcelona (Alumni), Bernadeth Cornelia (Alumni), Emer Rafols (Old Applicant).

And my fellow applicants were; Meil Isbon Mangana, Jeyan Chin, Arnold Toledo, Christobelle Imalay, JB Camfair Tina, Ritchiel Catherine Magno, and Shane Delgado.

It’s about 8:30 AM when we arrived at Brgy. Tigbanaba and started trekking with our guide “Tay Morot”, a locals from Brgy. Igcabugao. Ten minutes after, I felt already exhausted and stopped for a while. That was my first ever “take five”.

“To, Layo pa?” I asked Toto (Hazel), and he replied grinning at me…”Mga 8 hours pa Ter…haha…push lang ah!”

Exactly 5:00PM, the Lead and Body Team reached the Peak. It was raining and extremely cold up there. We pitched our tents in the campsite, and it’s really difficult to pitch tent while raining.

I can’t explain how I feel when I reached a top of a mountain. I’m so proud of myself for conquering Mt. Napulak.

Punishing heat, throbbing backs and tiring foot had fade away when we reached the peak of Mt. Napulak.

On the next day, after our breakfast, we climbed up the peak “nipple peak”, and did picture taking. After enjoying the nature, we started again our journey back to the lowlands of Igbaras.

Going back home with the experience up in the summit of Mt Napulak is such a triumph especially for us (the applicants).

GOD BLESS CPUMS!

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