Rotary 5520 GSE 2010 - Philippines

Our last post was at the end of our first week here in Mindanao and it was amazing then how quickly the time was going by. It is now the end of our third week and so much has happened! We have seen and experienced so much it is hard to know where to start. Let us start by apologizing for not keeping up better with our posts… we will attempt now to catch you, our dear readers, up with what the team has been doing lately…. It may not be a daily account of our activities as as we had initially intended to give you but we hope it will give you a glimpse into what our experiences have been like….

Iligan City
Since Tuesday we have been in Iligan City, which in looking at a map of Mindanao is north of Lanao del Norte and Lanao del Sur. Iligan Bay borders the city to the west. It is the “City of Majestic Waterfalls”. After a two day rest in Cagayan de Oro, where we finally had the honor of meeting DG Fe “Bing” Juarez, and her dear sister Linda Deleste, we were brought here to Iligan where we were greeted warmly and enthusiastically by several members of each of the 7 clubs.

We met our host families over lunch at a restaurant called Gazpachos where we feasted on many local delicacies, including a team favorite, local tuna marinated in vinegar, citrus with thinly sliced onions (similar to ceviche). That evening we were hosted by RC Maria Cristina (named after the largest and most famous twin falls of Iligan). This club was unique in two ways, first that the meeting was held in a private home and second that it is an all-female club! We’ve been to a few clubs that are all-male, but as an all-female team we were glad to see the reverse existed also. Our host and everyone’s grandma, “Tita Dory” treated us to yet another amazing feast. After dinner and the official meeting, she wowed us all with amazing singing. That was just the start of it…she and her Dance Instructor (or “DI” as commonly referred to) danced an amazing tango before opening the floor to us uncoordinated Americans. We have vowed to take singing and dancing lessons upon our return to the US!

One of the highlights of the week was getting to visit some of the breathtaking falls this city is known for. The Tinago Falls was so beautiful it is hard to describe in words, and the pictures we took do not do it justice. The powerful falls cascade into a placid lagoon, which is surrounded by cliffs and lush green landscape. The water was cool and clear and refreshing. It was the middle of the week so it wasn’t very busy with visitors, so save for a handful of local boys, we practically had the falls to ourselves. We attempted to climb the slippery rocks to jump off, but after feeble attempts, all but our most adventurous of the team, Leigh, stayed safely in the water. Leigh’s climbing spirit and thirst for physical activity was satiated as she maneuvered cautiously but expertly up the rocky side of the falls much to the awe and admiration of all who witnessed. We have a video to share of her jumping off the cliff into the lagoon!

The aforementioned Maria Cristina falls generates the hydroelectric power for much of Mindanao and we were fortunate not only to visit the falls, but also the hydroelectric plant which harnesses the power of the falls. The design of the plant is truly ingenious. The 7 plants are built in a decending fasion, so that the water used by the first plant at the top flows to the 2nd one and so on, reusing the same water 7 times to produce electricity for the region. The site is built on a naturally occurring slope so gravity is the driving force. In one area of the plant, where Agus IV is located, the landscape flattens out. Nothing if not resourceful, the engineers dug deep and installed a plant underground so they could still harness the natural force of gravity to generate velocity of the inflowing water.