Five YouTube Videos on Kulaman

I'm back in Cebu, but rest assured that I will maintain this blog. I'll continue posting here at least one write-up per week. For the first week of May, I'm featuring five videos I created recently. They're all about Kulaman Plateau, and they're uploaded on Youtube.

They're the very first videos I've ever created. I wanted to expand a little the reach of this blog, so I decided to capture some scenes in a digital camera, download Windows Movie Maker, and create a Youtube account. The product was five very short videos, each running for just one minute or less. Two of them are merely slideshows of related photos.



The first video shows a raft taking a motorcycle across the Kulaman River. People traveling from the east usually ride the bamboo raft instead of crossing the concrete bridge to save some mileage. The bridge is a few kilometers away, while the part of the river featured in the video is a shortcut. It leads travelers directly to the public market. The fee is P5 for every motorcycle regardless of the number of people riding it. For those who are not riding a motorcycle, the fee is P2 per person.

In the video, you can hear my brother's and my mother's voices. My brother is bantering with the three teenage boys in the raft, his schoolmates. My mother, in Karay-a and at the top of her lungs, is greeting the "driver" of the raft, Tiyoy Tony, a relative of ours. The two nearly naked boys are either sons or grandsons of Tiyoy Tony. The passengers of the raft are on their way to the poblacion, while my companions and I were leaving the place.



The second video was taken at the top of Ilyan Hill, in Barangay Buenaflores. I went up there with my brother (singing off-key) and his classmate (in red jacket) last month. From the peak, we could see at least five barangays. The course of Kulaman River was also a sight to behold. The water winded through the mountains and flattened the earth on both its sides. The snakelike plain the river formed had become a fertile ground for rice paddies.

The next video shows how corn is ground the traditional way. My companions and I were on our way to the White Cave of Kuden when the video was taken. We were resting in a house in Sitio Siokong when I saw the crude yet intricate machine. I asked how it was used, and my two cousins and my mother, all public high school teachers and aspiring Youtube sensations, demonstrated for me.



The last two videos are each a compilation of related photos. One is on the Kulaman limestone burial jars at a museum in Cebu, and the other is on the White Cave of Kuden, also known as Lagbasan Cave. I've featured the jars in this blog quite a number of times, while the White Cave will be a subject of my future posts.

Enjoy the videos. I know they're never going to be phenomenal, but I'm sure they will be helpful to those who want to know more about Kulaman.

Ilyan Hill

Ilyan Hill is one of the landmarks of Kulaman. It stands out among hundreds of hills because its one side is rocky and dips abruptly whereas the other hills slope gently in almost all sides.

Ilyan Hill as seen from the highway in Barangay Buenaflores.

Photo by M. Linan.

The hill’s peculiar shape has inspired tales about it. The Dulangan Manobo have a legend on how the land formation got its name. The account in the next paragraph is taken from a paper by University of the Philippines professor Rosario Cruz-Lucero. It’s originally in Tagalog, and I translated it into English. Cruz-Lucero spelled the name Iliyan, but I prefer to use Ilyan because it’s closer to how the people here pronounce it.

A long time ago, Ilyan Hill was ordinary and had no name. It wasn’t different from the hills standing along it. A hunter named Ilyan was living at the foot of the hill. One day, he left his home to hunt. When he came back, he found M’lat Kum’l, an evil supernatural being with a hundred thumbs. M’lat Kum’l claimed for himself Ilyan’s house and land. Ilyan disappeared, and a hill rose where his house and land had been. This is why the hill is named after him.

I have yet to climb Ilyan Hill. It’s in my bucket list.