WWOOFing it up

They call me Mr. Machete
I've been eating lots of rice
with very little spaghetti
hackin all day, through the trees
got lots of water but can't make it freeze
there isn't any power, in this valley
sticking to the map like i be Randy McNally
No need to get lost, almost cold enough to frost
all the cats and dogs have thousands of fleas
that rice wine's got me beggin on my knees

haha, i had a lot of time to think this last week while at the ENCA farm in Acop. For those of you that are not familiar with WWOOFing, a little background might be necessary. Essentially you agree to work a full day on an organic farm (there are hundreds of WWOOF locations worldwide) for three hots and a cot. So i signed up to pull a weeks worth of duty at a small family farm in the jungle or the Philippines... I arrived on Monday to warm smiles from my host family and lots of wags from there eight plus dogs of every shape and size. Corky was my favorite, the little guy only had one eye left but he was still rockin, and itching. In fact they all were, itching, a lot. Now I, being a dog lover, but also being very allergic to flea bites was caught in a dilemma from the first moment i opened the gate till the last moment i left six days later. To pet or not to pet? I arrived just in time for the family meal and over pigs feet and rice i was told a little history of the family and the farm. During the Japanese occupation Grand Mother Colosan was forced to flee into the valley and hid in a cave for a good portion of three years. Her brother had joined the military, American Army actually and the Japanese were hunting down all family members of those who served the enemy. She survived and had eight children all of which still work on or in one way shape or form for the farm that is in the same valley where she hid for those three long years. One of the daughters, Olive, lives in the valley at the farm and it was with her that i was to spend the next week and share so many laughs with. Olive's father fought the government for 30 years over the farms land rights in dispute was 45 hectares of thick lush green valley. He won his fight and now there is a beautiful organic farm and education center on the land he fought so hard for. After lunch i jumped into a very old jeep and we took off down the mountain towards the farm. I have been on a professional jeep tour before and they have nothing on Bob and this mountain road. He seemed to know what i was saying when i told him what a great driver he was but for him, its just part of his day and i don't think he realizes, or maybe it was that he didn't understand me at all. His smile said enough. From there Olive and i walked with our gear over two rivers, using only a small tree as a bridge. I fell right in the second river, once i got off balance, my pack took me down. I was only wet up to my knees but it was a heck of a way to start.
The farm itself is beautiful. Traditional hunts blend into the surroundings and guava, papaya, jackfruit, lemons, limes, oranges, two types of coffee plants, bamboo, editable ferns, orange ginger and wild tomatoes grow everywhere and all you need to do is pick them and enjoy. I was joined by a french speaking Swiss couple and for the first four days we hacked and pulled our way through the jungle with a machete and sickle clearing paths that had been swallowed up by months of neglect. It was hard work and i was forced to work in my sandals because my shoes where still wet, of course. To my surprise there were few creepy crawlies lurking under the brush (i expected a spider or snake, rat or some unknown fungi to pounce at any moment) except for ants of all sizes and colors, many of them biters. Damn ants, always up my pant legs. If anyone has seen the movie Platoon or Apocalypse Now (both were filmed in the Philippines) you know what type of jungle we were dealing with. But Olive fed us well, and kept our energy up with a different entree every meal, always with rice, always. i had rice coming out of my ears. Vincent and Maude the Frenchy Swiss were great company and we had lots of laughs as we sweated it out in heat. I took only one shower that whole week and it was in a river all to myself that flowed from a cave the size of a minivan as fresh as water can get. We boiled all of are drinking water on wood stove which gave it a smokey taste i grew to love. Olive brought only two of the family dogs (snow white and brownie) down with her to the farm joining the three resident cats (Ollie, Sophie and the little Tinker Bell) and the 33 some odd free range chickens (trying to count them was impossible). There was only one rooster, a trouble maker that was made to be caged and he seemed to crow whenever he felt like it in a sign of defiance. So when he crowed so did I and I consider myself something of a professional at this point. On the fourth day we bribed Peter (a college plants science major and native Filipino) to bring us some rum, gin and "something local" from up high on the ridge where the small town of Acop was located. He did not fail us and after we picked some lemons, limes and oranges we had warm rum and cokes, gin and orange juice's and some of the local fire water (homemade rice wine, a big bottle of it). Trying to save enough for my last night on the farm a day later. The walk up the hill took about an hour, straight up the mountain and i decided to let bob drive my large pack up the night before i left. As i gave bob my pack he gave me a new WWOOFer Madalena, she was Portuguese but had spent several years in the states and her English was as good as any. It was my job to show her to the farm and so we set off across the first river, she made it across but i warned her that the next crossing was the hardest. It felt odd, i felt like a seasoned vet showing the new recruit the ropes. As we approached the second crossing, i gave her all the tips i knew, but no luck, in she went backwards up to her neck. I pulled her free of the river that had grown from the recent rains and we laughed on the rocks. She fit right in and that night I taught the three others how to play a few popular drinking games from the states golf, up the river down the river and bullshit but it was Asshole that truly amazed them. They fell in love with it, making sure to write all the rules down of which there are many. we played into the night and when all the booze was gone we played some more. I woke the next morning with a very sizable headache only to stand at the foot of the mountain that i was about to climb wondering what those Filipinos put in the rice wine beside rice. I made it out however, in one piece taboot, still amazed at the week i had just had. I miss the Swiss couple and Olive very much and wish i had gotten to know Madalena better, they are truly kindred spirits. In closing i want to thank Lindsey Hunt for turning me on to WWOOFing in the first place, without you going out of your way to tell me about it i would never have had this life changing opportunity. Thanks buddy. So that was my WWOOFing week. I was off on my own again to Sagada north about 6 hours in the hills of the Cordillera, it was time, my shoes were growing mossy.