My adventure started right after having breakfast with a young man named Man-Iw. Man-Iw is from the Hanuno'o tribe. He visits with us every time we visit Mansalay (the town where we stay while in Mindoro). Man-Iw is writing a book about the history of his people. What an undertaking he is doing! He stated that he is on his third book but only has published a book of poems. Ok, I need to get back to my adventure, I sort of went off on a tangent!
As we sat in the van ready to drive up into the mountains for our visit I started to have stomach cramps...I thought...uh-oh...for me stomach cramps usually meant diarrhea *sigh*. I can't take anything for it neither because of my medical condition. So, I had to figure out quickly if I could make this trip or not. I decided to take the chance. I was prepared with wipes which I carry all the time everywhere. I told my husband, "Well, I guess I'll have to find the nearest bush to go if I needed to." I was half joking. My husband just looked at me.
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| What a view...spectacular!! |
After getting up the mountain and into the village my cramping got worse. We still had an hour hike to Man-Iw's. I was still determined to go on. Stupid me wanted to challenge myself with this hike. My health usually stops me from enjoying stuff like this. And it certainly looked like it was going to, once again! Phooey!! My husband continued to ask me if I was doing ok...my answer was always, "Yes." I really wasn't. In fact, 10 minutes into the hike, the cramping was so intense I got light-headed and had to stop. "Hay naku" (Oh my gosh)! *gurgle, gurgle* Yep -- diarrhea!
I apologized profusely to everyone, Arnel, Man-Iw and his auntie, Lalie. We headed back to the village with Arnel lecturing me about not being fit and healthy enough to hike like this. Of course, he was right but I told him I had wanted to challenge myself and build up my endurance for stuff like this. We were there to disciple and by golly I was going to hike to Man-Iw's family home to do just that! Nope --- we headed back to the village. Arnel, Auntie Lalie and Man-Iw talked among themselves as I silently concentrated with each step with "don't poop, don't poop...". They decided that we would go to Auntie Lalie's home instead. They told me this and I thought, ok! Well, it's the one by the road from where we were standing at that moment. No, it wasn't!
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| The "Don't Poop" hike. |
We hiked another 15 minutes in the opposite direction down the mountain from the village. There was lots of shade, that was good. And thank goodness my cramping calmed down -- that was until we got to her house where it started up again in full force. Does a bear poop in the forest? YES...is my answer! In fact, it was my "bare" butt and in a tropical forest! Sorry folks from here on out the story gets a bit gross...
When you have the urgency to go there is absolutely no choice in the matter where you go! These people don't have CR's (comfort rooms -- public bathrooms) up here on top of this mountain! I told my husband I just have to do it. I have to go find the nearest bush. Even if he tried to get me down off the mountain and back to Bayan (Mansalay town proper) I wouldn't have made it and would have pooped my pants! Man-Iw's cousin, Maria, poor girl, was my care taker. And care for me, she did, too! She helped me find that nearest bush, which wasn't so near and I almost messed my pants the four separate times she helped me find "the spot". Unbelievable!
It's the rainy season, so mosquitoes and flies are out in full force. Yuck-oh!!! I have bites on my butt and thighs. When you stick it out like that you are bound to get bit!!! I'm just glad it wasn't from a spider or ants. Though, my second spot was full of those big red ants and I had to back out fast and yell for Maria that I needed a new "spot". Poor Maria, I felt so bad for her but she was very sweet about this entire issue and even helped me walk a few times to and from the "spots" because of tripping over the uneven terrain. She even interrupted her cooking once to take me out into the forest.
It's a good thing I tote those wipes (Cottonelle, Folks -- only way to go! Hahaha, sorry that wasn't suppose to be a pun -- but there it is!) Despite feeling ill, it was very relaxing fellowshipping with Man-Iw and his extended family. We stayed for lunch even though I could barely eat it because of my stomach. It was very tasty and simple. Just chicken boiled with lemongrass and rice. We drank fresh coconut juice right out of the coconut, which did help my stomach some. They were all worried because I wasn't eating much. I assured them I was ok and tried to eat as much as I could under the circumstances.
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| The lower left are the coconuts we drank from. |
Ok, here is the gross part...in order to get the essence of my situation I need to share this...ready? Here we go... As a "spot" was found I was handed a small jug of water -- I knew that it was for washing myself after going because it is the customary way to clean after going here in the Philippines. Up in the mountains they don't use toilet paper. I didn't use it for this purpose I had the wipes to take care of that job! When I was "finished" I poured the water over the poo. The mosquitoes and flies that found me were swarming over it, too. Wholly swarm, Batman...I figured the water was better spent washing away the poo than on me and would take care of the mosquitoes and flies also. As for the wipes, they are disposable. They would disintegrate in time. And, even though everyone knew what I was doing in the forest I still didn't want them to know where I was...so, I did what all the animals of the forest do...I back-kicked dirt and leaves over where I went. D.O.N.E...done, done, done!
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