#131 Bridge of Life

I see a bridge. Wait till you hear its story.

We spent the night in baranggay Panipiason in the town of Madalag, somewhere 3.5 hours away from Kalibo, Aklan. Getting there on a wild bike ride was part of the fun. The other part was photographing a place electricity hasn't touched. Life here is simple, around a steel bridge with a story. This bridge connects the villagers, and the abaca (rope fiber) they make, to market. Early in the last decade, the bridge was made of tree vines that didn't last six months at a time. After they got the money to build a cable bridge, they had to figure out how to get those steel cables all the way to their remote baranggay.

(...translated from tagalog...)

"...we loaded the five rolls of steel cables onto barges and floated them down the river. That got us to within 2 kilometers of this place. Then we un-coiled each roll and 20 men, spaced evenly apart, carried each 80 meter cable on foot until it got here. We didn't pay anyone, but we fed them. It was a community endeavor that benefited everyone..."  What a story. Enjoy.

(Pixel-peepers: It was a Sunday morning and we expected bales and bales of Abaca to be hauled across the bridge, presenting a perfect photographic opportunity. Unfortunately it rain hard so the men, and their bales of dry abaca, stayed home. Two innocent bystanders gladly obliged when we asked them to demonstrate a typical Sunday morning scene. I know, I know, it was a set-up. But hey, at least we're honest.) 

Where in the world is Panipiason, Madalag, Aklan?

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