Friday, March 18
We were billeted on the third floor of the administration building of PICOP that overlooks the production plant. We ate in the company dining room and used the swimming pool for a cooling dip between hikes.
The next morning we left the town and drove out Road 1 into the forest–an area of a dense undergrowth of ferns, vines, shrubs and young trees interspersed with huge trees reaching from 100 to 150 feet high. We saw a falconette, Tarictic hornbills, a Moluccan graybird, a Green Imperial pigeon, a Blue-naped parrot, and a Dollar bird. Several rufous hornbills slowly flew across the road high above us.
Rex Daubenmire, botany professor from Florida, and I hung out together because we were the only ones in the group who were interested in the vegetation–after all, this was a birding trip. Looking at the lush vegetation I said to Daubie, “I don’t know the names of any of these.” And he replied, “Neither do I.” But he did identify some of the plants for me including liverwort, lycopodiums and terrestrial orchids with soft mauve blossoms and the epiphytes that grew along the branches of the trees.
On this trip we were joined by three armed guards of PICOP without any explanation. Each time we left the bus they posted themselves around us. Later Mr. Mendenzona told us that our group of twelve was the size the Moros were apt to ambush and capture for ransom. Because our bus had no protection in case of attack he felt it necessary to supply the guards in this wild, uninhabited area.
As further protection, he was in the airplane that flew over us repeatedly. But it had landed and he was waiting for us near the falls and led us down the steps newly constructed for us. Even the roar of the water didn’t prepare us for the wide cascading waterfall. Viewing it from the bottom of the falls is appeared as a living drapery blocking the river.
Later in the afternoon we toured the pulp and veneer plant across the road from our housing. We watched the logs being graded and cut into lengths by a six foot diameter circular saw that was operating without a shield as we walked by it on a narrow plank. Ships were waiting offshore to load the finished planks and plywood.
That evening we visited the Mendenzona home. Merida’s flower arrangements of cassia and ginger decorated the large living room. In the dining room plates of cookies and cheese and a dish of popcorn was like a bit of home. She loves to garden and orchids grew on a tree. Seedling plants were housed in a bamboo lathe house.