There
isn't much to write about that day – we didn't dive. Our team divided
into two groups: the majority went to watch cockfights, while the four
of us, including myself, returned to the waterfall. Cockfighting is one
of the main attractions in the Philippines. It is a horrible, bloody
spectacle; and I will let somebody else tell about it. I didn't even
want to look at it.
At the waterfalls Julia wanted to shoot a scene for her TV project. The
original plan was to take two rafts: one for Julia and Tanya to go
under the waterfall and the other one to film them from. But
unfortunately, the place was packed with tourists. The only two rafts
were full and many more people were waiting for their turn. So we had
to be content with just one raft. While Julia and Tania were dressing
up, I and another girl, Oksana, went under the fall to experience its
hard shower once more. I took a camera with me and filmed the entire
process, thanks to the fact that my little Sanyo could shoot in the
water.
Then Julia and Tania took the raft, and Oksana filmed them from
the shore. After the filming was over, we set off to climb higher into
the mountains to reach the second and third waterfalls. They are much
smaller, but the third waterfall adjoins a small lake. We took note of
its unspoiled natural beauty during our canyoning adventure three days
earlier and wanted to come back since then. Julia thought that the lake
scene would make an excellent addition to her show. Unfortunately, that
place was full of people too. The serene beauty of the Philippine's
nature was disturbed; the spell was broken; and filming made no sense.
We made a stop at a small restaurant beside the lake to taste local
coconuts.
 |
| The
dam |
Coconuts grow right there on the trees. They are offered to tourists on
the spot: torn off a tree, then the top is chopped off with a huge
knife, and a straw is inserted into the hole. Fresh coconut milk has a
different taste than canned. For some reason, canned coconut milk is
very sweet and sugary. In fact, too sweet for me. On the contrary,
fresh coconut milk is only mildly sweet, and I quite enjoyed it. Once
the milk is drunk, the coconut is cut in half. Then with a spoon or
just a scraper made of the shell of the same coconut, you can rake out
the inner white layer of coconut pulp, which is also very tasty.
It was getting late so we made for the hotel. On our way back we passed
a small hydroelectric power plant, which supplied electricity to the
village near the waterfall. Just above the falls there is the dam,
which entraps part of the river's flow and directs the water to the
turbines through pipes. Our guide told us that when the turbines are
turned off, the waterfall becomes larger.
When we returned to the hotel, it was already dark. And we were
surprised to find that the others hadn’t returned yet. Obviously the
cockfights dragged on. But finally all gathered together and we had a
dinner. And after dinner, in conclusion of the day, we had another
freediving theory lesson.
The end of the eighth day.
The text, the photos and
the video ©
2010 Sergey Stadnik
The music compositions
used in the video are: "Twin Peaks Theme" by DJ Dado, "Straight
Lines" by Silverchair, "Too Much Rain" by ATB.
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