Bulusan EcoTrail Run Year Three

Only on its third year and the result is outstanding in terms of overall performance. The positive impact of the Bulusan ecotrail run to the ecotourism direction of Bulusan town is one of the legacies the outgoing administration can be proud of. This is an objective assessment as shown in the reception and acceptability of the activity  to the local residents. The overwhelming support especially from the students and youth sector is so high. Ms Earth beauties gracing the event also adds up to up-scaling of this year's ecotrail run to have that look of a national event - a yearly ecotourism calendar date for Bulusan. Definitely not just a parochial community affair.

However I was not able to push my way inside the thick crowd during the fun run time of the guest beauties wearing the Bulusan ecotrail run uniform. This enabled me to focus my attention to my town mates instead whose enthusiasm and excitement rubbed on me that  day. Fun filled energy was so contagious.

In my photos, the real stars of the ecotrail run were the local runners, the interesting array of local participants, the kids all ready to run in complete running attire, the drummer boys/girls,  the medal girls attending to the details of giving away medals to the 'finisher' etcetera etcetera. And oh...don't worry about the photos of the Ms Earth beauties. There are already some posted in the FB sites of my town mates as of this hour :)

All revved up for the event

The kids in complete running uniform

Mayor Myke Guysayko (extreme left in the photo) leading the event - an eventful and bittersweet exit as outgoing executive of Bulusan town  for a new term in the Provincial Sanggunian Board.

Eye-catcher in orange hair

Bright future for Bulusan kids in ecotourism

Starting point ready to record up to the last seconds

Yes, the Ms. Earth beauties were here!

Attention to details include these too!

A 'finisher' receiving the green medal

Eager local press from Bulusan High School

A camera man from the ABS-CBN Bicol records the event.

Winner for the 3km category

Another 'finisher'

June 12 is Independence Day.

Bulusan beauties as medal girls

A finisher for the orange category

...for the yellow category

A street view of the start and finish lines of the running stretch

Bulusan's internet connection is quite strong

A deserved medal for a prepared runner

A refreshing finish

Photos: Alma P. Gamil
Bulusan, Sorsogon, Philippines

Pili Diversity in One frame

Few meters away from the border of Bulusan Volcano Natural Park are diverse pili trees (three kinds of pili in this photo alone) noticeably all volunteer growths i.e. planted by wild animals. The photo above looks ordinary in these areas. Canopies of  Canarium ovatum (pili) could be sighted inside and around the BVNP borders corroborating the fact of what was  recorded in the definitive Pili monograph by Roberto E. Coronel, the eminent fruit scientist that Mount Bulusan is probably the center of genetic diversity of Pili.

Prolific Pili tree at the background is the elite kind of pili found in Mount Bulusan.

Zoom in the framed photograph and you will see that the background pili tree (compared with the foreground pili tree) is filled with fruits still green and thus blends with the leaves unnoticed. This kind of prolific pili tree fruiter is the elite variety of pili prized by horticulturists.

I seized the opportunity to ask from the farm owner for a handful of ripe pili nuts (fruits are colored black when ripe) for my potted nursery.

Photo: Taken at the BVNP border by  Alma P. Gamil

Bulusan, Sorsogon, Philippines

Optical Phenomena in Magical Mount Bulusan

Photo: realrica.com

Spectacular solar optic effects at the gaping mouth of Bulusan Volcano! Marvelous nature show.

A fog bow, solar glory, Brocken Spectre 3-in-1 phenomena caught in this one of a kind photograph by the team of Pinoy mountaineers with celebrity climber Ms Rica Peralejo last June 24 of this year.

These are actually three distinct phenomena : The fog bow appears here as a 360 degree white rainbow. The solar glory is a band of colored rings at the inner rim surrounding the shadowy  figure technically known as the Brocken Spectre at the center.

This seemingly supernatural optical phenomenon is rare. One must be at the right location at the right time with the right conditions to produce this atmospheric optical effects. The mountaineers were a lucky bunch to be present on the right spot at the right moment when the crater center was at the perfect moment for this nature spectacle to happen.

The mist of fog or cloud is needed to be at the center of the crater first and foremost. This will serve as the ‘screen’  (as in a movie) for the shadow of the observer standing near the rim of the crater. The sun must be at the back  just like a projector to the observer in whose shadow will be then projected at the thick fog located exactly at the mouth of the volcano.

The effect is optical magic. A marvelous  nature show. Colored rings known as solar glory appears around the head of the Brocken Spectre not unlike colored band of halos. It surely looks like a spiritual apparition for those not familiar with this rare nature phenomenon.

Adding up to the magic is the white rainbow commonly referred to as the fog bow forming the larger circumference--a  giant circular host-like apparition. It is as if the volcano’s crater is about to swallow a gigantic host from heaven.

Solar glories are formed by diffraction where light waves are scattered into a ring-like pattern as differentiated to a regular rainbow that usually appears as a colored arc in the sky which is formed by refraction and reflection. In this photo the glory forms inside the inner rings just above the head of the Brocken  Spectre. 

Do not be alarmed. The Brocken Specter is not a dark ghostly apparition. It is merely an elongated shadow casts into the clouds--the shadow of the observer and most of the time --the photographer/climber. The clouds and fog sort of distort the human shadow as it moves.

The anti-solar point is the exact spot where the solar glory and the Brocken Spectre appear. It is directly opposite the sun from the observer’s perspective.

This atmospheric spectacle is the first time ever recorded inside the crater of  Bulusan Volcano—probably  the only one of its kind in the world.

Written by: Alma P. Gamil
Bulusan, Sorsogon, Philippines

Magical Mount Bulusan: Ms Rica and the white rainbow

Magical Mount Bulusan. This is not a cliche. This is real.

I saw the magic unravel in the photos of Rica Peralejo-Bonifacio and her fellow trekkers.

They might not know it but they have stumbled upon a very rare phenomenon known as a fog bow during their recent trek to Mount Bulusan.

A fog bow is a 'white rainbow'. White because the colors are so faint it appear whitish. Almost ghostly. But yes the colors are there. And to add to the magic: the white rainbow appeared in a 360 degree form-- meaning a circle. The gaping crater of  Bulusan Volcano appears like in the act of swallowing a  giant Holy host from heaven.

They always say that there is a pot of gold at the end of the rainbow. But this one is not the end of the rainbow (as the photo shows). This one is right at the HEART of a rainbow with the faintest colors of pink, yellow and blue.

More than a pot of gold I am sure is in there-- though not literally.

Whereas a rainbow is the result of the optical effects caused by  droplets of rain meeting the rays of the sun at a specific angle (42 degrees according to scientific journals), the fog bow on the other hand is caused by a mist of fog smaller than rain droplets not strong enough to reflect and refract colors vivid enough to the eyes. Thus a whitish arc or in this case a circle is formed instead.

The sight is truly magical and almost spiritual. It looks like an apparition of nature.

I have checked the web for similar photos of a crater with a white rainbow but none so far yielded to my virtual search. Arctic white rainbow. Yes, sighted by an expedition team. Golden Gate Bridge white rainbow. Yes, as captured by a photographer. But not this kind of a gaping mouth of a volcano with a giant 'host', the Eucharistic bread from heaven in a suspended  freeze frame waiting to be swallowed by the magnificent Bulusan Volcano from the hands of the  holy sky.

To the trekkers and to the beautiful Ms. Rica Peralejo-Bonifacio:

All I can say is: wish I was there!         (Photos: realrica.com)

For the complete set of photos from Ms Rica Peralejo Bonifacio with the white rainbow: realrica.com

Blog about a tourist blog of my hometown Bulusan

Reading the blog of islandgirltraveller.com was a relief from the usual destinations themed blog about my hometown. This blog is about the daily routine of the common folks as she sees it in situ. The pictures were taken from the market, in the streets, common folks doing their daily routine. She captured it as is.

I just hope she was able to visit the usual tourist route and the less known sites too. Because the slow-paced quiet town as she sees it is in fact a keeper of magnificent grand sights such as the volcanic landscapes of Mount Bulusan, the coral-rimmed beaches along her shores, mountain springs  with soda like waters, gushing water falls, moist and foggy rainforest with a lot of surprises, zen like calmness of an emerald lake and so much more.

Thanks for the visit Ms islandgirltraveller.

(You may want to visit islandgirltraveller.com blog entitled The Quiet Town of Bulusan, Sorsogon for her story about my hometown).

Bulusan, Sorsogon, Philippines