Tungkor In the News II

Our kababayan from Florida is creating a buzz in the East Coast because of his unique creation. Mr Rey Aquino was on tv news a few months ago, now St. Petersburg Times published an article about him and his famous "tungkor":

--One day during his daily walk through his neighborhood, Rey Aquino noticed a pile of brush on the side of the road. "I grew up in the Philippines," the 73-year-old retiree said. "We walk everywhere, but you always have a hiking stick, nothing fancy, just something you find along the way." So Aquino picked up a stick. Later, when he got home, he took the old branch into his woodworking shop and polished it up. "A friend came by and saw the stick," Aquino said. "He said, 'That looks good. Can you make me one?' " So Aquino went back to the brush pile and grabbed an armful of old oak and Brazilian pepper. "That is how it all got started." Nobody knows for sure who made the first hiking staff. But it is probably right up there behind the rock on the list of first useful tools in human history.

A good strong stick has many functions. For starters, you can use it to smack the nose of a saber-toothed cat that is trying to sneak off with your mastodon steak.

Complete article at Tampa Bay Online (St Petersburg Times, FL).

Photo by A. Deans, Times.

Related articles and links:

Hand Made Walking Stick, (official Tungkor website)

Tungkor Tungkod (Radyo San Guilmo)