We got sunburned to the
max. We were terrified by the waves. We had lots of hitches.
But TREK Fuga turned out to be our best summer 2015 adventure!
We usually do not schedule
TREKs or TRails to Empower Kids' outreach during summer but this year, we decided to squeeze one upon the request
of one of the co-founders of our group, Elias. Plus, we have always
wanted to visit Babuyan Island, or at least I who hasn’t set foot in this
archipelago located north of Luzon. Actually, judging from how fast our slots
for the outreach got filled up so quickly, it was not only me who wanted to see
Fuga Island.
Where is Fuga Island?
Fuga is an island in the municipality of Aparri in Cagayan and is part of
the Babuyan Archipelago. It constitutes one of the 42 barangays of Apparri along with the neighboring islets of Barit and Mabag.
It has six sitios, with Naguillan as the
principal settlement.
It is a three-hour boat
ride from Claveria, Cagayan. There are no regular passenger boats going
to Fuga Islands. Locals say that they sometimes hitch a ride with
fishermen or those who are carrying goods to Claveria for P 170.00 each.
Summer is actually the
best time to go to Fuga Islands because the sea is calmer. This is also
the reason we rushed this TREK. We usually do our missions in August and
December, which is our anniversary month.
The advance team, which I
joined, wanted to start sailing to Fuga before 10:00 AM, as advised by the
locals, but we had to do some errands. So, we started past 11:00 AM and
the sea was already rough and the wind was already blowing hard. The
boatmen had to remove the tarp covering us, which made the ride more
uncomfortable. There was the heat of the sun, the hot exhaust from the
boat’s engines, and the waves that kept tilting the boat.
Imagine what happens when
there is an emergency on the island during the rainy season.
Camping at Naguillan
After almost four hours,
we landed at Sitio Naguillan, and the view that welcomed us reminded us quickly
while we traveled far.
From the beach, we had to climb 232 steps to reach the sitio. We decided to rest first, enjoy the view, and calm our nerves. It was too hot anyway.
This island is truly filled with surprises. This is what awaited us on top of the stairs -- the ruins of the basilica built by the Dominicans.
We decided to set up camp
at Naguillan, which is also at the center of the island. The original
plan was to camp at Musang Beach, located at Sitio Mudoc, but we changed our plans last minute. It was actually a good decision because the residents of
Naguillan made our 3-day camping very convenient. All we wanted was just
running water and a comfort room, but they also allowed us to use their dining
utensils, tables, chairs and even helped cook our meals.
Since we were a day ahead
of the rest of the team, we got to enjoy this part of the island more and had
more time bonding with the locals who shared with us the difficulties of living
on an island surrounded by the perilous
sea.
Helping Fuga
We were there for four
days. On our second day, the rest of the volunteers arrived. We let
them rest first, then we started repacking.
We had our usual backpacks
with school supplies, art set, loot bags, hygiene kits, and slippers. But what made this TREK really special
was the debut of our “Munting Aklatan,” a collaboration between our group and
the United Architects of the Philippines Manila Corinthian Chapter.
We expected the kids to be
there when we repack. They were near us but because of language barriers,
we couldn’t really warm up to each
other. Good thing we had two little ambassadors, Izyan and Drake, and they are masters of play, the universal
language of kids.
The following day, kids
were at the site early. Kids from as far as Sitios Bubog, Mudoc and Simabang walked hours to get to
Naguillan. By 8:00 AM, we were ready but it was too hot and we didn’t
want anyone collapsing from heat stroke.
The first thing we did was
divide the kids per grade and led them to shaded areas. We distributed
art kits and our volunteers guided them into writing and drawing what they
wanted to express. Some groups had extra time, so they also had
storytelling sessions. Our Ilocano speaking volunteers translated for
them.
While this was happening,
some parents joined our volunteers from PAGASA, who conducted “Bagyo 101” or a
short lecture about the weather.
After about an hour or
two, the kids were done.
In Sta. Elena, the TREK before Fuga, we had
difficulties gathering the kids because of the rain. This time, it was
the heat of the sun. Good thing we found an area, under a big tree, with
the breeze coming from the sea. That was where we had our games with the
kids.
After our games, we
distributed their backpacks and then we sent the kids for lunch. Our
hosts, the residents of Naguillan, took care of the meal preparations.
They were a really big help.
While lunch was ongoing,
we formally turned over our mini libraries to the representatives of the six
sitios of Fuga Island. Each library was filled with storybooks and we
promised them that our group is ready to replenish the books for as long as
they take care of the libraries.
We ended the turnover
ceremonies with the distribution of slippers.
Hitting the Beach
Almost a must in every
TREK is the side trip.
Musang Beach is a white sand beach located at the far end
of the island, about a 45-minutes long boat ride. The perfect word to
describe the surrounding blue is mesmerizing.
It was layers of blue --
from the lightest blue ever to aquamarine
to dark blue. I have never seen such beautiful melding of the
color. Even our volunteers from Batanes were amazed.
Most volunteers dove in,
while I chose to spend the afternoon in a hammock, listening to the waves and
my friends talking. It was perfect.
Leaving Fuga
Leaving the island was not without incidents.
It involved looking out in the vast sea for signs of your co-volunteers’ boat, seeing your fellow boat passengers relieve himself in the sea and again, baking under the sun while traversing a tumultuous sea. Well, these are stories I would rather forget than tell or something that should be reserved for post-climbs.
Everything still turned out well and we had a really memorable TREK Fuga.
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