Try Walking on a Host of Pathogens!

Pung-ol Sibugay. That range of mountains near Taptap, where the highway leads to scenic sights of Cantipla, Gaas, Magsaysay, Mt. Manunggal, and others. You don’t have to go far. Stand barefoot at that waiting shed in Cantipla 1 (the waiting shed courtesy of San Miguel Corporation, hence it also comes with a name: “San Miguel”). I suggest this place if you want to hide from civilization and yet want to connect to it through your cellular phone; the signal is good here. Look at the view in front of you; on days when the dark clouds rule the earth, you only catch a glimmer of a village with two names: Pung-ol Sibugay. Pung-ol is one sitio; the other is Sibugay. When these people decided to unite as one, they probably could not agree on a single name, hence the two names, in order to please everyone. The name is not even separated by a hyphen.

Fancy yourself going down those hills one day when the sun is up in the sky, not when the grounds are wet with rain. Enjoy what you’ll see: Gardens of flowers. Gardens of vegetables that could sustain a soul in seasons of want (which the Spaniards call “tiempo muerte,” literally, “season of death”). Six does and two bucks, of the mammalia called Anglo-Nubian. A few chickens. Small huts hugging the good earth.

The earth is not often good. Read more>>>