Here’s wishing all my American brothers and sisters a Happy Independence Day! The freedoms we have fought to defend and preserve these past 244 years are once again under attack, this time from within our borders. Have we lost our will to stand against tyranny and oppression?
I still have faith in my fellow citizens.
I reveled in some newly regained freedoms last night. First stop was the Hot Zone bar. It was me, two other customers, and the owner, Jay. Two waitresses, no dancers. Still, it’s a start. I had one beer and headed out.
Every other chair was turned upside down to ensure proper social distancing. That’s not going to encourage anyone to buy a lady drink for a gal who can’t even sit next to you.
After leaving Hot Zone I made my way down the highway to my “new normal” regular hangout, “Gomans”. Except it is not Gomans anymore. The business has now met all current quarantine requirements and is legally open once again. I can now reveal the real name of this establishment: Mango’s. I enjoyed some dine-in food with my beers but pretty much had the place to myself. I told the manager I’d help spread the word about their re-opening on social media. Wishing them well as we move forward.
I had a full moon to guide me as I stumbled walked home last night.
For yesterday’s hike, Scott drove us out ten kilometers or so to Castillejos for a trek up to Balon falls and through the Aeta (Filipino indigenous people) resettlement village.
We also passed by the PREDA Foundation (People’s recovery empowerment and development assistance) headquarters. As I understand it, it is a rescue operation for used and abused underage girls and boys. I’m not sure, but I guess volunteers there could be called Predators, right?Things started out innocently enough…It was supposed to be a relatively easy hike, with one small climb.But then we apparently missed a turn and things got dicey in a hurry. Like there was no longer a discernable trail to follow, so we had to blaze one.Why didn’t we just turn back? I was asking myself that very question as we were reduced to crawling through the jungle-like bushes on our hands and knees in places. And oh yeah, lots of those bushes were sticker bushes. We definitely left some blood on the trail.Onward and upward we plodded and climbed until we had achieved much more elevation than we had intended.It was a strenuous climb and scary in places, but at last, we reached the summit. And guess what? We could not find a trail down the other side. Every place we tried to go down had a cliff-like drop. What to do? Admit defeat and retreat to from whence we came.And the hike down was as difficult as the climb up had been. Lots of sliding down on your ass required.But we made it back down to our intended path without serious injury.The creek that feeds the falls. Speaking of which, Scott slipped on a rock and had a refreshing fall into the water.Local folks enjoying some relaxation creekside…We eventually made our way into the Aeta village.And I of course did my candy and cookies thing…Now, this is the kind of hiking I’m best suited for these days…Village life.The natives were friendly giving us guidance on the best route back to the car.I never saw a pink cow (carabao) before. Maybe it’s been cross-bred with a pig?New roads, new vistas.Hurry up, damn it!Time to go home.
It turned about to be a pretty arduous day. Glad to have got through it with just a few scrapes and scratches. Things don’t always go they way you intend, but I guess that provides an element of adventure.
Monday I’ll be Hare along with Scott and Jim for the Hash trail. We are pretty much just going to use what we scouted on our Wednesday hike this week.
This afternoon, Jessa is coming over along with some of her girlfriends. I’ll be serving spaghetti and meatballs for our meal.
And that’s how this free man is living his free life. Such as it is.
1 thought on “Live free or die”
A single missed turn can completely alter your day. Happy Fourth!
A single missed turn can completely alter your day. Happy Fourth!