I'm Back: Jim, Monday, 11/24/08

Before I back up and tell some stories of our trip up north I should fill in a little more info re. Adam's last post, "We've got Typhoid". It seems that what I came down with on the bus ride from Banaue to Baguio was indeed Typhoid fever, confirmed by a blood test I took on Saturday and received the results of Sunday evening. I have an appointment to go back to the doctor today but in anticipation of the results of the test he told me which antibiotic to take if it was positive and since Adam had brought that very antibiotic with him we were able to start last night when we got the results without having to run to the drug store. We will pick up additional pills today when we go to the hospital for the doctor apt.
I got pretty feverish and weak on the bus ride from Banaue to Baguio and knew I had something, most probably some form of viral flu. As Adam has related I wasn't very social that first night in Bagio, I took some Tylenol and Ibuprofen to knock down the fever and body ache and went right to bed with water close at hand, because despite this being the cool mountains of the Philippines I was sweating profusely. The next few days I got through with the help of the above drugs, feeling a little better and then a little worse but never great. After a day and a half back at Bhabie's house, where we are staying in the Manila area, and still not feeling better I gave in to the pressure to go to the doctor. We checked around and found a good MD at a nearby hospital, went there, waited three hours for our turn, saw him, went downstairs for the lab work and returned home to wait for the results. The next morning Adam was feeling pretty good and decided to go into Manila to see more of the city and I remained at the house to try to get some work done around naps. Adam returned much earlier than I had expected and when I asked him why he said that he had started feeling worse and came home to rest. That was when I began to think that we might have something a little more serious than just a flu. When later Sunday afternoon we got the results of the blood test and started to laugh about having Typhoid we confirmed to Bhabie and family that we not only had Typhoid but were totally nuts. We'll let you know if there are any changes to the diagnosis later after having seen the doctor again today.

Now, I'll try to fill in a little bits of the story of our trip up north that Adam left out. First, the story of what Adam called "a little hike to Batad", maybe for him!!! Batad is a village in the Philippine province of Ifugao, the province that is home to most of the wood carvers that Weir Handmade works with, it is not on any road but it does have some of the most spectacular views of rice terraces in a province known for its spectacular views. To reach Batad we, Johnny, Reggie, Adam and I, first rode with Johnny (see Adam's cast of characters) in his truck for over an hour over bone jarring roads to a parking place at the end of the side road toward Batad. Then we were convinced to take the short cut trail rather than the long trail, at least for me this was a mistake. Imagine the steepest staircase possible, partially made up of slippery rocks, and going on for what seemed like forever. Adam claims it was only a kilometer, but what does he know. Of course, when we reached the top we discovered that we had only reached the beginning of the trail to the overlook where the best views were located, so off we went again, this time the trail was largely downhill and 4 or 5 km long, which, of course, meant that it would be uphill coming back. We arrived at the overlook, which was truly great, almost worth the work getting there, had a little lunch and rested a bit. Now we had several options, we could go down further, near the village at the bottom of the valley and terraces there was a waterfall to see, we could take in the view from where we were and rest a bit or we could start back. Adam and Reggie took the first option, they headed out right after lunch for the waterfall, Johnny decided to wait at the top for them to return and since I was the slowest of the group I waited until I saw Adam and Reggie about half way to the waterfall and I started back toward the top of the trail, at the head of the steep staircase. To my satisfaction I reached the top of the trail about 20 min before the rest of them caught up with me, I thought sure I was moving slow enough that they would catch me before I got there. All that was left at that point was to take the long way back to the truck, I insisted on this, and the bumpy drive back to Banaue for dinner and a sound sleep. I'm sure this was good training for our trekking in Nepal but I know I have a long way to go before I'll feel comfortable doing this for days in a row, though I'm not sure how this Philippine trek compares to the ones in Nepal, but we'll see soon.

I've also been left to tell the improbable story of our encounter with the Bontoc Police Dept. We boarded a Jeepney Tuesday morning in Banaue headed for the large town of Bontoc where we would transfer to a bus to our destination for the day the large mountain city of Baguio, during American colonial times the summer capitol of the Philippines. The trip was rather uneventful, the jeepney not very full and the view poor because of the cloudy, foggy weather. Toward the end of the trip three women, one of them with a little baby, got on the jeepney and we talked with them a little mostly answering questions about who we were, where we were going etc, etc. All pretty standard fare conversation for this kind of trip. When we arrived in Bontoc people got off here and there, we got off near where the buses to Baguio started their trips and went to wait for the next bus. We had been waiting for about 15min when the lady with the baby came running toward us yelling and crying, so much so that it was near impossible to make out what she was saying. She was looking for where the jeepney had gone because she had left a bag on it that she said contained money. We pointed her in the correct direction and she went running off, but within minutes she was back, she had found the jeepney and driver but no bag. By the time she came back the crowd waiting for the bus had grown to include a lady from the local mayor's office who told her that instead of begging all of us for help, which we really couldn't provide that she go to the nearby police dept, which she eventually did. A few minutes later the bus loaded up and was just pulling out when the police stopped it, boarded and asked us, and at least one other person who had been on the jeepney, if we would come to the police dept and allow them to search our bags. Since we had nothing to hide, except some very dirty, smelly and sweaty laundry we agreed. We unpacked our packs in the police dept office, much to their amusement at our less than organized and folded packing style, nothing incriminating was found and we were released to wait for the next bus. As we were pulling out of town on that bus we saw the other passengers from the jeepney and the driver as well as the lady and her baby leaving the police dept. I guess we will never know what happened, though neither of us can remember her having a bag on the jeepney. Maybe she left it where she got on or maybe it was a scam to try to get money from foreigners, we will never know.

We will be leaving the Philippines on Friday, it's hard to believe we've been here almost three weeks. It is also hard to believe how much work I have to do before I leave, so you may not here from me again till we get to India Friday afternoon. I will however try to get our pictures posted with a link before the end of the day. My fingers our tired of typing, so that's all for now.