the search for the elusive sunting

ap-ap in bisaya, haole rot in hawaii. this skin fungus manifested in charlie's legs the day after we went swimming at the pool.  charlie said white men suffer this disease in hawaii and somebody has yet to find the ultimate cure.

i said, really? well, here we treat it with sunting. actually, i've never had ap-ap before but when i was young i remember one of my friends had one and she treated it with sunting. as a student in surigao, we were also made to memorize all the herbal plants. in second year, we were required to tend a herbal garden as a biology requirement. that's how i got to know about sunting.

of course, anything herbal and natural fascinates my husband. so for hours, he researched about sunting or akapulko. incidentally, we had one growing at home but mama recently cut it down. charlie picked a few leaves and using the blender, made juice out of it. he then rubbed it on his legs.

he looked so funny with his green legs and he suddenly had this wild idea about selling the stuff in hawaii and calling the medicine Dr. Boo's Green Legs. hahaha!

the medicine is supposed to be applied for 3 to 4 weeks and there was not enough sunting at home. we heard about sunting growing near the river. so the adventure begins!

"don't kill the plant guys!"

together with ai-ai and aiza, we scoured the whole puntod area of balulang for sunting. we must have walked four miles for just a kilo of sunting leaves! we were expecting lots so we brought four big plastic bags but returned home with just charlie's green bag full.

"isn't it interesting that this plant grows right beside the road?"

the river was muddy brown from the rains, the roads had potholes, and the sky was gray but we just walked on and on. we reached ai-ai's house and charlie became instant celebrity with the kids. 

"hey, you guys! what's up with that?!"

along the way, charlie couldn't resist the animal farms and ended up talking to pigs and cows. he just had to have a photograph with them! 

"dont you have the flu?"

"how's it?!"

finally, we gave up and sat under the cool shade of coconut trees. we did some photoshoots then came home to start making akapulko juice. i felt like collapsing afterwards. the last time i walked this far was during the immersion years! then i realized what i just did and i was actually bringing my own husband out for his immersion! hahahaha! i was able to show him a brief glimpse of rural philippines. this is just the beginning.:)