Travelogue: CDO Rafting

The last time I was here was more than 10 years ago and even then I fell in love with this city. It wasn't too large nor too small for my taste. And even now even with more traffic it still offers the perfect mix of city and outdoor living. You get many shopping malls, an active night scene but still enjoy fresh air and cool breezes. Just a few minutes commute and you have beaches, rivers, mountains and streams.

During the years Cagayan de Oro City "the City of Golden Friendship" has become a tourist destination. Among it's more popular draws are the longest dual zipline in Asia and the white river rafting. Technically both aren't located in Cagayan de Oro but rather in the adjacent province of Bukidnon but CDO serves as the staging point having the nearest airport.

The white water rafting is a must for those visiting CDO. There are already about 6 rafting organizers that you can contact. During our visit, we made arrangements with Kagay. There are 4 levels of rafting difficulty you can choose from: beginner, advanced, and 2 high level options. They differ in the roughness of the rapids. Even if it is your first time I strongly suggest that you skip the beginner and take the Advanced course.

Kagay offers the Advanced course at P1300/head which includes transportation to and from the river. If you are travelling in a party of less than 6, I suggest you make your reservation in advance and schedule it during the weekends since there has to be a minimum of 6 persons on a raft. The Advanced course consists of 24 rapids along a 16km stretch of the Cagayan River which will take you about 4 hours to complete. For an additional P300 you get an additional guide to serve as a photographer - this is highly recommended because you'll want to have many remembrances of this experience.

Make no mistake, this isn't a sightseeing boat ride. This is an authentic rafting experience and even though every safety precaution is taken, expect the possibility of minor injuries or bruises especially if you fall off the raft, or if your raft capsizes... and expect to get very wet and cold. (Of course it wouldn't be as memorable if no one falls off).

The tour starts with a short briefing on what to do if you fall off the raft, when to paddle and other instructions. 2 guides go with your group on the raft while the photographer (which you really should get) takes a kayak and goes ahead.

This alone makes it work the trip to Cagayan de Oro and it would be a sin not to experience this if you haven't been rafting before. I should know - I fell off the raft and I now know how important "Don't Panic" really is when you're in the water.

PS: for maximum enjoyment go during the rainy season when the river swells and the rapids are larger and the current stronger :)

Forgiving AND Forgetting I

The 1st ever automated elections in the country has just been concluded and most of the winners have been proclaimed. Noynoy Aquino will be the next President of the Philippines.

He is the son of former President Corazon "Cory" Aquino,  who was a plain housewife until she was swept up into politics when her husband (and Noynoy's father) Senator Benigno Aquino, Jr. was assassinated in 1983 by the alleged order of then dicatator President Ferdinand Marcos.

Cory ran for president in the elections of 1986 and won despite rampant cheating. But Marcos overruled the election results and declared himself as the winner. The following turn of events led to millions of people flooding into the streets of EDSA in what would be known as People Power and overthrew President Marcos and his 20-year dictatorship and billions of $$$ of the country's money in their bank accounts.

Cory was proclaimed president. She had no political experience and the country suffered from the poor advice that was given by her Cabinet but still, it was she who was the reason the country was free from the dictator.

Fast forward to 2009 and 3 presidents later. People sick and tired of the corrupt government, Cory, living a private life but succumbing to colon cancer died in 2009. Suddenly the spark of unity that brought People Power and was long thought gone was rekindled. Thousands if not millions of people lined the several kilometers of roads from the church where her wake was held to the cemetery where she would be buried. The whole nation paid tribute to the lady who brought democracy back to the Philippines...

... and then these show of massive gratitude gave some people the idea to persuade Cory's son, Noynoy to run for president in the just concluded elections. He didn't want to nor did he plan to. But maybe the pressure was too much that he agreed to run for president.

Like his mother, it really appears that he has the Nation's best interests in heart. But like his mother he isn't really experienced (even if he already is a senator). Maybe if it was a dictator he was running against, his relative inexperience would not matter. But restoring the image of a democratic but corrupt government needs more than a good heart.

For the first time, there were presidential candidates who needed to change the country but the people used their hearts and not their minds.

Maybe we made the right deciscion, Maybe.

The Filipino Isn’t Stupid

… but it seems we still don’t know how to properly address our concerns.

On May 10, this country will be having it’s National Elections. It will also be the first ever automated elections the country will (maybe) have. During the past months, the media has reported on the PCOS machines provided by the group Smartmatic, the printing of ballots and everything else about the planned automated elections.

And yet, there have been several problems along the way, problems that an IT group like Smartmatic should have seen… problems that seem impossible to have been overlooked by the company [unless it was intentional].

The Commission on Elections [COMELEC] is the government agency in charge of the elections and yet they don’t seem to have an idea of what is going on, except what Smartmatic tells them.

Same goes for the media – for all their claims of unbiased, fair coverage, none of the major networks have provided their own independent IT expert to point out or at least explain to the people why we should or should not believe Smartmatic and/or the COMELEC.

And today, just 6 days before the elections another problem has been found – the Compact Flash cards of all the PCOS machines are not properly programmed so they all have to be replaced.

1. This should have been seen weeks ago during testing.
2. It can be seen as a way of manipulating the results
3. why does a machine with so many supposed security features have to use REMOVABLE memory cards to store its programming AND results???

And now they say that it’s to late to ask the COMELEC and Smartmatic to be responsible; and that all we can do is to be vigilant during the elections…

Good luck with that! At least during the manual counting, people cheated with brute force by bring guns and goons… and Filipinos died (in vain) trying to protect those ballots. But how are we going to try to stop electronic cheating?

The media is the only organization I know who can actually try and do something about this. And yet they’re spending their time bragging about which network provided the most ‘unbiased’ news coverage (which no one really cares about). I wish they’d actually use their brains and resources to make a difference.

I’m tired of this government. We need a change. Now.

Emotions on Thanksgiving Week

This was some week.

APPREHENSION. about the upcoming licensure exams this coming sunday and monday. This should have been the only thing on my mind but somehow, it was the least of my worries. I’m worried because I don’t feel worried.

OUTRAGE. at the IMPUNITY (this is the strongest word I could find) of the people behind the massacre in Maguindanao where 57 people, all civilians were brutally killed while exercising their democratic rights. Either the masterminds were SOOOO STUPID to think that they could get away with it or they were so brazen because they KNEW they WOULD get away with it. And after seeing the government’s actions so far, they might actually get away with it.

WORRY. Our 8 year old dalmatian had to be admitted to a vet clinic. He had been straining every time he pees for the last 2 weeks. We were planning to take him to the vet after the exams but last Wednesday, he couldn’t even get a drop out. EMERGENCY. Turns out dalmatians are prone to kidney stone formation and that seems to be the case because there were stone fragments after he was catheterized. I’m worried because we might have to decide to have him put down if he doesn’t improve. I don’t know if I can handle being part of that decision.

PRIDE. yes, there was a good thing that occurred. A Filipino, Efren Peñaflorida was awarded by CNN as hero of the year for his pushcart classrooms. It reminds me that there still are selfless people here and not just the power-hungry, soul-less bastards that caused my feelings of outrage.

I'm looking and hoping for a quiet week ahead.

Here We Go Again

2003 - then Lt. Antonio Trillanes IV took control of Oakwood Premiere Ayala Centre Hotel in Makati City, the financial capital of the Philippines. He was allegedly frustrated with the way the Philippine Government took (no) care of their own armed forces - inadequate equipment, inappropriate training, and poor compensation. After negotiations, the "Oakwood Mutiny" ended peacefully.

2007 - despite still ongoing court hearings because of his role in the "Oakwood Mutiny" Trillanes was allowed to run for a position in the Philippine Senate - he won.

November 29, 2007 - during one of the court hearings, Trillanes and his men suddenly walked-out of the courtroom and soon walked into the Manila Peninsula Hotel, just a few meters away from Oakwood and setup a "control center" there.

This latest incident, although had more action - teargas was used, ended up peacefully a few hours later.

Maybe he'll run for president in 2010...

As for now we have a 12mn-5am curfew as a security precaution.

It's either we Filipinos have a very short memory, or are just very forgiving people.