When someone asks whether I’m a beach or a mountain person, I’d imagine myself pushed into exhaustion while hiking a mountain before answering with “I’m a beach person now.” That answer is clichéd and inaccurate. When I take away climbing’s rigors, I remain a mountain person at heart, forever in awe of its craggy shapes and verdant vegetation.
The Scarlet Letter author Nathaniel Hawthorne wrote, “Mountains are Earth’s undecaying monuments.” Indeed, as proven by my travel recollections, images of the highlands usually conjure an impression of pristine time and wonder. It’s as though the mountains were the first to rise from the sea as the Earth gradually transformed into a habitable world.
I’ve seen my fair share of spellbinding mountain ranges. From the picturesque peaks I’ve hiked in my youth to the rice terraces of the Cordillera and the seemingly endless summits of the Sierra Madre Mountain Range, to Mount Sinai’s barren slopes and the snow-capped tips in Sapa (and a lot more here and there), I’ve come to fully embrace the idea that mountains are indeed our planet’s lasting headstones.
Sultan Kudarat’s Carved Monument
In the landlocked municipality of Columbio in Sultan Kudarat, God’s broad strokes and steady hands are in bold display. Tucked deep in this area of Central Mindanao lies a stunning landscape of undulating peaks and verdant valleys.
If Frederic Edwin Church’s painting “The Heart of the Andes” provided art connoisseurs with an all-encompassing portrayal of the landscape around a mountain range, La Palmera Mountain Ridge gifts visitors a surreal glimpse into a sculpted, corporeal representation of nature.
The B’laans, an indigenous group of people from Southern Mindanao, used to tend a plantation in La Palmera, which is now covered in a sea of swaying cogon grass.
Coming from an earlier trip to Pangadilan Falls in the same municipality, we headed straight to La Palmera as we continued our exploration of SOCCSKSARGEN – a region consisting of the provinces of South Cotabato, Cotabato, Sultan Kudarat, Sarangani, and General Santos. After bouncing around on the back of a pickup truck for what felt like an hour over a long stretch of dirt road, we arrived to the warmth of B’laan men and women, who welcomed us with an entertaining cultural dance and musical performance.
As an emerging tourist destination in Sultan Kudarat, members of the B’laan community have benefitted from the influx of tourists since its opening. From cultural performances to crafting and selling native delicacies, to transporting tourists on “skylabs” – tricycles modified for more passengers – the municipality’s economy has seen a steady growth.
“I wish I could stay here even for a night,” I thought to myself as I set out on a long trail that led to forks that run to other mountains. There appear to be numerous paths to choose and explore. Taking advantage of the one afternoon we had, I flew my drone camera to capture a view of the mountain ridges.
As I packed my drone inside my backpack, I hurriedly ran up and down the trail for one last time, savoring the strong winds as they brushed against my face. Stopping to catch my breath, I gazed upon the surrounding scenery. Needing no further convincing, I promised to at least spend a couple of nights the next time I find myself in SOCCSKSARGEN.
With the manner Mother Nature fashioned yet another masterpiece in the form of the La Palmera’s ridges, it needs no further validation: Mountains are indeed “Earth’s undecaying monuments.”
