Pamulaklakin Forest Trail!

We had been hearing about a really interesting hike another group of Trainees had the opportunity to go on and we were chomping at the bit to do it ourselves.  It finally all worked out and we were able to go on the Pumulaklakin Forest Trail on Thursday!  We were guided through the forest by a member of the indigenous tribe called the Aetas.  He showed us a bunch of plants growing in the forest and explained how his people use them in their lives.  Just as we began our hike, our guide uttered the "quote of the day":

"Walang dengue dito, malaria lang!"

Translation: "There's no Dengue here, just malaria"

Reassuring...?

The first stop was a plant whose leaves you can grind up and squeeze liquid from, to put on bug bites if they're really itchy. 

As you can see, Karla really liked the idea!

The next stop was a tree whose bark they slice off to use to fight malaria.  Our guide chopped off a piece of bark to reveal a white, juicy under layer.  You have to boil the bark in water to make a medicinal drink; do this 3 times per day and your bout with malaria will be more tolerable!

I'm not sure what the name of this "limb" is, but our guide went trekking off trail through the brush to get it!  He brought it back and sliced it with his machete.  Out ran water!  We all got to taste the clear liquid oozing from the center of the hollow branch and now we'll know what to look for if we ever get stranded in the forest!

Gorgeous scenery.  Aside from it being ridiculously hot, I was so in my element out in the woods!

One of the most popular dishes in the Philippines is adobo: chicken adobo, pork adobo, etc.  The Aetas make adobo as well but they don't have vinegar--which is one of the main ingredients.  Instead, they use this leaf (being nibbled on by DiDi and Hunter below) because when chewed up or pulverized, it tastes like vinegar!

After the hike, we got to cool down by the stream and it was the cleanest water we've seen so far in the Philippines!

This bridge used to lead to the picnic area but was destroyed by a recent tsunami
because the water got so high and so strong.

Boil this in water, consume 3x per day and your kidney stones will be gone!

Mountain hut!

Couldn't resist

After the hike, our group was handed over to another member of the Aeta tribe to learn more about their people.  This guy showed us how to make fire using only bamboo, how to make traps for chickens and monkeys, and even gave us a "hair massage"!

The group watching intently.

Shaving off some bamboo scrapings with his machete to start a fire.

Giving Ester, one of our LCFs, a hair massage!  He stuck a small stick of bamboo under our hair and rolled a cross section of a branch on top.  Everyone else enjoyed it but I don't need to experience it again....

When he got to Fe, she turned the tables on him and gave him a little head massage instead!

Modeling the chicken trap.  The chicken steps on the opening in the middle, which triggers the branch to snap up, and the slip knot on the string to close around the chicken's foot!  He played the chicken for us, sound effects and all!

This is the monkey trap!  The monkey sticks his hand in the hole (like so) to get the bananas and triggers the branch to snap up and the string closes around the monkey hand!  Don't forget to cover the string in pepper, though, or the monkey will bite right through it!

After our amazing hike through the forest, we stopped at the Museum of Olongapo to learn a little more about where we've been staying.  There were a lot of exhibits explaining the history of the area and the significance of the military presence and the naval base here in Subic, but the main thing I remember is how Olongapo got its name.  It goes something like this:

Many hundreds of years ago, there was a tribe of people living in the area.  The chief's name was Apo and one day his headless body was discovered outside the village.  A few days later, his head was found skewered on a branch.  It turns out, he had sacrificed himself to another tribe that was about to attack his village, so that his village would be spared. In his honor, the area was named after him:

Ulo = head

Ulo ng Apo (Head of Apo)

became

Olongapo