Lance Armstrong

Me and running

 Don’t always see eye to eye

 Some days it hurts more than others

 But it doesn’t mean

 I don’t do it

 I deal with it

 And I keep running because

 Not everything that is good for you

 Always feels good for you

 EVERYDAY IS THE DAY!

USS Midway, San Diego

The photos above are taken from the USS Midway, an impressive aircraft carrier with its 47-year odyssey that saw the end of WWII, Vietnam and Desert Storm.  She was decommissioned in 1992 and is now permanently docked in San Diego as an interactive museum and memorial.  Upper right shows crews fixing the rigging of a much older battleship on display with other historic ships like the Star of India and Berkeley.

On our way back, fires were raging across the mountains close to the freeway which was choked in smoke, while fire-fighting planes and copters drop retardants, but they are no match to the howling wind that threw off smaller cars off the highway.  These were fiery times indeed and as turbulent as the USS Midway's odyssey?  You be the judge.

NASA, Orlando

The photos above are taken at the Kennedy Space Center with Reno and Rey.  Above right is a photo op with real astronauts while the one at the bottom right has unused real rockets and lunar module as background.  They have become obsolete with the advent of the Space Shuttle, so they are used as adornments of a spanking restaurant inside NASA.  

The Grand Canyon, Arizona

The Grand Canyon takes your breath away literally.  It is massive and pre-historic.  The tepees on the bottom left are taken in an Indian reservation near the Grand Canyon.  The visit is one of the best, but I have one regret though, not having rafted the Colorado river below.  Someday I will.     

Yellowstone, Wyoming

The upper left photo shows one geyser among the hundreds of geysers in the area which you can view via a maze of wooden walkways snaking across the geyser valley.  The most famous being, Old Faithful.  Upper right shows remnants of a more recent forest fire, not the 1988 conflagration that destroyed more than a million acre (half the park).  Bottom left shows herds of grazing bison in the background which is a pretty common sight, while bottom right is a ski resort in Jackson Hole.  At first I thought it to be a massive landslide.  Heck, I should know better….

Good Old Yarns

There were many nights when I was a kid when we would gather around Grandpa to listen to his stories.  Some of them are true but most are just yarns to keep us little kids in various states of amazement.  Below is a sampling of his stories.

I. Good Fridays 

These are special days when extraordinary plants, animals and a host of other things show themselves.  Grandpa said they possess healing powers.  He would  gather them together, and in a secret place, draw the juices. If somebody sees what they were doing, drops of blood from that person must also be drawn and mixed with the juices, otherwise the mixture becomes useless.

He said in one Good Friday, he accompanied his cousin in search of those magical juices.  He was an apprentice then and they were walking silently deep in the woods at high noon.  Suddenly , his cousin stopped at the base of a huge tree.  He pointed upwards to the highest branch, and told him to climb up and get a uniquely beautiful orchid. 

He did as told and reached for it.  Suddenly a snake popped out of nowhere and tensed back to strike him in the face!  He was panic stricken but in reflex, he let himself slid through the length of the trunk until he dropped on the ground covered with cuts and bruises.  His cousin all calm and composed told him that the snake guards the orchid alright.  And that although it appeared menacing, it is absolutely harmless. 

To prove this point, his cousin climb up the tree and reached for the orchid. And when the guard snake indeed prepared to bite, he slapped him on the head.  The snake backed down and his cousin was free to wiggle the orchid out of the branch where it has perched.  Grandpa said he used to have scars all over his body for sliding that tree’s very coarse bark, but they mysteriously disappeared after a couple of days.

II. Puppies

Grandpa had a farm not far from the house, and it had an old mango tree.  One twilight as they (with my uncles) were preparing to leave for home which was just about 15 minute walk from the barn, they saw little puppies wandering and sniffing around the tree trunk.  There were about five of them and they were brought to the house and fed with milk.  That same night, they made a cage and placed the puppies inside to prevent them from wandering.  The following morning they looked for the puppies, but they were nowhere to be found!  The cage was still there, empty.

III. Smooth Branch

In the farm in the mountains, there was a very old Kamansi tree.  Curiously, it had a branch with a particularly smooth and polished upper part.  My uncles came home one night from a dance in the next barrio.  There was a full moon and visibility was fine.  They passed by the area and noticed smoke billowing from the Kamansi tree.  As they came near, they saw a giant figure smoking a huge cigar.  It was sitting on that particularly smooth branch with both feet playfully swinging in the air. Sensing their smell, it started to turn, and they started to run!

IV. Stampede

Grandpa’s country house was built beside a road.  One night they were awakened by the sound of a huge stampede.  But the thundering hoof falls were too gigantic to be real.  Grandpa went outside to investigate while the rest were huddled in a corner terrified.  Grandpa stood his ground and faced in the direction where the sound was coming.   Moments later, tiny puppies emerged running towards the sloping road. He said, ”Just puppies, go back to sleep.”  They did.

V. Abandoned House

One night my uncles went home from a dance in the next barrio.  The only road leads to an abandoned house surrounded by old trees.  The second floor was so dilapidated that only a part of the walls and a door frame remained standing without the roof.  At the time, there was a full moon illuminating the entire second floor.  And what they saw made their hair stand! A giant figure was seated there with broad hairy shoulders squeezed tight by the door frame.  He was looking at them.  His shadow falling directly on their path!  

Where The Buck Stops

Spotting wildlife is the main attraction in Yellowstone.  The first sighting of bison lifts your spirit until you see more and more of the beast which is the most common and plentiful in the park.  This is the same place where Dances With Wolves was shot and that awesome bison migration take.

As we were driving we saw buck.  It was sitting in the bush.  I made a right turn towards where it was, ever so careful not to scare it away.  But it just stayed there, looked in our direction then looked away.  This emboldened me to get out of the car and position myself to have a photo opportunity of this huge buck that just sat there in the bush, not a care in the world.

We took more than twenty pics and the buck made just three movements.  Maybe he was too lazy to be bothered by us.  But still it was a rare opportunity you wouldn’t want to miss.

As Big As Your Ear

Willow is an inquisitive little girl.  She smiles big and asks big questions.  One day I saw her totally occupied with duck eggs on a pile of hay and twigs on the ground.  She was trying to separate the big ones from the smaller ones.  I said, Hmmmmm you like eggs, do you?  She said, yeah with that signature big smile.  I stooped down and said, I will tell you a secret.  Her eyes lit and momentarily left her gaze from the eggs to look up at me.  What?  I said, These eggs are delicious, right?  But the best tasting egg you can find is the one that is as big as your ear.  (I made this up of course.)

One by one, she grabbed an egg and hold it against her ear, then looked at me for approval.  Actually all the eggs were almost as big, but when she came to the last one, I said, That’s it, it is just as big as your ear.  She shrieked in delight and I left her to tend to my chore gathering logs with the others.

After a while, Riza asked me to come to the kitchen.  And Willow was there munching on her secret find - a hard boiled egg, and she was enjoying every single bite.  All of us gathered in quiet amusement while she tells the story of how she found the best tasting egg in the world, and that she will not tell exactly how.  She looked at me and winked, It’s a secret, she said.

Avenue of the Giants

In different cars, we drove towards a park by the Eel River which is a long stretch of sparkling water that passes through thick pine forests.  We didn’t know exactly where it’s at but we drove anyway hoping to catch the others along the way.

Armed with no mobile phones and no contact numbers, we just approximated the hour and a half drive to destination.  We continued driving north until we reached a park.  The road darkened as huge trees cover the sun.  We were in the middle of a redwood forest which is part of a chain of redwood parks.  We soon realized we have passed by our destination, but turning back means going back halfway through, so we decided to stay.  With our loud splashes wild ducks flew.  Then things grew quiet.  With walls of pine forest on either direction, and eagles gliding in the vast open space, it feels like the dawn of civilization….

Eco-Comfort

It was a typical four-cornered room with layered twigs for walls giving you that airy feeling, and a cloth for a door.  A hanging wooden button (a chopped tree branch) tells if it’s occupied or not. Just turn Green for “Go” (Yes you can) and Red for “Stop” (Wait for your turn).  After you’re done drop a handful of hay and close the lid, then spray the room with eco air freshener.  All except me use this avant-garde toilet.  Because at the back is the woods, and that’s where I go when nature calls.

Near the end of the program, we finally made ourselves a modern flushable toilet, but we have to use it sparingly.  And in order to conserve water we follow the credo below:

WHEN IT’S YELLOW LET IT MELLOW.
WHEN IT'S BROWN FLUSH IT DOWN!

KOTA PARK

This happened two years ago but I reckon it’s worth telling.  The story in my recollection is exciting, tensed, and totally unexpected.  

I was invited at the inauguration of Madridejos’ KOTA PARK, a rehabilitated Spanish Fort which dates back to the 18^th century, the pinnacle of Spain’s colonization of the country.  Madridejos is a quiet fishing village north of Cebu, Philippines.  It is endowed with white sandy beaches and uniquely crisscrossed by subterranean rivers that water pools inside its many caves.  I was in the area not only for the occasion but also to gather scientific data from a newly established marine sanctuary with a group of divers from Spain, Netherlands and the Philippines.

This Fort (now called KOTA PARK) in the old days was used to protect the islanders against marauding sea pirates.  Now, it is being restored as a cultural heritage site and a tourist attraction.  Fittingly, the Philippines’ tourism secretary Ace Durano was to be the Keynote Speaker in this inauguration.  Ace is the man behind WOW PHILIPPINES, a moniker for his department; while I am spearheading YES PHILIPPINES, a local NGO that fosters culture exchange and international voluntary service.  The similarity in the name WOW PHILIPPINES and YES PHILIPPINES, and the fact that I was with an “international entourage” were to shape the next startling turn of events.  

When I and my group came, most of the invited dignitaries and local officials already arrived.  Among them were four town mayors and a provincial board member.  But for some reason, Ace could not come.  His absence created an unexpected vacuum and the organizers were panic stricken!  I was handed a copy of the program with the horrifying news that I was to fill in the spot of the tourism chief!  I felt like being hit by a bolt of lightning; and I was faced by that Shakespearean question to be or not to be… I can create a lengthy resume not to be, but after a long soliloquy that lasted for about two seconds, I said Who, me? No problem! 

I barely had 30-minutes to prepare for my 5-minute talk when the program started, and the rest they say is history… It was absolutely nerve-racking but I came out unscathed.  I was still smiling long after the applause subsided, and I remember walking differently that day, taller, straighter, prouder.

Coastal Cleanup Day ‘07

I clicked Echo Park at the car’s navigation tool which brought me around Hollywood.  But I can’t park anywhere near Echo Park, so I went back to Santa Monica.  After running an hour or so at the beach’s bike lane, I lazed around the pier just bikini watching.  UHHmmmm… Hey, it was Saturday and the babes came in droves!

After a while, a truck of scuba divers came.  What’s going on?  This is the beach not some dive spot.  But there’s the pier and the concrete pillars make for excellent artificial reef, I thought to myself.  With banners going up flapping in the ocean breeze, I came to realize it was international coastal clean-up day, an event I participate yearly with my dive buddies in the Philippines.  But I’m not diving this time, so I lined up with the others to comb the beach for trash.  I was paired with Kathryn and her 9 year old boy Casey.  I said, It’s so wonderful that you do this with your son.  She said, I’m doing this only for Casey’s science class and all this global warming issues blah blah blah….

Running

Filipino time for me is on-time time but I stretched it a bit too much to on-the-dot time, and today we are flying to Orlando, Florida armed with the same on-the-dot-time-state-of-mind.

From San Francisco we drove to Salinas and hurriedly packed our things going straight to the airport in San Jose to the long-term parking.  Buses go around these huge parking areas to pick up passengers going towards departure.  The first bus that came by was devoid of passengers and the bus driver told us to run towards another bus that’s already half-full.  The bus he was pointing at was several blocks away, and it was already cornering towards the lane going out of long term parking.  We figured, if we run fast enough we can still catch it.  So, we ran as fast we could as if our lives depended upon it.

We caught the bus, and our breath.  After a minute or so, instead of going to the airport’s departure area, the bus moved out of the airport towards a busy highway.  We alighted and our feet became as light as feather as we ran towards the first bus we approached.  Recognizing his mistake, the driver scratched his head and nod at us.  We finally reached departure and we were able to check in on time with the help of a Filipino attendant. 

In Dallas, Texas where we had a stopover, we succumbed to hunger and we lazily ate lunch.  Suddenly, the intercom blared our names being the last passengers to board.  We ran again towards the boarding gate to a half smiling ground crew who looked as if he is ready to chew us had we been a minute more late.

Green Thumb

In this budding perm culture haven in Willits called MELC, we were assigned to weed out an organic garden and fill up patches with decomposing hay.  Max told us to be extra careful with a particularly tiny and delicate plant.  I said, Oh don’t worry about it Max, it will grow up to be a fine plant.

After a while, Max came back to check on us.  He said, Where is it?  I said, where is what?  The tiny plant!  Everybody scrambled and turned every inch of newly dug earth.  After hours of digging (Ok just minutes), there it was, and it was fine, just a little bent, that’s all….  But it was fine Max!  C’mon….

Red Rock, Mt. Charleston and Humming Birds

We were in the Mojave Desert at the Red Rock Canyon which boasts of massive rock outcroppings that is colored – Red. Thus, the name.  The park has about 13 kilometers of paved road designed in such a way to enable the visitor to have a 360 degree vista of the whole canyon.

On our way back the following day, we were at Mt. Charleston, a year-round getaway for Las Vegas' residents and visitors, with a number of hiking trails and a modest ski area.  We were eating in this restaurant and seated at an outdoor table when I heard buzzing.  I looked above.  I thought at first I saw butterflies but I was wrong.  They were hummingbirds hovering above their watering perches (feeders) like miniature hover crafts with their rapid wing beats and unique vertical movements.

Bhima

On the second day of camp, I was running up and down the mountains in this wonderfully preserved pine forest up north in Willits, Mendocino County,  in the Golden State of California.  The day before, our hosts told us about wildlife in the area, and that although spotted seldom and far between, we should be wary of mountain lions and bears, both grizzly and black bears.  Cool!

From the gate I turned right to a dirt road that goes up a hill then snakes as the road slowly goes downhill.  I was a bit pumped up and sweating despite the very low humidity in the air.  In a little clearing I was doing stretches, when suddenly I heard hurried footfalls of a four-legged beast.  I looked up above to see what it was.  But since it was still dark, I only see a flurry black ball speeding up towards me.  I was near panic and flashes of Tristan fighting against the bear, (Legends Of The Fall) and confrontations with the uncanny lions of Tsavo (The Ghost And The Darkness) came before me.

When I came to my senses, the four-legged beast was licking my face with its wet tongue.  It was BHIMA, the dog in camp!

From that day onward, BHIMA runs with me every morning, wakes me up in the tent, and never lets go, lest the nylon netting of the tent’s door will go to pieces.  The dog also accompanies me when I go visit and fertilize the forest.  The eco-toilet that was made for us can hardly beat the natural beauty of the woods all by myself.  Ahh no, the woods that I and BHIMA share together!