Imugan Introspection: God is in the Details

Beautiful moth on the wall

The last time we were here in Imugan, Nueva Vizcaya was almost three years ago.  This time like the previous trip was an opportunity to get away from the city even just for the weekend.  222 kilometers away and 950 meters above sea level, the farming town of Imugan is a perfect place to escape to.  We overslept on the bus and had to hike a kilometer or so to Santa Fe at 4:30 in the morning, our breath forming visible wisps of mist in the 28 degree air.  A sleepy start but the walk surely woke us all up.

My mobile phone was useless the whole weekend-long owing to the weak Globe signal which was practically non-existent until we got back to the lowlands but I didn't mind it.  It really was a good time as any to put things -- concerns, plans, and everyday life -- on hold.  And we decided to spend the weekend not in a sterile resort setting but in a farming town where the clean, crisp and cool mountain air serves as air conditioning and tranquility is a priceless amenity.

Look closer: There are beautiful spiders with intricate patterns on most walls

Our group have been planning this trip for almost two months, the first time we'll be complete in a long while.  There's no fixed itinerary, no pressure to stick to a predetermined schedule, just letting everything flow naturally.  It rained in the afternoon after a sunny, blue sky morning so we put off our plans of hiking to the falls to the morrow and just chill, perhaps eat more leisurely, catch up with each other, and because we took the red-eye trip, to catch up on sleep.  I used the time to introspect and see Imugan differently, on a micro scale.

Another thing of beauty

The training hall and dormitory where we stay is right in the fields, surrounded by trees and other vegetation, just a short stroll from the barangay hall.  It is so quiet out here, you can hear yourself think.  The quiet is disrupted only by the trilling of birds, the movement of occasional breezes through the trees, and the gentle sloshing of the Kalahan river just a few steps away.  The dormitory is basic but if you love nature, you'll be happy out here.

Beauty and the divine in the details

Life here abounds in the details, if one cares to look more closely.  There are spiders lining up the walls, decorating the concrete with shiny silk.  There are bigger spiders in the eaves of the toilet and bath outhouse caring little for bathroom-goers and more concerned with their web-spinning and meal of insects.  There are beautiful moths and spotted roaches everywhere -- on the walls, on the doors.  Colorful dragonflies and skittish butterflies fly from flower to flower in the garden.  Slugs come out for their fill.  Wasps and bees come and go through the open air hall, the rooms and bathroom, seemingly unmindful of us.  

Not so-itsy-bitsy spider

I guess in other places, the compulsion would be to use insecticides to keep the insects away whether they're real or imagined pests. But here, we tacitly absorb the idea that we live in the midst of nature, moths, bugs and all, not as mere spectators like visitors to the zoo who are mere outsiders looking in.  Rather, we are immersed in the ecology, freely interacting with nature, with God's creatures both big and small, woven in an organic tapestry.  Seeing beauty in the details of beautiful moths and intriguing spiders became my metaphor for the trip -- introspecting to look inwardly, looking closely at the details to see the big picture, like seeing the trees for the forest.

See more of my Imugan macro images here. All images taken using a Nikon camera and Nikkor 60mm macro lens.