What a sight to behold: the sun waking from its slumber but still hidden by low lying clouds as mist hasn’t yet lifted across the land that is Bicol. A familiar orange hue envelops the still halfshut break of morn as the plane hovered thousands of feet above.

A striking silhouette with a trace of smoke billowing from its tip, rising from the land, perfect, majestic Mt. Mayon.

The jeepney from Ketkai pulled to a stop as I signaled the driver to when I reached Agora, more specifically known as the old bus terminal just beside the market in the fast growing city of Cagayan de Oro in the northern-central part of Mindanao.