Coqs, coqs and more coqs... oh and waterfalls too!

I was recently in a small town called Guintubdan which is located high up on the foothills of Kanla-on volcano. Guintubdan is a very pretty, almost idyllic town, for the Philippines. It is known around the Philippines for prety much one thing: Coqs. Specifically fighting coqs. Coq fighting is the national sport of the Philippines, something I find quite odd as people can't participate. Like a small boy can't really grow up with dreams of being a world famous coq fighter. Coqs outnumber people in this town by probably a hundred to one. That is a high coq to human ratio by any standard. And one thing you learn fast about coqs is that the make a lot of noise... All the time. I gues every coq wants to be the number one coq, and they prove this by crowing... All the time!

They would probably rather fight, but they are tied up and kept in their own little areas, often with their own little coq houses to keep them out of the rain and little perches so they can be up high. Because Guintubdan is on the side of a mountain sometimes the coq farms are on very steep slopes and there are little terraces carved into the hills so the coqs can stand on flat ground. So just like rice terraces, which are famous in the north of the Philippines, Guintubdan has coq terraces. It is quite interesting!

As exciting as seeing all those coqs was, the real reason we were in Guintubdan was to hike part of Kanla-on volcano. We could not climb to the summit as you needed to organize a permit in advance, but there were some spectacular waterfalls a short hike away.

The water was so clean and clear, probably the first clean clear water I have seen in the Philippines. This is because of the fact that nobody lives above Guintubdan so the water hasn't had a chance to be polluted yet. Anyone who thinks the Ottawa river or the St-Lawrence is polluted needs to see a river in a third world country. My definition of polluted water has changed forever now. I would rather drink out of the Ottawa river than swim in some of these Philippine rivers. But the water on Kanla-on was so cold clear you could see down thirty feet.

The hike itself was quite treacherous, one wrong move and you'd find yourself tumbling down eighty feet on a near vertical slope to land in the rocky stream. It was pretty intense rain forest with tons of flowers, giant ferns, palms and massive trees. It was a really beautiful and exciting hike which culminated in seeing double waterfalls about two hundred feet high falling into basically a pit with fern covered cliffs on all sides except where the stream flows out.

If ever ever in the Philippines don't miss Guintubdan. You come for the volcano and the waterfalls but you stay for the coqs...