TREK San Luis: Back in Aurora

November 08, 2012 Voluntourism

This is our second outreach in the province of Aurora and the adventure just got better.  Thanks to Aurora Off-roaders Club!

TREK San Luis is our 2nd outreach in Aurora and we extended aid to the students Kalapnit Neighborhood Pre-School and Kalapnit Elementary School.

Our group is called TREK or TRails to Empower Kids.

Our 4x4 adventure was rough, bumpy and totally exhilarating.  I am not a fan of fast thrills so my heart was racing as we crossed rivers and big bumps on the road.  It only settled when we got down and started on a short but very relaxing river trek, with very clear waters, colorful river rocks, and lush greens.

Aurora Offroaders in Action

Members of the Aurora Offroaders Club

The community is nestled in a valley and is only accessible by foot.  It is one of those places where I could imagine myself waking up early, sipping a cup of coffee and looking at the mountains surrounding me.

It is a small community and they only have around 50 students.

The sad thing about the schools, which is one of the reasons we chose this as a project site, is the low performance of the students there.

We decided to bring each student their own backpacks, complete with school supplies and toys. For the school, we gave them reading corners each, complete with shelves, educational toys and books and one comfort room. 

We had our usual program – speeches, games, and turn-over of donations. 

Happy to receive her shirt

Distribution of donations

While this was ongoing, we couldn't help but peek at this really long table covered with banana leaves with rice arranged in the middle topped with freshwater shrimps, eel, and vegetables cooked in coconut milk. 

Our hosts offered us a few times but we were shy and told them we wanted to finish the program first.

So, by the time we were done, immediately after saying our prayers, it poured.  Well, not even the rains stopped us from enjoying the feast.

Camp at Digisit Beach

After the outreach, the team camped at Digisit Beach.

When we got to the site our friends from Maria Aurora Outdoors Club were already there and done with preparing our dinner.

Digisit is another good beach camp.  The beach is filled with coconut trees and there are bamboo cottages available.  Fresh water flows from the nearby waterfalls. The best, of course, are the corals forming a reef in front of the beach.

Digisit, our beach camp view

We spent the whole night bonding with friends from MAOC and new friends from the Off-roaders club.  We celebrated our second-year anniversary, which also was my second birthday celebrated with TREK.  

The following day, the waves were a bit too strong so we opted to just stay in the waters near the beach.  Some of the participants left that afternoon while the rest stayed for a tour of Aurora's PAG-ASA Station, Ermita Hill and the famous surfing beach of Baler.

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