bottom of the ocean saw him under the boat

on thursday, as a bit of a complete surprise, i got to go diving at the sanctuary on cobrador island (one of the little islands between romblon and tablas – someday i will try to get a google earth image of where i am so that it's possible to picture it). i hadn't brought any of my gear with me (including logbook) because i figured there was no chance of diving, but there you go. after the SIKAT director left, we got the stuff prepared and headed over there.

the sanctuary is only 5 hectares, so quite small, and there is a tiny little "island" (more like a rock) on the side of it where the guard house is positioned. we had lunch there with some of the people from cobrador – grilled squid. whole too which is a bit weird – i took all the guts and stuff out, just can't eat all that like the filipinos can. but yea, pretty tasty.



[rey on the right]


rey and i dove on takot reef. it's really beautiful. a lot of the coral is only in so-so condition, but there are tons of fish and the visibility was wonderful. i was sad that my camera was in long beach.

i feel so privileged to be able to dive so much while i'm here. it's been awesome – and such a great experience. i've really been working on my fish ID skills and paying attention to navigation and what-not. it's still surprising to me every time i get in the water that it is so warm – i didn't even use a wet suit this time, just went in my swimsuit and a shirt, and was just fine. it's amazing. i always expect the water to be so cold (nothing like growing up near california for that) and brace myself for that shock when i get in, but it doesn't come. warm water definitely has its pluses.



[cobrador island]

picture
[looking towards tablas island. the little island on the left is the one i live near]


tomorrow (saturday) i go back to long beach and get started on projects again. i am feeling quite good and hopeful about getting some "done". i met a guy from the peace corps tonight (friday) who said that in six months i shouldn't expect to get much done, which i do accept, but i still feel as if i can get a few things done in carmen while i'm here. i am feeling optimisitic.

jet waves are driving me thing in nicer motions

this week i have spent in romblon town working with rey and SIKAT. i really absolutely love it here in romblon (very cute town) and once again am feeling inspired to go back to long beach and try again. being in the philippines is a bit of a roller coaster ... i go back and forth on a very regular basis between feeling determined/inspired/excited/full of ideas/zealous and then frustrated/disheartened/wind taken out of my sails/depressed about the situation.

so we will see how this next week goes. i've got a bit of a plan for myself, which i really think will help. i think my main frustration here is that i rarely feel as if i accomplished something, even if that something is very simple. perhaps that is what makes me american more than anything else – i need to do something, to say, "today i did _____".

oh, and before i forget, i finally got a good picture of a jeepney, so at long last here it is:



[nothing like jesus and unicorns]


anyways, i came to romblon to assist with a mangrove planting session at two of the local barangays monday – wednesday and to attend a GIS training on friday. i'm also here to thoroughly question rey about procedures on the surveys SIKAT does in romblon and see what ideas/suggestions he has. really, he has been so helpful and such a good resource to have.

[by the by, SIKAT is a national NGO (non-government organization) that works with LGU's (local government units) and PO's (people's organizations) to set-up coastal resource management plans. one of the places they are based is on romblon island and that's where rey works although he lives in long beach with a teacher named sally – they also host volunteers.]

i am really incredibly impressed with how things are done here. SIKAT really has its shit together and knows how to work the system and with people very well. in fact, there was actually two people from a film crew here this week who are doing a documentary on fisheries in the philippines and they are using romblon as an example of what is good to do.

it's great to tag along and observe how things are run. they were doing a big mangrove planting at a sanctuary in one of the barangay's on tuesday. and the sanctuary, although small, is very well run and maintained.

they have a lot of information up in the main building, a floating house, a guardhouse with 24/7 monitoring, etc. and, through SIKAT, the sanctuary is surveyed every year (sadly this will take place in march after i have left). honestly, it is wonderful. and i ran around taking bajillions of pictures and trying to note and remember all these things that i want to do in carmen. because *sigh* the potential is there, it's just that it needs a shove to get it going.

the mangrove planting is hard work, but they got a lot of people from the community out there doing it and helping and we got it done (they claim we planted 5000 seedlings) remarkably fast. when you think about the fact that in my first three weeks i planted, like, 30 mangroves ... yea, it's a bit insane what you can accomplish when you have a lot of people.



[community involvement]


[me planting with the mayor and a councillor]


wednesday was at a barangay on a different island (just a ten minute boat ride) and much more low key. beautiful though:



[sunset]


the director for SIKAT was also here this week to check on things and he's a really honestly nice guy. most of the time i feel a bit uncomfortable around men here – they are all friendly, but very ... forward and direct (read: i am sick of being asked if i am single in every single conversation. NO! i am not!) – but this guy is really decent. so to make a long story short, turns out they've been trying to get the two municipalities on the east side of tablas island, which faces romblon island, to collaborate with romblon municipality here on the island on the management on the corridor inbetween. municipality control is 15 km offshore and the distance between the two islands is less than 30 km, so there is so overlap. and apparently the corridor is a big path for migratory species (the director said that they find whale sharks (!!!!) there and have even seen dugongs and mantas and all sorts of dolphins and pelagic fish and what not), so coordination between two municipalities would be very good. aaannddd one of those municipalities on tablas island is san agustin and the work is funded and will likely start in october or november and so he says i can assist them with that project. i am not sure exactly what that entails, but it is certainly exciting! i do not want to abandon carmen; i have a commitment there and fully intend to do what i can there, but even helping out SIKAT one week a month or something, would be wonderful (and a great learning experience).

going science-y

since i've been back in long beach it has ... rained, rained, rained. which, when my work is all outdoors and reliant on being able to get around by bike (and seriously these roads are dangerous when it rains since they become all mud and hardly navigable), means that i have been stuck inside. disappointing, since i was supposed to be diving this week at the sanctuary with gear rey (lives here in long beach, also hosts volunteers, works for SIKAT [a marine conservation organization] on romblon island) lent me. sigh.

then on saturday i got sick, complete with fever, which confined me to bed, trying not to panic about some weird tropical disease. but then at about noon sunday, almost exactly 24 hours after it hit, i felt much better. seems it was just some 24-hour flu thing, thank goodness. it is really hard to be sick here – my host family constantly coming in to check on me and waking me up, insisting that i take medicine or come eat more rice and fish. i know they mean well, but eesh, i just wanted to be left alone to sleep in peace (which, by the by, is impossible to come by around here thanks to all the roosters, barking dogs, televisions, screaming children, trikes/motorcycles with no mufflers, bad videoke music etc).

so since i have no exciting adventures or stories to relate, i decided i should probably write about the actual work to be done and situation here.

it is estimated that globally over 50% of fisheries are fully or over exploited. most people in the world, particularly those in developing countries, rely on the sea for food, and certainly for their source of protein. at the rate we are fishing the ocean, nearly all fish stocks are expected to crash within the next 50 years. this has huge potential consequences for most of the people throughout the world.

the situation is only complicated more by the competition that occurs between large commercial fishermen with their fancy technology and boats and the local fishermen trying to feed their families. there are laws, of course, regulating where and how much any fishermen can take, but these laws are very rarely enforced.

the pending crisis could mean starvation for most of the world's population.

ideally, what needs to be done is to set up laws regulating the size and number of fish caught and marine protected areas which allow stocks to recover where they cannot be fished. of course, how do you tell a starving fisherman that he cannot fish this or that species of fish, that any fish needs to be above a certain size, and that he cannot fish in this area? how do you tell someone to think in the long-term when he is trying to feed his family today?

this is a problem throughout the world and especially in countries like the philippines where most of the population lives below the poverty line, practically everyone lives on the coast, and all rely on the sea for food.

until recently, destructive fishing practices were nearly ubiquitous. the worst of these include dynamite fishing (i.e. lighting a stick of dynamite, throwing it into the reef, and blowing up everything in the vicinity) and cyanide fishing (literally putting cyanide into the water to stun the fish). the problem with these methods of fishing is that they kill everything in the area (not just the target fish) and they absolutely destroy the coral. the philippines is one of the biological "hotspots" of the world. it has some of the most beautiful and biologically diverse reefs in the world, and sadly, most of them are in terrible condition. of the 500 genera of coral, 488 of them exist in the philippines. something like 70% of the reefs in the philippines are considered "poor" quality or below. what is most important about this is that coral reefs provide the habitat for most of the target fish (either as adults or as juveniles); thus, no coral = no fish.

thankfully, for the most part, dynamite and cyanide fishing have ceased. but other non-discriminatory fishing methods are still being used and fish that are far too small are still being taken from the seas. if fishermen are taking juveniles, that means that no adults are out there, which means no spawning, no reproduction, and no new fish to allow for recovered stocks. i still haven't been able to figure out what laws actually exist here. i hear that the laws are quite good – it's just that the enforcement ... is lacking.

a marine sanctuary has been established – that's good. a critical start. now that it is there, the list of things that need to be done is unending. this includes a thorough survey of the species that exist there and what condition the reef is in. that way, comparisons can be made in future years to show any progress. if you cannot show people that there is progress, both in terms of number and diversity of fish and in the condition of coral, then people will start to lose respect for the sanctuary and not follow any regulations against fishing within its boundaries. education is critical: about why sanctuaries are good, about the care and upkeep and biology of coral, about fish in general, fisheries management, etc etc. some sort of community involvement needs to be established to guard the sanctuary and ensure that fishermen are not (in fact) fishing there and that rules – i.e. do not touch the coral, anchor in the sanctuary – are enforced. ay and that is only a beginning. a sanctuary does not fix the problem; it is a beginning, but must be used in coordination with fishing laws.

additionally, mangrove forests are (well, used to be) prevalent here. i don't know too much about mangroves, but they are interesting ecosystems. there are quite a few genera of mangroves, all distantly related; mangrove trees are one of only a few plants able to survive in salt water. the swamps they create are also absolutely essential to tropical areas. they act as a nursery and shelter for many many marine species, including sea turtles, fish, tons of inverts, etc. mangroves are also a natural border – they protect the shore from storms. they also filter out the finer sediment, preventing siltation on the coral reefs. most mangrove forests throughout the world have been cut down to allow for beaches for tourists, including here in the philippines. slowly though, their importance is being recognized and they are being restored. that's the other part of my project here – planting and monitoring mangroves. there is also a small nursery in long beach and at the sanctuary, so i just have to keep it up.

as far as the sanctuary goes, my plan is to do a thorough survey of it, create a list of species there, and to create a field guide of pictures and some brief facts about the species. i also hope to go out with fishermen during the day and talk to them about what species they are catching, how big they are now compared to what they used to be, etc. and hopefully get some educational seminars going at the sanctuary about why its a good thing and what else everyone can do. community involvement is so important in situations like these.

the frustration of my time here so far has mostly been a result of recognizing what needs to be done, but only being one person with very limited resources. there is no diving in san agustin, which means i must rely on rey and SIKAT for lending me gear. and ... scientific work needs other people – you cannot do it alone. i am hoping that people at the local government unit (LGU) will come through on this.

ok, hopefully that's a good enough science lesson for now :) please do comment if you have any questions or suggestions – this project means nothing if it does not, at the very least, raise awareness.

silver linings in golden seas

getting away is good for me, i think.

i actually like traveling alone. i do a lot of just wandering around, looking at things, thinking. the weather here has been crappy since i arrived - rainy and cloudy - which means no sun-bathing and that i am reliant on restuarants/bars not kicking me out for sitting there too long. especially right now, where it is pouring outside and i am probably more than a kilometer from my hotel.

the beauty of traveling alone is that you get invited to do things on a fairly regular basis. every night i get asked to join people at the bar for a drink, to play cards, or whatever. it's nice, and it doesn't happen if you're traveling with someone else.

the tourist area of boracay is called white sand beach and is actually a pedestrian walkway, lined with hotels, restaurants, bars, and dive shops right along beautiful beaches. because it is the off-season (quite windy), there are screens along the walkway in attempts to block out rain. the off-season also means cheaper rates and that there aren't very many white people here. a lot of koreans, but honestly, i'm one of the only white people i've seen. as such, i stick out, and am followed around by vendors, people advertising for boat rides, snorkeling, everything. i answer their questions in filipino, and that definitely surprises them.



[screens]


[outriggers on the beach]


my first days here, i did a lot of asking at dive shops about prices, where to dive, etc. everything is about the same price, but i really feel like you can tell what kind of dive you'll get just by talking to the person who is there. some just answer your question directly "$30 US" and that's the end of the conversation, while others actually take time to take to you about the dive sites. at one place, lapu-lapu, the guys standing out front asked me in for a cup of coffee and chatted with me for a long time. they are both dive masters-in-training and very kind and so i decided to go diving with them. one of the guys is an american who's been here for about a year, and it is just so good to talk to him and hear his thoughts, ideas, etc. little things like those conversations make me feel so much better about being here, even in the midst of struggles and challenges. it's just the reassurance that yes, things here take time; yes, the position i'm in is experienced by most westerners coming here - it just ... makes me feel more positive and optimistic. more like i can handle this, i can do this for six months, it will be ok. the challenge of not going and doing is teaching me more than i could possibly imagine.

anyways, i went diving with these guys this morning at a site called 'crocodile island'. really beautiful wall and reef - lots of colors, fishies, etc. i brought my camera with me for the first time (!!) and it did splendidly. i was so nervous about using it, but really it worked wonderfully. i took somewhere around 80 photos and i'd say that 5 or so are decent. i have a lot to learn about underwater photography - it's so difficult. and it seems to be absolutely impossible to capture the color.

regardless, i have a few to post, even if they're not too great.



[i was really pissing off this clownfish and he was chasing me around. very cute. you can see how angry he is at me in this photo.]


[general scene]


[trumpet fish]


[i am obsessed with texture]


[not the best photo, but it really shows all the texture down there. it's pretty amazing]


[me. my hair looks all crazy]


anyways, it is good for me to be here. i am really enjoying me time, and just am feeling much better about the way things are going. i think the key is to be optimistic about the entire experience. back to romblon on wednesday.

and make this place a heart to be a part of

i am feeling a little better after this week. it was good to go to romblon town last week – to go diving, have good conversations with jenn, reflect, and relax. although i am so eager to just jump in and go, it just is not going to happen (is not happening).

romblon is an amazingly cute little town. we had a beautiful sunrise on the trip here (6 am boat!). i really love it and have the feeling i will be here quite a bit.



[sunrise over romblon island]


rey, a guy who lives in long beach, has an office here that he let jenn and i stay in for free, so i am hoping that will continue while i am here. he works for an organization called SIKAT that runs the sanctuaries on romblon island and it seems like a great program. sadly, he doesn't have work i can help with really apart from maybe the last week of september. too bad; it would really provide the direction and information i need. it is amazing to me that i am introduced as an expert when .... i know so very little.

we went diving at a place a ten minute or so boat ride away from romblon. the guy who runs it is swiss, josef, and has been here in the philippines for the past 15 years or so. he made the house reef there a protected area, and it has been for the last seven years. it looks much better than the one in carmen where i will be working. the coral there all appears to be in good condition and there are lots of fish, invertebrates, biodiversity all around. i haven't bought moisture munchers for my camera yet, so i don't have any underwater pictures, but i am going to buy some this weekend while i'm here in boracay, so hopefully will have some cool pictures to post soon. it was beautiful though and very interesting and it felt so, so good to be back under the water. it is impossible to describe diving to non-divers, but it is truly another world down there. and to be able to experience it right alongside all the fish and hydrozoans and corals makes it much more personal. it is a freeing experience, much like i imagine flying to be. i hope i can go diving a lot while i am here.

i came back to long beach feeling very refreshed and slightly more optimistic about the work to be done here. i will not be given a lot of direction, and so that means i need to just go and do what i know needs to be done. how much that is actually possible still remains to be seen, but hopefully i can spend however long i end up staying (yes, i am toying with the idea of leaving early...) doing something productive and useful. i don't want to complain about it too much, but it has been disappointing. i am really trying to stay optimistic about it and hope that i can find something meaningful to do while i'm here. it is a challenge; i can see what needs to be done, but i also realize that i am only one person with very limited resources and that it may just not to be possible for me to do it alone. i will, obviously, do what i can.

the people at the department of agriculture have actually been very helpful this week and have some concrete things they would like me to do and help them with, so i hope to get the ball rolling with those soon. they are a bit far away, but i have someplace i can stay in san agustin, so maybe i will spend a few weeks there working in the office with them at some point.

at least there are mangroves to be planted, and pictures to be taken in the sanctuary, and field guides to be made. something immediate, that i can work on now.





on a completely different note, i bought a bike when i first got here. it's a fairly decent bike – even has gears and everything – and since the sanctuary is 7 km away, the department 14 km away, i figured a bike would be useful to have as a way to get around so i wouldn't have to pay for a tricycle or motorbike every time. so, on monday (10 september), i decided to ride my bike to the sanctuary. i get on and am pedalling down the road and saying hi to all the staring children and answer the oh-so-common "what is your name?", "where are you going?" questions and avoiding the leers of the men and the next thing i know the seat is wobbling all over the place and then just falls off. in the middle of the road, as i am riding it. i certainly got stares for that one. see the problem is that i am tall. much taller than anyone here. and so i had adjusted the seat as far up as it would go which still isn't nearly tall enough because my knees still touch the handle bars on the up-pedal, but apparently i put it so tall that you couldn't actually tighten it. so, one of the guys got out his wrench and helped me put it back in and off i go. then, another kilometer or so down the road, i'm pedalling along, and all of a sudden ... one of the pedals falls off. so i stop and see that it's just come unscrewed and so i get out my leathermen and am trying to get the thing to screw back in again and i am dripping with sweat because it is so freakin' hot outside and there are about eight children crowded around me staring as i do this and i couldn't get a good grip on the screw because it is too big for my leathermen and so some other guy came over with a wrench and helped me. and on i went, thanking them. about a km from the sanctuary, the other pedal comes off and this time there aren't any houses around and so i walk to the nearest house and they don't speak any english and so i'm making pedalling motions with my hands and trying to show that the pedal fell off and that i need a wrench and they are just staring at me like, "who the hell is this white girl waving her arms around like crazy and all sweaty and why is she here talking to us?" but finally i got them to understand and one of the guys came and helped me and i finally made it to the sanctuary and then back again and everything! the next time i rode it, the entire pedal (not just the foot piece) just fell off and i had to walk it the 3 km or so back home (at least is on my way back and not there). and the brakes stick like no other, meaning not only do i have to pedal up hills, i have to pedal down them as well. what a piece of crap bike. i think learning about mike maintenance and repair is in my future. today on my way back from the sanctuary (the first time with no break downs! yay!), it started to absolutely pour rain and while everyone else ran for cover, i just continued pedalling on, completely enjoying the rain and how cool it felt compared to normal. mostly, i think i am just confirming that i am crazy to everyone around here.



[view along the bike route]


jenn had my family over for dinner on thursday as a goodbye, and so i decided to make chocolate chip cookies for dessert. i got mom to text me the recipe (i was very impressed that she managed to do this :)) and looked for the ingredients in san agustin. the grocery store was closed (on a tuesday? why?), and none of the little canteens (a la convenience stores, although more outdoors ... hard to explain) had anything. i have since discovered that you cannot buy chocolate chips here period; no one has heard of m&m's; there is no butter, only margarine; you can only buy flour from bakeries, they don't sell it in grocery stores; and if you actually want any cooking supplies you need to go to a big town to get it. however, since lucie had made a cake last week, we did have vanilla and baking soda and i managed to find all the rest (except i had to use margarine and these things called 'nips' which are basically exactly m&m's).

no one here had ever eaten a chocolate chip cookie before. and all the kids stared into the oven (that's a completely different story: [in short, it has gas on the bottom that you light like a fire and instead of a temperature control there is a sign that says how long to have it on high and low to maintain the temperature you want. for 190oC, that would be high for 2 minutes 25 seconds and low for 35 seconds.] as they baked and were just amazed by it. i wish i had had my camera when we brought them out after dinner as everyone stared and took their first bites. i think everyone actually enjoyed them, but can you imagine never eating chocolate chip cookies?!?!?! that is like ... wow, i am really far away from america.

i went to the 2 year anniversary of ROMANGA (romblon mango growers association) celebration at the sanctuary on friday (14 september) and have had some very interesting conversations with the men. the first question is always, "are you single?" to which i reply, "no i have a very serious boyfriend and he is coming to visit?" (as in, don't even think about it) and there are lots of jokes – half in english and half in filipino. sometimes it's ok, because it's just a joke, but i have trouble telling when then joke ends and they are getting a bit too serious about it. men here really look at white women and it is ... very uncomfortable. i think i surprise them. it seems like most people here have only ever worked with males or the women stayed in the office and then there i am always offering to help and very hands on and active and i think i catch them off guard. the point of bringing up the party though was that i had my first coconut milk and ate the meat right out of the buko (young coconut, it's sweeter) and it was delicious and very refreshing.





the fruit here is amazingly delicious. i eat so many mangos it's kind of ridiculous.

and there was a fabulous banner on the sanctuary platform:





you can't really read it, but it says "fish for peace". haha. what does that even mean?

and just randomly, here's a picture of bing and i blowing bubblegum bubbles (mine started to die down just as this picture was taken and she ... has no clue how to blow bubbles). but she is cute.





for the next few days, i am in a place called boracay, a popular tourist destination south of tablas island, just off panay island and caticlan. i came here to extend my visa (which i will only do for a few months ...) and to be able to get on the internet and do some research about coral reef networks and so on in the area. also to lie on the beach, do the shopping i cannot in romblon, relax, and go diving! it is pretty touristy, but very nice and comfortable and since it is the off-season, not too crowded. i am staying at a place for 300p a night (that's like $6; you can even bargain for hotels here) and there is wireless at a nearby resort that i am currently stealing! hurrah!

[i apologize for this ridiculously long entry, but there is so much to talk about]

it's a jungle gym

i am finally in romblon province and just starting my work here. it seems that i won't be given as much direction as i had originally thought and hoped for, which is a bit disappointing. there is wrok to be done, but i am not sure how much of it i can do on my own with no real resources. i'm still figuring out the ropes, of course, so we shall see.

i arrived in manila for my orientation with CERV (that's the NGO i am working for here; the program is run by GVN). i am the only volunteer arriving this month, and the only environmental volunteer period. there are two education volunteers here currently although one is leaving today and the other leaves next week, so i am ... quite alone here. my orientation consisted of your typical information about the location, basic rules, and so on. raymund also gave me a tour of manila – both the more touristy areas and the slums. it was really interesting to hear the history of the philippines since i basically know nothing about it. the cathedrals here are straight out of europe; the philippines is the largest christian country in asia (something like 80%) and catholicism is very important here.





the slums are, honestly, everywhere. anywhere there is room – crammed between buildings, under bridges, etc – there are "houses" stacked on top of each other. in some places, they are just more concentrated than others and entire communities have emerged. the largest, called smoky mountain, was shut down a few years ago. it was a dump in manila that people lived on and was called smoky mountain because there were random combustions that made it so that smoke was always rising from the heap of trash. anyways, it is good that is was shut down, but now all along the roads near and around it there are slums. i really have no words for it, and my pictures come nowhere close to capturing in, but it is honestly houses upon houses stacked upon one another and absolutely jam-packed with people. and full of children who have known nothing else, but are somehow so happy. it is ... heart-breaking.







on monday, 3 september, eden took me to romblon province which is very very isolated and difficult to get to . first there is the two hour bus ride from manila to batangas, then buying a ticket and waiting in a non-air conditioned room packed with people, a 9-hour "overnight" boat ride from 5 pm to about 2 in the morning, a two hour jeepney to carmen, and then a 30 minute tricycle ride to long beach (where i am living).

ahhh it was crazy.

my first few days have been alright; things are moving very slowly so far. like i said, i haven't been given a whole lot of direction and feel kind of lost. thank goodness for the two other volunteers here, lucie and jen; they are absolutely saving me with their suggestions and advice and warnings and all of that. it is just so nice to have someone to talk to who actually speaks english and it is appropriate to ask honest questions about the way things work and so on. it is not acceptable here to display anger or frustration, and i think that will be difficult since it seems that things are rather unorganized. lucie is leaving today and jen next week ... i will be so sad when they leave.

i have been to the fish sanctuary and met the government people in charge of maintaining the sanctuary. the sanctuary is in carmen, about 7 km from where i am living, so i bought bike to get me there. i am not quite sure how my time here will be spent – there are a lot of mangroves to be planted, but i will go crazy doing that every day for six months. as far as i can tell, the sanctuary has only been surveyed twice (2002 and 2005), so i am going to try to write up a protocol and actually do that: create an inventory of species present (they don't even know what endangered species are here), information about coral cover and status, and so on. i am not quite sure how i will do this alone, since i will need to use SCUBA for the deeper areas and i really don't know enough to do it alone, but hopefully some of the staff here will be of some use. i am the only marine biologist (how weird, it is actually my job title now? how did that happen?) here and so i am considered the "expert" even though i really know nothing. i have so, so much to learn.



[the platform at the sanctuary that visitors can snorkel from. those are the mangroves on both sides. i live on the opposite side of the bay near that little island]


life in the philippines is good though. i am in the visayas region, romblon province, tablas island, san agustin municipality, long beach barangay. it is very hot and i am basically sweating all the time because it is so unbelievably humid, but it is stunningly beautiful. tablas island is very mountainous and full of jungle and i cannot wait to explore it more. my host family is two sisters (cecile and wilma) and two kids (genevieve (better known as bing-bing) and kenneth (a.k.a. kay-kay)).



[i don't know why my camera made it all wavy like this, but at least you can see them]


they are all so nice and so sweet. their business is in coconuts – although i couldn't give you the details, there are always coconuts chopped up lying in the sun around the house drying and then they are apparently sold somewhere to make coconut oil.





they are a middle class family, although would hardly be considered so in the states. they do have hired help to cook, clean, and do laundry (hooray! i don't have to do my own laundry by hand), but ... the house is tiny, full of mosquitos (as the many bites all over my legs will attest), and there is no shower. i've actually gotten quite good in the past week at taking bucket showers, and sort of like it (?) because there isn't any hot water and it feels good when it's so hot. the house is right on the beach (high tide literally laps at the back steps) and there is a small hut on stilts in the back overlooking the bay. it is quickly becoming my favorite spot.





eventually, i will swim to that island. i've been swimming every day - which is so nice. even though the water is warm, it is quite refreshing and feels cool compared to the air temperature.

i cannot begin to tell you how beautiful it is and haven't taken enough pictures yet to really show it.

there isn't any internet in san agustin, so to get to internet i take a boat to romblon town, romblon island for an hour – which is where i am now. lucie is leaving from here in a few hours and jen and i will stay the weekend. we are planning on going diving tomorrow (yay!) and i really want to wander around and explore the town. this is an adorable town, and so i'm glad i have an excuse (internet) to come here often.

so yes, life is progressing; i am adjusting and hopefully things will start to work themselves out soon.