Sarangani – Create Your Own Adventure Part 2

This week was full of surprises and loads of activities. I was so happy to hear that our good friends and their children enjoyed their first trip to Sarangani.

We started the day quite early and headed out to do a tour of Lamlifew. This amazing place is the territory of the Blaan tribe. We had to cross a small river by foot and walked towards the beating of the drums that welcomed us.

Joy, Edric and Titus trying to follow their traditional dance. That was fun! 😀

The boys playing on the tribe’s traditional drums.

We did a tour of their museum which was built to recreate the look of the traditional home of the Datu, or the “king/leader” of their tribe.

This woman was one of the elders of the tribe who just recently passed to be with her creator, late last year. I was told that she lived to be 120 years old. 😯 I guess all the organic vegetables, fruit and livestock, fresh air and peaceful/simple living are the secret “ingredients” for long life 😀

Elijah climbing up the stairs… this is the Datu’s bedroom, aka a loft 😉

We then proceeded to the weaving area. This is where all the women come together to bead, weave and sew. They usually create original pieces and display them in their shop for tourists to purchase. They prep abaca fibers and dye it using all natural materials such as berries, barks etc. and then proceed to weave it into their traditional garments or sell them as fabric. It’s a great way to learn about their culture, livelihood and practices. We all enjoyed this tour so much! 😀

After our tour of Lamlifew, we took out friends to see Sarangani’s Capitol located in Alabel.

We were fortunate enough to see the session hall, where the Vice Governor presides over the Sanguniang Panglalawigan (SP). This is where all the board members of the province come together and present, discuss and lobby their ideas for their particular municipalities. After voting, the ideas presented are either implemented as a law, or not.

Here we all are pretending that we were the board members. Serious faces daw….. 😉 Haahahha…

After a long morning of fun activities, we had to head home because our dear friends had to catch a flight back to manila. 😦 It was so wonderful to have them over and have them experience Sarangani with their children. We all had a blast! Come back soon guys! 😀