A Beautiful Mountain Peak believed to be Once a Volcano

I grew up believing that the mountain below my hometown was once a volcano.

We call it Mugao in our dialect which in English means a "PEAK".

It is an extinct volcano according to our old folks and in fact even our old folks who have reached hundred years and have already passed away a long time ago haven’t seen the mountain peak alive to prove that it really was a volcano once.

 Perhaps it was once a volcano that became extinct hundreds or many thousands of years ago.

The mountain stands proudly overlooking the many villages surrounding it.  In fact it is here near this mountain peak where a small pond with 3 eels believed to have existed hundreds of years. 

Design

When we were kids, we loved to go to the place and watch the eels swim and hide from us.  They seem to know when people were around them.  People around the place took care of the eels very well and forbade kids from hurting them and fishing them for food because they believed that the eels were spirits that cast spells to people who hurt them.  These eels are enchanted according to the villagers.

The people around the place almost adore the eels.

The mountain peak is not so high but it is a lovely peak which is a good climbing spot for mountain climbers.  The mountain is a rocky one so it is impossible for big trees to grow and only shrubs and grasses could be seen on it.

The Igorot Headhunters: Are they really headhunters?

Igorots are known as the head hunters of the Philippines.  They have been mistakenly recognized also as the people who have tails.  By that, people perhaps mean the G_strings that the Igorot men had worn many years ago.

Today, in this modern world, you seldom see any man wearing the G-string except for especial occasions when it is a must use costume..  The G-strings are now considered a thing in the past to the new generation who have never worn the G-string. 

In the olden days, there were parts of the cordillera region where even other Igorots feared and considered places to avoid because of the tribal wars and the belief that some residents kidnap people who are strangers in their place.  We call them "BUSO" which means headhunters who prey on the residents of other places.  There were cases when people just disappeared without a trace and that was what we always feared when we were kids. 

In the 60s up to early 70s, we weren't allowed to travel to distant places except with the company of elders or other people.  There was always the fear of someone waylaying travelers on the way.  It was not advisable for a lone woman to travel.

If you want to read more about headhunting, here’s a link:

The Headhunters of the Cordilleras