DAMAGE FROM THE MONSOON RAINS IN AUGUST

  We tried several times in August to get to the Mountain Province to conduct training in Bontoc but the severe storms kept delaying our efforts. It turned out to be a blessing due to the extended damage received by the roads in that area.

 

The Mountain Province is the most beautiful area I have encountered thus far in the Philippines. I must be missing the mountains back home, but I can't get enough of this majestic splendor.

 

 

This is the only road to Bontoc coming in from the South and the best of all the roads that lead to this area. Of course the best of three isn't a large selection. You can see where the road was washed out and more fill brought in to make it passable. This area is very steep and the road quite narrow in much of the journey.

 

 

This area requires a retaining wall to hold the fill in place, as does much of the mountain road. Once the fill is put in place by dump trucks and track hoe, the remainder of the work is done by hand. Concrete is mixed by hand for all the retaining walls. They do use cement trucks for the road itself however.

 

 

This road was easily navigated in spite of the condition, or so I though.

 

 

As we saw it from a different angle, the concrete we just drove over was suspended.

 

 

This area was completely blocked off due to the mudslide that occurred here. This road would not have been passable had we tried to travel here with our earlier plans. The Lord is constantly blessing us in ways we don't even realize until after the fact.