Spider-Man In The Batcave

DAY 434: The roosters crowed and the pigs squealed as the sun illuminated my Tita Agie's old room (who relocated to Texas) where I was sleeping. And then, there was a slight rumbling that mildly vibrated the bed.

Spider-sense tingling. Is that an earthquake?

The sensation of being in a quake was still familiar to me after that 5.8 I experienced in Tokyo at Liz and Hiroshi's. The shaking went away and I assumed it was nothing more than the rumbling of the water well pump or something. No one else on the farm spoke of any tremor anyway.

BY 8 A.M. WE WERE ALL in the minivan for a family outing, even though we planned to leave by seven. "Kuya [Big Brother] Erik, see I told you it wouldn't be until eight o'clock," my cousin Imay pointed out.

"Yeah, Filipino Time," I said.

The family outing was to Biak Na Bato National Park, which translates to "Broken Stone National Park," a place frequented by local tourists since its establishment in 1937. The former short-lived Biak Na Bato Republic, founded by President Emilio Aguinaldo in 1897, which eventually became the headquarters of the Philippine Revolutionary Government in the rebellion against Spain, is now a big 2,117-hectare nature reserve of swimming holes, hiking trails, hanging bridges over the Balaong River, and numerous caves to explore.

After driving the hour or so through the countryside, passed the rice farmers drying their rice in the road, my relatives and I took to the bridges and hiking trails -- some paved, some not -- which went up and down the "Broken Stone" of the Sierra Madre mountain range. Every so often we would stop for an obligatory "picture time," for a group photo. We went rock scrambling (some call it "bouldering") in the Bahay Paniki Cave (picture above), a huge cave full of bats illuminated by the sun rays peering from an opening on the other side of the cavern. We walked through the flowing streams that wove through the rock formations, hopping from stone to broken stone and climbed big limestone boulders. With my previous climbing experience, I was able to zip up faster than most of my cousins.

"Mr. Adventure," my cousin Chie called out. "You're like Spider-Man."

"Yeah, Spider-Man."

We went up and down, exploring the big bat cave for as long as we could take it. With the many bats flying above our heads (and the occasional dead one on the floor), there was a literal shitload of bat shit, or guano, everywhere, and the stench was baho (bad smelling) and overwhelming.

I don't know how The Caped Crusader can stand it, I thought. He must have some really good industrial strength Bat Air Deodorizer in his utility belt. (Or maybe just a lot of Stick'ums.)

After some more trekking, we went off to explore the darker Santol Cave, a bat cave so dark it required a lamp and a guide -- my Tito Al hired one for us for an hour. The guide led us through the darkness, passed the stalactites and stalagmites, where we wandered around and took more group photos, wary of anaconda attacks since we had seen that Anacondas movie the night before. At one point I felt some little animal bump into me and crawl up my leg -- I simply brushed it off. I thought perhaps it was a lone bat that lost its way.

AFTER A PICNIC LUNCH OF RICE, paksiw (a pork stew), and dinuguan (pork chitlins stewed in a pork blood gravy), it was back off to the ranch in Bulacan for a brief session of throwing Pop Snap mini-firecrackers at each other and a final family group photo. Afterwards, some of us battled the jeepney traffic and head back to Manila. My Tito Ruben and family dropped me off back in the Greenhills district of Manila at my Tito Mike, Tita Connie and Lola Nene's house, where I chat with them for a bit before a session with my laptop to catch up on Blog duties. I was interrupted though, by breaking news coming from CNN on the television.

Reports of the massive earthquake in Indonesia that caused destructive tsunami waves in most of southern Asia were coming in, live from Thailand, India, and Sri Lanka.

Oh, it was an earthquake I felt this morning. My Spider-sense was right after all.

CNN International over-dramaticized the event the way TV media usually does, and I couldn't help but feel restless hearing the reports. "Eight point nine on the Richter scale." "Fifth largest earthquake recorded in history." I felt like a superhero powerless to use his powers, stranded in Metro Manila, out of harm's way.

Seeing the reports out of Thailand and India, my thoughts immediately turned to certain people, one being The American Journalist based out of Bangkok who could have been anywhere in the area during the catastrophe. I'm sure she was okay though, probably swamped with covering the disaster for her network, or being a guest correspondent on that other international television news network she sometimes appeared on.

"So if a bomb went off in Bangkok, you'd have to run off like Batman?" I asked her in our meeting that one night in Bangkok.

"Yeah, if something was going on, I wouldn't have been able to see you."

My thoughts also went towards friends and colleagues in Indonesia and Singapore, as well as the group in Chennai, India: "cousin" Chrissy, Kenneth and my "surrogate Indian mother" Geeta. Initial reports on the television said that Chennai got hit pretty badly with fatalities in the thousands.

As restless as a superhero in detention, the only thing I could do was call them and hope they were well -- but I only got voicemail on both accounts and simply left messages hoping they were okay, before I'd be out of reach in the rural northern countryside the next day. That was all I could do for the meantime; after all, as much as I can infer superheroes as a literary device in a Blog entry, the bottom line is, I am merely just a mortal human being with human emotions -- and quite possibly some sort of Spider-sense.

If you enjoy this daily travel blog, please post a comment! Give me suggestions, send me on missions, let me know how things are going back home in the USA. Knowing that I have an audience will only force me to make this blog more entertaining as the days go by. Don´t forget to bookmark it and let a friend know!

Posted by Erik on December 29, 2004 06:17 PM
TrackBack | Category: Philippines

HERE ARE THREE MORE ENTRIES for you to ring in the New Year with!

First of all, let me say, WOW! Look at all the people come out of the woodwork for the holidays! Thank you everyone, and Happy New Year!

SOME REPLIES TO YOUR COMMENTS:

ROSE: Don't be too saddened about the weather; I think I appreciate a white Christmas over a tropical one... at least for that one day.

R.C.W.: Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to everyone! I hope no lumps of coal this year, but plenty of Perfection!

STEPHANIE: Bummer about the ABS-CBN interview. Sayang. And yes, I'll be hitting many of the places you mentioned.

MICHELLE: Aw, back home in MI already? How's "re-entry syndrome" after a long-term RTW? See you soon...

SEBASTIAN: Happy festivus to you to! See you at the Newton wave pool.

KUYA OMBET: Hey there! How y'all doing there in Texas? Happy New Year to everyone there!

HEATHERB: Godspeed and good luck. You're gonna love it.

ALI: So now that Michelle's Blog is over, you don't have to sneak around reading mine... hahaha... Hold up, you're in NYC?

NICOLE/AJEEP8U: In PI until Jan. 22.

DTELLA: Miss you guys too. I'll be back before you know it, with all those Thai recipes.

KOCO: Aloha! Great to hear you're following along... Plus you managed to find my "Bambi Revisited" trailer; funny, huh?

(Anyone interested, go to www.eeyartee.com ; it's in the video section.)

DORY: Hey there! I was wondering if you were still out there; as of now, I'll be in B.C. the last weekend of February... will you and Jen be around for some snowboarding?

NOELLE: I have no idea what this means. Such is the drama of RTW travel.

A.J.: Wow, even you're here reading along! Great to hear from you. Want s'mo'? Keep on reading!

HARRY: Yeah, save that spot for me. ;)

EVERYONE ELSE: Sorry, I can't get to everyone... but thanks for your comments and HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!

Posted by: Erik TGT on December 29, 2004 07:00 AM

First! woo.

i was going to go to bed early tonight, until i noticed "Blog" was updated. it is now 6:08am EST.

i hope you hear from your friends soon, erik.

have a happy new year, everyone.

Posted by: Alyson on December 29, 2004 07:21 AM

Erik: The devastation from the tsunamis is too much to fathom. The death toll is now over 67,000 people. I hope your surrogate family in India is ok. Have you tried calling again?

Posted by: Janice on December 29, 2004 11:35 AM

Wishing everyone a Happy New Year and in that spirit please support efforts in South Asia. Heres a quick link:
https://www.redcross.org/donate/donation-form.asp

Posted by: simf2p on December 29, 2004 12:13 PM

Hey! Glad to see you're still alive and well and livin' it up around the globe. Happy New Year! And if you're ever in Seattle, be sure to look me up.

Cheers
~MAG

Posted by: Michael Alan Goldberg on December 30, 2004 02:48 AM

ERIK: Happy New Year! Our plans have completely changed (AGAIN)... we will be in Australia in February...Glad to hear that you are safe~Aviva & Moe

Posted by: Aviva & Moe on December 30, 2004 10:16 AM

JANICE: Latest figures from news here is the death toll is a tear-jerking 88,000 so far, not including the victims as far as Somalia in Africa. People predict the aftermath epidemic will double that number. :(

Posted by: Erik TGT on December 30, 2004 10:07 PM

GOLDBERG! Hey man, so have you been reading this thing all year-long? I'll eventually make it to Seattle sometime, perhaps in 2005, one day... Keep the coffee warm.

Posted by: Erik TGT on December 30, 2004 10:09 PM

FOR THE CONCERNED: Chrissy is fine; she was in Mumbai at the time. Kenneth, Geeta and the Chennai crew are all safe... The American Journalist is fine; she is swamped now, sorting out the daily death counts.

ACTVers: Henricus just sent me an e-mail; he's fine too. This is one case his catch phrase, "You're so dead, maan!" didn't ring true.

Posted by: Erik TGT on December 30, 2004 10:13 PM

HAPPY NEW YEAR FROM THE PHILIPPINES! I am currently in Paranaque, suburb of Manila, at my relatives' on my dad's side. Thank goodness I have instructions.

This is most likely my last transmission for 2004. HAPPY NEW YEAR to all of you around the world! I'll see you all next year -- with the time zone advantage, I'll be in the future before most of you all are!

MORE TO COME from the year 2005...

Posted by: Erik TGT on December 30, 2004 10:19 PM

happy new year, erik! you,ll going to experience the new year in the philippines and becareful with the firecrackers!!! happy new year to all the blog readers too!

Posted by: tita agie, tito boy and ombet on December 30, 2004 11:52 PM

Hey Dude,

Happy New Years, no doubt!! I heard it's a tradition in the Philippenes to jump up and down as good luck for the New Year. My best friends' dad does that all the time. But he kids around a lot so I don't know if it's true. True?

Anyhow, hope you have a happy one. See you upon my return from Australia....

Word Life.

Moman!!

Posted by: Supreme Moman on December 31, 2004 11:44 AM

Just preparing for the New Year Fesitivities here......we are doing the annual New Years Eve Fundue Fondue!!!

Happy New Year Erik and all TGT SBR's, and TGT BR's!

Lisa
:)

Posted by: Lisa on December 31, 2004 04:31 PM

ERIK! Happy new year dude! I'm writing from San Francisco where Liza and I are wrapping up our own mini-RTC ('round the COUNTRY) for the past month. But we don't have a fancy-pants blog like you. It's still 2004 here - we're headed out to celebrate in an hour. Dick Clark had a stroke so Regis is pinch-hitting the New Years Rockin' Eve this year.
Am so glad to hear you were out of harms way of the Tsunami - Henricus too. It sounds like you're having a blast with your family in PI - can't wait for you to get back to NYC.

Posted by: dunlavey on December 31, 2004 10:39 PM