Discovering the Cordilleras - a mapping expedition

January 1-6, 2014
Part 1 of the Cordillera Series

You really haven't been a Filipino backpacker if you haven't trekked the Cordilleras. You could not call yourself a Filipino mountaineer if you haven't even set foot at the widest mountain range in the Philippines which is the Cordilleras. We have been to a mapping expedition to the Cordillera region starting off from Banaue, Ifugao, all the way to the top at Bontoc Mountain Province and the backpacking center of the Philippines - the Sagada. Back down to the winding roads and death-defying and picturesque view when road tripping along the Halsema highway and down to Benguet and Baguio City. This is an account of our 6-day expedition on the road to the highest winding roads of Luzon to experience the culture, the food and the people of the Cordillera Region.

Discovering Caramoan Peninsula - a mapping expedition

December 27-29, 2013
Part 1 of the Caramoan Series


The Caramoan has gained its popularity when the Survivor, a reality television program has used its islands for their survival series on 2012 and has been a favorite filming location of some foreign movies even before that year. Schadow1 Expeditions has been there to discover for ourselves its beauty and realize why foreigners are eager to travel to this peninsula. Aside from it, our mission is to thoroughly map its islands, analyze the locals and the main valley where most of its people are located. And here is what we have seen.

Christmas Food Trip at Las Pinas Bamboo Organ Church

Christmas season in the Philippines is the longest in the whole world. Usually starting when Simbang Gabi "Night/Dawn Mass" is started to be held by the predominantly Catholic denomination of the country. And when there is Simbang Gabi, authentic Filipino "Kakanin" or rice-cakes start to proliferate. One of the best churches to go to for Simbang Gabi is the St. Joseph Parish Church in Las Pinas, popularly known as the Las Pinas Bamboo Organ church due to the centuries-old Bamboo Organ that is housed inside the old parish church which is still functioning until this day. And why of all the churches, this would have been once of the nicest place to go to? It is because of the bibingka and puto bumbong that is sold at its Patio all throughout the Christmas Season.

Expeditions Log 2013

2013 has been another record-breaking year not only for Schadow1 Expeditions but for the whole mapping community of the Philippines. The year marked the worldwide record-breaking map updates for the Philippines that took the mapping advocates literally by a storm; to focus on updating the map of the areas stricken by the strongest typhoon recorded in history. It only took a week to reach a million data updates. This is due to a call by the Humanitarian Openstreetmap Team to produce the updated map of the Philippines at a soonest possible time as the mapping data will be used by various institutions to mobilize their relief and rehabilitation efforts to the Philippines.

As for Schadow1 Expeditions, we exceeded our 158 mapping days of 2012 to 195 mapping days this year increasing the mapping contributions of Schadow1 Expeditions to more than double from 123,422 Philippine data modifications of 2012 to a total of 371,034 this year (as of December 8, 2013). We have mapped the country as much as how we have traveled it.

Mount Pico De Loro: A Third Time and the Monolith Attempt

December 15, 2013
Every climb is a different experience. And that happens no matter how many times you climb the same mountain. It was the third time we climbed Mount Pico De Loro and the second time for this year. We have done it this time with friends who are first-time climbers. Though this is not the first, this makes it the first time for myself to become a mountain guide and the first time to scale the Parrot's Beak or also known as the monolith.

2013 Christmas Accessory Wishlist

Christmas is a time of giving and is also the longest holiday in the Philippines and everyone is waiting for it. This holiday is similar to Thanksgiving where families reunite together to share experiences of the past year, catch up on each others whereabouts, and most especially, to exchange gifts among each other. As for Schadow1 Expeditions, Christmas is so far the busiest month of our adventures. As one of our co-blogger has created his own Christmas wishlist for 2013, it is also a right time to make mine. Do check it out.