After overnighting with Pastor Pio Garduque’s family in Barcelona, we just headed a few miles south to Bulusan, which is another seaside community on the east side of Sorsogon Province, facing the big Pacific Ocean.  This is where PAMI has a rented house/church in the barangay of Sapngan, Bulusan pastored by Ver Gacis, a single, thirty-year-old young man.  Pastor Ver is assisted by a very energetic and friendly seventy-year-old widow named Mama Helda, who not only is a great cook, but also knowledgeable of herbal medicines and natural holistic therapies.  Mama Helda had come to the church early in the morning to cook a bunch of food in anticipation of our arrival (which was about noon).  After lunch and a little rest, we wanted to cool down in the stream running next to the church.  But to get to an easy access point, we hiked a half mile up the road towards the barangay of San Francisco.  Since we’re always sweating from it being so hot, it was so refreshing to dip into the cool waters running down from Mount Bulusan volcano.

 



 


 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

After our quick dip, we visited the homes of few people near the church, including Brother Boy Robles (recovering from a stroke), some ladies weaving hats, a grandma cooking gabi root (who gave us some roots and raw pili nuts), and one-legged Brother Ben who lives on top a steep hill and is a wonderful guitar player.
 
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About 5 pm we conducted a Kids Time back at the church.  And that evening we stayed at the “fancy” two-story boarding house of Mama Helda in Bulusan town proper, which was a nice refuge.  It had a refreshing breaze blowing through the top floor and she gave a relaxing massage to each of us.

 
 
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The next morning we hiked and road a tricycle up a hill to the barangay of San Rafael, Bulusan, to the hacienda/family property of Brother Ric Mendizabal (brother of our former PAMI field director, Pastor Chito Mendizabal, who passed away last June).  Brother Ric is a barangay captain (like a mayor) and coconut farmer/copra maker.  Bro Ric has a lot of land which we hiked through, and it was very interesting to learn about many native plants and trees from Bro Ric and Mama Helda.  Then we swam in the picturesque  cool water pools of Nasipit Springs, which Bro Ric’s community has been developing as a recreation spot.  After a swim and snack, we continued uphill to Lake Bulusan, which is a natural wonder situated in the side of Mount Bulusan volcano.  We rented a couple kayaks for jaunt back and forth across the lake.  Then it was time to head back to Mama Helda’s for lunch and to catch the 2 pm jeepney for Irosin/Bulan (the last trip for departing jeepneys for the day).