On the road for two days...

The past two days have been spent on the road.

Last Friday, I got up at 2:30AM and was already at the office by 3:30AM. But I wasn't the only Smartee who woke up that early. About seventy other colleagues from other departments arrived at the office by 4AM for a road trip.

Almost three hours on board a bus, and about an hour of a very, very, very bumpy jeepney ride, we reached our destination.

Concepcion Banahaw at the foot of the Mt. Banahaw in Sariaya, Quezon.

The task for my colleagues was to plant various fruit-bearing and endemic seedlings as part of the company's environmental CSR program. My purpose, on the other hand, was to talk to the locals and get some material for a story.

There is something about being in the countryside. I love it when I'm there, and I can say that every chance I get to visit a far-flung barrio is a happy moment for me.

Believe it or not, electricity, cellphone signal, even the Internet, become least of my concerns when I go to a barrio. I remember my Pahinungod days when I would do visits to potential immersion sites and there'd be completely no electricity, no cell signal, no Internet, no decent washroom, and I'd be fine. I'd be just fine. Probably because I am reminded that people still survive even without all these comforts.

Anyway, I got to interview a community organizer and some locals at the community where we planted. And every time, every time, I get to talk to locals, I am always moved by their stories.

We headed back to Manila by 4PM. My body is so sore from the jeepney ride, and a hike to a neighboring barrio to visit some trees that were planted years ago, but it was okay. It is experiences like this that remind of what I'd like to get myself into one day.

Meanwhile, yesterday I got up at a later time - 4:30AM (haha!) - and was out of the house by 5AM. Colleague Nova and I were headed to Olongapo this time to attend the culminating activity of a Community-based Flood Early Warning System program.

Since we were both super tired from the Banahaw trip, we were both fast asleep even before we reached Bulacan. Hehe! We got to take the new Subic-Clark-Tarlac Expressway aka SCTEX and I love it. No traffic at all, and the travel time to get to Subic is now much, much faster! The toll fee's a bit expensive though. Right now, it's still P112, but the toll guy said it'll be about P181. Ouch!

Our first activity in Olongapo was to attend an emergency drill of two barangays, in case of a flash flood. After the drill, we were on the road again for about two hours. We headed to a small barangay in Botolan, Zambales to visit the barangay where a batingaw was installed. I got to talk to the barangay captain and a Barangay Disaster Coordinating Council staff and asked them about the local situation when it floods. That's when I further understood the importance of simple early warning devices such as the batingaw.

The thing about living in the city is that I forget that when disaster strikes and there's no electricity, no power, one doesn't have any choice but to go back to the basics.

In the afternoon, we were back in Olongapo for the culminating activity of the city's Multi-Hazard Mapping. Spent about half an hour listening to talks about landslides and flash floods. A bit technical but very informative. Hehe!

By 5PM, we were on the way back to Manila. Of course, we passed by Subic first for some duty free shopping. Hehehe!

That's basically how the past two days went. So today, I think I will spend the day just relaxing.