Flashbacks - Masantol, Pampanga
When Donna and I decided to retire here, one of the things we thought of doing was roam around Pampanga. We hear of Balikbayans going to Cebu, Boracay, etc. but I figured hey, I'm a full blooded Capampangan and I haven't even been to most of the towns of my province. So when Mike Pangilinan, a friend from our Capampangan advocacy, ANASI, said there's this French geographer, Jean Christophe Gaillard (JC for short) who's organizing a boat trip to Masantol, Pampanga and would I be interested in going - I said sure! First of all I've never been to Masantol and second, a boat trip to Masantol? And I thought we're located in the Central Plains of Luzon - what boat trip? It turned out, Masantol sits by the Pampanga River and its mouth goes straight to Manila Bay. This totally surprised the heck out of me but what's even more surprising, JC speaks fluent Capampangan! He sent me a text message (in Capampangan!) saying Mike and I were to meet a couple of his French students at the McDonald's in the intersection of Olongapo-Gapan Road.
Mike, who's from Angeles City dropped by our place here in Sindalan and we went to McDonald's. High school friend and Balikbayan from London, Alice also tagged along. After a quick lunch, everyone crammed into the van.
We took the NLEx southbound and got off at the San Simon exit to Apalit. We turned right towards Macabebe from MacAthur Highway and onto Masantol. On the way, JC was giving Mike directions through text messages. We made a couple of wrong turns but there were all kinds of tricycle drivers to ask directions from and we finally made it to the boat dock. We were to meet JC and his group at another stop at the Pampanga River. The first thing we noticed was some guys wading in the water. We were told they were catching prawns.
Here the river was clean, the water is not murky like in San Fernando. And there's all kinds of migratory birds, from China - per Mike P.
When we met JC at the final stop, we transferred to their boat and we proceeded to go straight to where Pampanga River dumps into Manila Bay.
We even got off and explored through the palapat forest.
On the way back, we made a detour through a river tributary towards a Masantol barangay called Sapang Kawayan. Sapang Kawayan is basically an island, hence accessible only by boat. The vice mayor of Masantol was with us, otherwise, Mike said we wouldn't be let in.
We were told Sapang Kawayan politically is part of Masantol but it's so far from it that they deal with nearby Hagonoy, Bulacan. Everyone in it speaks Tagalog except for a few residents 70 years or older.
JC interviewed the school children of Sapang Kawayan and they said during high tide their class rooms get flooded mid calf and they sometimes end up with athlete's foot. The only time they get sent home is when the place is hit by typhoon and there's actual flooding and the water gets to be waist high in the class rooms.
The trip was great, both entertaining, humbling and enlightening.
For a complete picture portfolio, please visit Trip to Masantol.
Mike, who's from Angeles City dropped by our place here in Sindalan and we went to McDonald's. High school friend and Balikbayan from London, Alice also tagged along. After a quick lunch, everyone crammed into the van.
We took the NLEx southbound and got off at the San Simon exit to Apalit. We turned right towards Macabebe from MacAthur Highway and onto Masantol. On the way, JC was giving Mike directions through text messages. We made a couple of wrong turns but there were all kinds of tricycle drivers to ask directions from and we finally made it to the boat dock. We were to meet JC and his group at another stop at the Pampanga River. The first thing we noticed was some guys wading in the water. We were told they were catching prawns.
Here the river was clean, the water is not murky like in San Fernando. And there's all kinds of migratory birds, from China - per Mike P.
When we met JC at the final stop, we transferred to their boat and we proceeded to go straight to where Pampanga River dumps into Manila Bay.
We even got off and explored through the palapat forest.
On the way back, we made a detour through a river tributary towards a Masantol barangay called Sapang Kawayan. Sapang Kawayan is basically an island, hence accessible only by boat. The vice mayor of Masantol was with us, otherwise, Mike said we wouldn't be let in.
We were told Sapang Kawayan politically is part of Masantol but it's so far from it that they deal with nearby Hagonoy, Bulacan. Everyone in it speaks Tagalog except for a few residents 70 years or older.
JC interviewed the school children of Sapang Kawayan and they said during high tide their class rooms get flooded mid calf and they sometimes end up with athlete's foot. The only time they get sent home is when the place is hit by typhoon and there's actual flooding and the water gets to be waist high in the class rooms.
The trip was great, both entertaining, humbling and enlightening.
For a complete picture portfolio, please visit Trip to Masantol.
posted by reyjay @ 1:36 AM
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