Reminiscing Scouting Days through Photos from a Film Camera

* Pransis in front of an old house near a seaside area
in Boac, Marinduque

* during the Scout Youth Forum in
Marinduque National High School, Boac, Marinduque

Scouting made my high school days very memorable. Any recollection of those years would not be complete without me mentioning the joys of hiking through hills and mountains; swimming, bathing, washing clothes, and even drinking from rivers; sleeping under heavy downpour; among others.

* scouts and scout masters from San Pablo City

during a parade in Teresa, Rizal

* Pransis with other participants in the parade in Teresa, Rizal

* Pransis with scouts from the Aurora Boy Scouts Council

I can still recall those formative camping when we were just being groomed as scouts during elementary days. I never thought that I would eventually march on a National Court of Honor, an event where scouts are awarded the highest rank a scout can receive, the Eagle Scout Award.

* scouts from San Pablo before

the National Court of Honor in Teresa, Rizal

* during the National Court of Honor proper

Perhaps scouting made me closer to the beauty of nature, something that I can still feel inside me, that’s why I tend to travel more to places. Our scouting adventures may not have been fully grounded on history but I daresay that they definitely boosted one key trait in me: the passion to explore more.

Down on the South: the Philippine Eagle Haven

* Durian – a Davao pride

As the last installment on my Davao series, I could not help but note here that it is pretty hard to put-in everything in just a few sentences what’s enough to keep a chance blog reader interested. Travel, much like in artworks (forgive this comparison), is more of an experiential thing to me. From the name itself, a requisite thing is mobility, the need for the person to be ‘there’ to get to know more of a thing or a place.

As for my case, I immensely enjoyed the stay in Davao, as can be seen from the energy with which I do this series. But no matter what I do, I could not possibly describe detail for detail those pieces of feelings and experiences. In a way, travel narrations are snippets, selective in nature.

And so...as to this last trip.

* don’t you think this is a beautiful shot?

* a nation’s treasure indeed – eagles

* croc, croc

Coming out of Samal Island, we gravitated to this place, which I would risk to call the Davao City Water District Malagos Watershed. I just got this name from the photos although I must admit that I did not really take note of the place’s name.

Nevertheless, the trip was nature-based, as we were able to see right from their natural habitats beautiful creatures such as eagles, pilandok(?), caimans, among other. I in fact had one good shot with a big snake hanged in my neck; I do not want people to see the look on my face – one of suppressed fear of the animal!

The travel to the place requires you to take a very long jeep (much similar to the ones brought by the Aurora Council Boy Scouts in Marinduque back in 2003) and with a conductor found at the back. I do remember dozing off during the travel, so it must have been quite a long travel. During the transit, we were able to pass SM Davao and the Davao Campus of Philippine Science High School. One big prize for the tiredness of the day was the eat-all-you-can promo at a class hotel back in downtown Davao later that night.