Rediscovering Danac, Sugpon, Ilocos Sur

A continuation to my 888 post.

Alright, last week, just got back from my grandma’s memorial services. I reported to work for two days and then I got sick. I was alone surviving for three days.


Anyway, the trip to back to my lola's barrio was rewarding.

And here’s what made it even exciting.

Going upstream the Amburayan river (on a bangka) against a strong current, it's a bit terrifying, never mind if I'd get wet but with a camera at hand, I would have preferred to walk.
We actually had to make a stop. Trying to save our shorts, we took them off wearing only an underwear from waste down, my niece saw this and got me painted. Aww!
Trekking a very narrow path. This one's even more scary. Imagine trying to keep your balance here with barely about 5 inches wide steps, sakto lang sa isang paa. One mistake at aabangan ka na ng mga bato at malakas na agos ng ilog sa baba.
That was before. Digging deeper it is now almost half a meter wide. But it's always advisable to never look down. Nakakahilo. And so I got dizzy looking down at the river below, makapicture lang. This is the river, bird's eye view, which looks a lot better during summer when the water is clear. This picture was taken summertime, the same spot, from a different angle: Now, the falls.

This is actually a view from my grandma’s house, the falls, which about a kilometer away. I spent almost half of my childhood years in this barrio and I never got tired looking at it. Approximately, it's about 100 meters tall. Is has a small pool below although not big enough for swimming. (As a kid, I never dared going there myself because of a myth about a huge snake nesting under the rocks.) The falls dries out during summer so you only get to see falling waters during the rainy season.

Siyempre naligo. And yet another smaller falls near the area. And this one's my favorite. I call it the falling waters though it doesn't look like a falls to me, if enlarged, you'll notice umaagos lang ang tubig sa mga halaman, coming from about 15 meters above. And I love the sound it creates. Relaxing kumbaga. Too bad after this shot, umayaw na camera ko. I would have taken a full length shot. Reviewing the photos later, almost everything is just so green. I love it.

Thanks everyone for the condolences and thanks to the kindness of my coworkers who volunteered as my reliever during my absence. I almost didn't make it and It would be a lifetime of regret on my part if I wasn’t there. I didn’t cry for some reason and I even managed to go out and took some seemingly “vacation photos” like these. But when it was time to walk back and leave, that’s when I felt like I missed something and couldn’t hold back my tears. I dropped by my grandma’s grave, prayed and bid her goodbye...