i've been doing a lot of thinking lately.
in the past three weeks, i have picked up more trash than i can possibly explain. and i've picked it all up in the marine sanctuary, where the dumping of trash is forbidden. the problem is that people dump their trash into the ocean and with the way the winds/currents are now, it all gets washed straight into the sanctuary.
and the trash situation isn't just bad in the sanctuary – it's bad everywhere. all along all the beaches, along the roads, in people's gardens, absolutely everywhere.
it's something i just don't understand; how can people be content to live among their own trash? most (if not all, to my knowledge) cultures separate themselves from their trash – have a dump or trash pit of some sort – but that doesn't seem to exist here. so many times i have bit my tongue when on boats i watch people throw their plastic sachets out into the water, and it is just killing me. no one seems to recognize that it is a problem or to be concerned or disgusted by it. not only is it ugly, it is detrimental to their health and to their livelihood since it kills coral/fish.
a lot of the trash in the sanctuary, because of the way the winds are right now, is from long beach. i mentioned this to wilma (she is the barangay captain) and "oh no, it's from carmen" and then if you mention it to someone from carmen (where certainly some of the trash is from) then the reply is "oh no, it's from long beach" or sugod, or romblon or anywhere but where that person is from. this is a constant problem. no one accepts responsibility for any of the problems. we say over and over again that it is everyone's fault and everyone's responsibility. this is not just in regards to the rubbish; it applies to everything. fault is not the issue here – people just need to accept that they have some hand in the problem and need to get over it and work together to fix it.
it's such a blame game that no wonder nothing ever actually gets DONE. no one is action prone at all. it's probably one of the things that i miss the most about the states. many people here just waste the day, sitting around, doing nothing. i could never ever do that. even if i'm relaxing, i'm reading or chatting or still doing something. i just don't understand how people can sit and do nothing. and i've been much, much better at accepting the huge amounts of free time i have around here (i think i've read every book in english in long beach that's not religious).
how do you convince people to accept responsibility? how do you make people do something to fix the problem, rather than just shrug it off?
[warning: the following paragraph may be considered offensive. i do not mean to offend anyone though or disrespect anyone's religion.] i have a theory. even though i myself don't really belong to a "religion", i do really respect people of faith. i am amazed and in awe of the strength that people draw from their faith; that sort of connection to a god is something i don't feel, but i do respect it in other people. however, i think ... that a lot of the problems here can be traced back to the church. i won't go into the problem of overpopulation except to say that birth control and condoms would really be a good idea. but here, there is a very strong belief in "god's will" and that "god will provide". this i have no problem with except that i think it is taken so literally here that people don't actually act to solve their own problems because they believe that god will help them through it in the end. this is concerning to me. i just finished e.o. wilson's "creation" (fabulous. go read it) and he says in it (in regards to the human caused mass extinctions occurring throughout the world) "we will have done it all on our own, and conscious of what was happening. god's will is not to blame ... humanity must make a decision, and make it right now: conserve earth's natural heritage, or let future generations adjust to a biologically impoverished world. there is no way to weasel out of this choice." i want to put that quote on a sign, photocopy it, and hang it all over the philippines. my goodness, he just hits the nail right on the head.
the problem with the marine situation (well, the environment situation) is that ... i think it's too late. they needed to do something yesterday, to make drastic changes yesterday, and they are still resistant to accepting that it's a problem. rey (the SIKAT guy i was working with in romblon) works with communities on this marine stuff and he said, "i just can't understand why all the fish are gone from this fishing spot" ?!?!?!?!??!!! this is the guy who is supposed to be an expert, who is supposed to be working to fix it. and he doesn't get it either. i look at my plate every meal, every day, and just want the fish to come back alive and put it back into the water so that it can grow big enough to reproduce, because they are just too small. scott says i'm not a pessimist, that i'm a realist, but i hate to feel like it's such a hopeless situation. oh i wish i felt like i had actually done something while i was here to really fix it, to really help.
speaking of, i leave here in three weeks. yes, three weeks. can anyone believe it? i can't. i feel ... strange about it. i want to go home and am so looking forward to going to south america and seeing brad again, but ... it's like ever since i got here i have been aching to go home and now that it's almost here it just feels unreal. there is so much i thought i'd be able to do that i wasn't able to. i feel disappointed in myself; like i could have done more and i didn't. i don't know really how i could have done more, but ... six months and i feel like i have nothing to show for it.
but my mom is coming out here in two weeks. yes yes, she really is. she has a week off in february and flights were a decent price and she has some things she'd like to donate to the schools here and so she's coming out here. oh my gosh i just can't even believe it. i'm so, so excited for her to come here. it's ... unreal.
the most recent volunteers are adam, becca, and david. adam and becca are my age and from australia (again!) and teaching in cabolutan. and then david is from the states, an environmental volunteer, and deaf and mute. that has certainly been a challenge, but i'm really enjoying working with him. he's up for absolutely everything and ... i just really admire that he's coming out here and putting himself out like that. it's certainly quite brave. i wish it were easier to talk to him (writing everything out takes so long), because i'd love to hear what he thinks about the place. how wonderful to be deaf here! no freakin' roosters waking you up at 3:30 am and then going on and on all day (i hate roosters); no barking dogs; no constant "what's your name?", "where are you going". i think scott and i wear him out, but hopefully he's enjoying himself!
31 January 2008
26 January 2008
do the whirlwind
well it's been a whirlwind and a half since i got back.
i got back here on a friday and then on saturday, went over to romblon for the town fiesta. scott and carly were already there (they went over on friday), and i came over with denise (new volunteer! another aussie. staying in sugod for six months. teacher.) and eden. it was absolutely pouring down rain and continue to rain for the entire day.
the town was decorated with flags everywhere lining the streets, lots of stalls for selling things, and so on. fiestas are technically for the patron saint of the barangay and i have no clue how the date is chosen, but this one is a big deal since romblon is the capital of this province. so there were just HEAPS of people. the patron saint of just about everywhere is "senor santo nino". it's a week long celebration, but saturday, apparently is the really big day – a parade, boat race, music all day, so on and so forth. everywhere has also adopted the ati-atihan thing a la kalibo (see previous), and i'm not sure why since it's historically significant in kalibo, but who knows. anyways, they divide up into tribes and dress up and march through the roads dancing and playing these huge drums which just shake your entire core. it was awesome, despite the pouring rain.
[yup that's a man]
the drums are really the best part. the whole town seemed to be vibrating with them. here's my attempt at a video of it ...
and then the dancing
we missed the boat race since it was raining so much – we were all just absolutely soaked. and water got into my camera, so it's broken. sucks. the plan originally had been to go back to long beach that afternoon, but it was raining so much that the boat didn't actually go. carly and i went to the church where wilma stays with the nuns when she's in romblon to dry off, and then sort-of got stuck there (as in, we were told we weren't allowed to leave). however, there was a boat leaving at 4 am, so we agreed to stay at the church for dinner, and then said we were going to leave, meet up with scott, and stay up all night to catch the boat. [a sidenote: we also got to play scrabble and drink red wine with the nuns]
we met scott who had been drinking ... all day basically by this point and the assorted collection of white people in romblon (there were so many! i've never seen so many white people in romblon before!) and had drinks. there was a filipino-american guy there as well, carlos, who's mom is from romblon and he's here for a few weeks. we all went and watched the music in the square (pretty good) and then just went to the boat to sit for an hour before it left. we did have quite a bit of fun, though. staying up all night and chatting with people.
so that would be two nights with no sleep within a three day period. goodness. i slept quite well the next few nights, i must say, in attempts to recover.
i got back here on a friday and then on saturday, went over to romblon for the town fiesta. scott and carly were already there (they went over on friday), and i came over with denise (new volunteer! another aussie. staying in sugod for six months. teacher.) and eden. it was absolutely pouring down rain and continue to rain for the entire day.
the town was decorated with flags everywhere lining the streets, lots of stalls for selling things, and so on. fiestas are technically for the patron saint of the barangay and i have no clue how the date is chosen, but this one is a big deal since romblon is the capital of this province. so there were just HEAPS of people. the patron saint of just about everywhere is "senor santo nino". it's a week long celebration, but saturday, apparently is the really big day – a parade, boat race, music all day, so on and so forth. everywhere has also adopted the ati-atihan thing a la kalibo (see previous), and i'm not sure why since it's historically significant in kalibo, but who knows. anyways, they divide up into tribes and dress up and march through the roads dancing and playing these huge drums which just shake your entire core. it was awesome, despite the pouring rain.
[yup that's a man]
the drums are really the best part. the whole town seemed to be vibrating with them. here's my attempt at a video of it ...
and then the dancing
we missed the boat race since it was raining so much – we were all just absolutely soaked. and water got into my camera, so it's broken. sucks. the plan originally had been to go back to long beach that afternoon, but it was raining so much that the boat didn't actually go. carly and i went to the church where wilma stays with the nuns when she's in romblon to dry off, and then sort-of got stuck there (as in, we were told we weren't allowed to leave). however, there was a boat leaving at 4 am, so we agreed to stay at the church for dinner, and then said we were going to leave, meet up with scott, and stay up all night to catch the boat. [a sidenote: we also got to play scrabble and drink red wine with the nuns]
we met scott who had been drinking ... all day basically by this point and the assorted collection of white people in romblon (there were so many! i've never seen so many white people in romblon before!) and had drinks. there was a filipino-american guy there as well, carlos, who's mom is from romblon and he's here for a few weeks. we all went and watched the music in the square (pretty good) and then just went to the boat to sit for an hour before it left. we did have quite a bit of fun, though. staying up all night and chatting with people.
so that would be two nights with no sleep within a three day period. goodness. i slept quite well the next few nights, i must say, in attempts to recover.
25 January 2008
manila and goodbyes
january 8 - 9, 2008
our tour of the philippines ended, of course, in manila. i have decided i can only handle manila for a maximum of two days. i am afraid to breathe there for fear of getting cancer. but still, it is quite the experience.
we stayed in a suburb called malate near the intramuros area, which i first visited when i arrived here on my tour of manila. how odd to return to the places i saw in my first few days. but we also wandered around rizal park (the national hero), which was a pretty neat place just plopped into the middle of the city.
[rizal monument. it has permanent guards]
brad left our hotel at about 4 am (we had decided it made no sense for me to come to the airport since i wouldn't even be allowed inside). i was so asleep that i barely registered that he was leaving and it wasn't until i woke up at 6 that i realized ... yes, he's actually gone.
whatever the challenges of going from six months of not seeing each other to a month of seeing each other 24/7, i am still so grateful that he came out here. we had such a great time seeing all these new and beautiful places, even if we did run around like crazy the entire time.
i miss him already.
our tour of the philippines ended, of course, in manila. i have decided i can only handle manila for a maximum of two days. i am afraid to breathe there for fear of getting cancer. but still, it is quite the experience.
we stayed in a suburb called malate near the intramuros area, which i first visited when i arrived here on my tour of manila. how odd to return to the places i saw in my first few days. but we also wandered around rizal park (the national hero), which was a pretty neat place just plopped into the middle of the city.
[rizal monument. it has permanent guards]
brad left our hotel at about 4 am (we had decided it made no sense for me to come to the airport since i wouldn't even be allowed inside). i was so asleep that i barely registered that he was leaving and it wasn't until i woke up at 6 that i realized ... yes, he's actually gone.
whatever the challenges of going from six months of not seeing each other to a month of seeing each other 24/7, i am still so grateful that he came out here. we had such a great time seeing all these new and beautiful places, even if we did run around like crazy the entire time.
i miss him already.
rice terraces
january 5 - 7 2008
everyone (in the philippines at least) says that the rice terraces should be one of the wonders of the world. we never did hear when they were built, but it was at least over 2000 years ago – and they're still being used today.
i don't even want to try to explain or describe it, so i'll just start off with a picture.
these are the batad rice terraces, but there are terraces all over the northern provinces (in case any of you are worried that we were in the north (a peace corps volunteer was killed up here a few years ago), don't worry. no wandering off the beaten track around here; it's quite safe as long as you stick to the typical tourist places). you actually have to walk into batad – there aren't any roads, so we stayed in a town called banaue, about 14 km away. the road from banaue to batad wins the award for the worst road in the philippines. i really thought i might have to give it to the road between long beach and carmen because seriously nothing has compared to that road this entire trip, but no, banaue to batad wins. muddy and rocky do not even begin to describe it – let's just say that brad and i had to get out of the tricycle a few times because it couldn't make it.
it's worth it though. the trike drops you off at the bottom of a hill, so you walk a few kilometers up and then a few kilometers down into batad. most people hire a guide, but brad and i decided to just wander around them ourselves. so we spent the afternoon literally walking down 2000 year old paths, up and down, around, across rocks rutting out of the sides to allow you to climb. it was spectacular. and with every new angle and bend, they gained more character and looked completely new. beautiful. gorgeous. amazing. often we just stopped and stared.
sadly, it was raining the next day, all day, when we intended to go visit the banaue rice terraces. so we had to miss out on a good view, but we could still see how much banaue is just built in and among the terraces.
and just as a side note, chewing tobacco is truly disgusting. the mouth of every man in banaue is bloody and the road is covered with red, blood spit spots. gross.
everyone (in the philippines at least) says that the rice terraces should be one of the wonders of the world. we never did hear when they were built, but it was at least over 2000 years ago – and they're still being used today.
i don't even want to try to explain or describe it, so i'll just start off with a picture.
these are the batad rice terraces, but there are terraces all over the northern provinces (in case any of you are worried that we were in the north (a peace corps volunteer was killed up here a few years ago), don't worry. no wandering off the beaten track around here; it's quite safe as long as you stick to the typical tourist places). you actually have to walk into batad – there aren't any roads, so we stayed in a town called banaue, about 14 km away. the road from banaue to batad wins the award for the worst road in the philippines. i really thought i might have to give it to the road between long beach and carmen because seriously nothing has compared to that road this entire trip, but no, banaue to batad wins. muddy and rocky do not even begin to describe it – let's just say that brad and i had to get out of the tricycle a few times because it couldn't make it.
it's worth it though. the trike drops you off at the bottom of a hill, so you walk a few kilometers up and then a few kilometers down into batad. most people hire a guide, but brad and i decided to just wander around them ourselves. so we spent the afternoon literally walking down 2000 year old paths, up and down, around, across rocks rutting out of the sides to allow you to climb. it was spectacular. and with every new angle and bend, they gained more character and looked completely new. beautiful. gorgeous. amazing. often we just stopped and stared.
sadly, it was raining the next day, all day, when we intended to go visit the banaue rice terraces. so we had to miss out on a good view, but we could still see how much banaue is just built in and among the terraces.
and just as a side note, chewing tobacco is truly disgusting. the mouth of every man in banaue is bloody and the road is covered with red, blood spit spots. gross.
baguio
january 2 - 4 2008
the lonely planet speaks very highly of baguio city. and we realized that in order to get to the famed rice terraces in the north, we would have to pass through baguio, so we decided to make a two day trip of it.
for once, the lonely planet is wrong. we arrived at night after an 8-hour bus ride and stumbled around with our bags trying to find a hotel that was within our price range. it was dark and crowded and seedy. the hotel we finally found was ... not very nice. but we were so tired and so we took it. both of us took one look in the bathroom and refused to use it and realized we'd be leaving first thing in the morning. on our way back from dinner, someone tried to pick brad's pocket (well, backpack). freakin' wonderful. it was the first time that i'd felt actually uncomfortable traveling here and afraid of being robbed. i'm always aware, but not necessarily paranoid. i was paranoid in baguio. (we switched to a hotel only a few blocks away that felt MUCH safer and was cheaper and had .... hot !! water showers. hot water. mmmmm)
that aside, baguio is a really interesting city. the whole time we've been travelling, both brad and i have been making jokes about the christmas decorations because they have fake pine christmas trees – and this is the philippines and tropical and surely there are no pine trees here. but we stood corrected – there are pine trees in baguio. it's up in the mountains and cold (well, i thought it was cold. apparently i've been here too long. but it does explain why we had hot water showers) and has a real forest feel.
after switching hotels, we showered and then walked up to a place called camp john hay. we went in a back side gate and all of a sudden were out of the philippines. seriously, it was like stepping into another country – forest, green, quiet, no traffic, no one around. we stumbled onto an "eco-trail" and followed it through the forest. we could have been in colorado.
we finished the eco-trail and went to visit the "historical core". both of us were just looking around in shock wondering what this place actually was – there was a paint ball area, camp-like houses, arcade sort of games. we felt like we'd stumbled across a summer camp or something straight out of the states. and then there was the "cemetery of negativism" – a fake cemetery with pun-ish, clever headstones. the inscription at the entrance says it should remind you to be more positive, but really it's just very odd. most of the headstone engravings use the same play on words over and over or don't make any sense at all, but some of them are kind-of clever/cute. like this one ...
how odd. why would someone create a fake cemetery?
the rest of the historical core is actually historical and quite interesting because it tells a lot of the history of the american involvement here in the philippines during ww2. turns out that camp john hay is, in fact, a summer camp. or was, when the US military was here – they used it as a summer get-away for soldiers. signs were even arranged chronologically and offered good, complete explanations – US influence is readily apparent.
[bell amphitheatre]
it was really nice to get a bit of the history surrounding the US, since it's ignored so completely in the states. i must say though, that the golf course/country club and victorian style houses just made me sad – i mean, this is the philippines, there is no reason to try to turn this area so completely into the states. the store even listed prices in US dollars. i really hate stuff like that – sure this place is historically american, but that doesn't mean you should black out all signs that it's actually in the philippines.
in the afternoon, we visited a great museum with a lot of information about the northern tribes and their traditional lifestyle. the owner even opened up the case with all the musical instruments and showed us how to use them. the nose flute is, by far, the most impressive. sadly, no cameras allowed, but the traditional artifacts are really beautiful. and good to read about since we were headed off to the rice terraces next!
really i don't have too much more to say about baguio. nice parks, good corn on the cob. the view from the mall was awesome. isn't that depressing?
the lonely planet speaks very highly of baguio city. and we realized that in order to get to the famed rice terraces in the north, we would have to pass through baguio, so we decided to make a two day trip of it.
for once, the lonely planet is wrong. we arrived at night after an 8-hour bus ride and stumbled around with our bags trying to find a hotel that was within our price range. it was dark and crowded and seedy. the hotel we finally found was ... not very nice. but we were so tired and so we took it. both of us took one look in the bathroom and refused to use it and realized we'd be leaving first thing in the morning. on our way back from dinner, someone tried to pick brad's pocket (well, backpack). freakin' wonderful. it was the first time that i'd felt actually uncomfortable traveling here and afraid of being robbed. i'm always aware, but not necessarily paranoid. i was paranoid in baguio. (we switched to a hotel only a few blocks away that felt MUCH safer and was cheaper and had .... hot !! water showers. hot water. mmmmm)
that aside, baguio is a really interesting city. the whole time we've been travelling, both brad and i have been making jokes about the christmas decorations because they have fake pine christmas trees – and this is the philippines and tropical and surely there are no pine trees here. but we stood corrected – there are pine trees in baguio. it's up in the mountains and cold (well, i thought it was cold. apparently i've been here too long. but it does explain why we had hot water showers) and has a real forest feel.
after switching hotels, we showered and then walked up to a place called camp john hay. we went in a back side gate and all of a sudden were out of the philippines. seriously, it was like stepping into another country – forest, green, quiet, no traffic, no one around. we stumbled onto an "eco-trail" and followed it through the forest. we could have been in colorado.
we finished the eco-trail and went to visit the "historical core". both of us were just looking around in shock wondering what this place actually was – there was a paint ball area, camp-like houses, arcade sort of games. we felt like we'd stumbled across a summer camp or something straight out of the states. and then there was the "cemetery of negativism" – a fake cemetery with pun-ish, clever headstones. the inscription at the entrance says it should remind you to be more positive, but really it's just very odd. most of the headstone engravings use the same play on words over and over or don't make any sense at all, but some of them are kind-of clever/cute. like this one ...
how odd. why would someone create a fake cemetery?
the rest of the historical core is actually historical and quite interesting because it tells a lot of the history of the american involvement here in the philippines during ww2. turns out that camp john hay is, in fact, a summer camp. or was, when the US military was here – they used it as a summer get-away for soldiers. signs were even arranged chronologically and offered good, complete explanations – US influence is readily apparent.
[bell amphitheatre]
it was really nice to get a bit of the history surrounding the US, since it's ignored so completely in the states. i must say though, that the golf course/country club and victorian style houses just made me sad – i mean, this is the philippines, there is no reason to try to turn this area so completely into the states. the store even listed prices in US dollars. i really hate stuff like that – sure this place is historically american, but that doesn't mean you should black out all signs that it's actually in the philippines.
in the afternoon, we visited a great museum with a lot of information about the northern tribes and their traditional lifestyle. the owner even opened up the case with all the musical instruments and showed us how to use them. the nose flute is, by far, the most impressive. sadly, no cameras allowed, but the traditional artifacts are really beautiful. and good to read about since we were headed off to the rice terraces next!
really i don't have too much more to say about baguio. nice parks, good corn on the cob. the view from the mall was awesome. isn't that depressing?
11 January 2008
vigan
31 december – 3 january
vigan is a UNESCO world-heritage site. and after our disappointment regarding the general lack of information (historical and otherwise) in palawan, it was a pleasant change. the city has preserved a whole section of town, called the kasanglayan district, leftover from when it was a spanish colony. so you get cobbled streets and these old, beautiful homes lining the streets. it's also one of the few areas where the kalesa (horse-drawn carriage) is still commonly used for transportation (locals use them too! not just for tourists!).
[kalesa]
the place has tons of museums and old houses that you can wander through. museums here are ... very odd. there seems to be no organization (or at least any noticeable one). most seem to be collections of whatever people found lying around, thrown into a room. often there is no linearity or apparent linearity or labels telling you exactly what it is that you're looking at. it's very odd. we went to the house of father burgos, and even received a guided tour, but i still couldn't tell you who the guy was or why he was so important. i asked, and our guide said that he was part of an uprising against the spanish. and that's it. even when you press for more information, it is still hard to come by. i really think that in this country you have to ask the exact question for what you want to know. otherwise, forget it.
guided tours here are, in general quite odd, and i think we'll be avoiding them in the future. i feel so rushed when there's a guide. through burgos' house, the guide was full of information, but she ran us through the rooms, even when brad and i were trying to pause and look at things more closely (we even said so, but to no avail). this museum even had labels, but we didn't get to read any of them. we've also had "guided tours" where the guide doesn't say a word, just follows you around, practically breathing down your neck, and only points you to where you are supposed to go next. regardless, i did love wandering through the church and houses, seeing the "artifacts" (although i don't think that every single plaque that some member of the crisologo family received is that important. i couldn't tell you why the family is important either, to be honest. or the heaps of virgin and child statues in the church museum (why so many!?)) and seeing the architecture – an interesting mix of spanish and chinese with a few filipino touches.
[the windows are my favorite; they're paned with thin shells which are strong enough to withstand typhoons, but still let in a lot of sunshine]
vigan is also the center of production for burnay pots, which are used to ferment the local basi (sugarcane wine) and bagoong (fish paste). we tasted some of each – wine much too sweet, i think, but still interesting; and fish paste just ... salty and not very appealing. we visited two different factories, with just HEAPS of pots lying around and huge kilns to make them. pretty cool. too bad they're so heavy. shopping for souvenirs is hard.
the best (or close to it) part of vigan, though, was the empanadas and the bibingka. the empanadas are like a mix between tacos and spanish empanadas, but still have a unique flavor. the empanadaan is an area in the center of town which houses a lot of stands where you can watch women making them and then buy fresh ones to eat. and oh my goodness they are delicious and served with homemade vinegar with chilis. yum!
and bibingka is a (surprise surprise) rice delicacy made from glutinous rice and coconut and is delicious. hard to describe other than that, i'm afraid ... most things here seem to be made of a combination of rice, coconut, butter, and sugar, and yet they still manage to have unique flavors. amazing. i'll try to find a recipe so i can attempt to make it when i get home. although i have no idea how i'll find the "right kind" of rice – you wouldn't believe how many different kinds of rice you can buy here.
suffice it to say that brad and i ate a lot of empanadas and bibingka.
i must also mention our rather bizarre new year's experience. we arrived in vigan the morning of the 31 and so spent a great part of the day checking out restaurants that we could go to for dinner. we figured that we'd have a late dinner at a restaurant and toast in the new year there (just as you can in the states). but ... all the restaurants told us that they were closing at nine, which made brad and i wonder if filipinos even celebrate new years. i mean, we figured it was kind of a worldwide tradition to stay up until midnight, but maybe not so much here. so we went to the grocery and bought a bottle of sparkling wine and planned on just celebrating at the hotel. so after dinner, we go back to the hotel and there are people everywhere setting off fireworks and firecrackers. really unbelievable amounts and so, so much noise. brad and i were actually scared to go outside for fear of accidentally being blown up (and read in the newspaper the next day that only 450-ish people had been injured this year, down more than 50% from last year!!!). but it answered our question – filipinos celebrate the new year by setting off fireworks and crackers – apparently to scare off bad luck/demons for the upcoming year.
we spent three and a half days in vigan and it was wonderful – a really beautiful city. and for once, we managed to relax a little bit and not run around quite so much.
vigan is a UNESCO world-heritage site. and after our disappointment regarding the general lack of information (historical and otherwise) in palawan, it was a pleasant change. the city has preserved a whole section of town, called the kasanglayan district, leftover from when it was a spanish colony. so you get cobbled streets and these old, beautiful homes lining the streets. it's also one of the few areas where the kalesa (horse-drawn carriage) is still commonly used for transportation (locals use them too! not just for tourists!).
[kalesa]
the place has tons of museums and old houses that you can wander through. museums here are ... very odd. there seems to be no organization (or at least any noticeable one). most seem to be collections of whatever people found lying around, thrown into a room. often there is no linearity or apparent linearity or labels telling you exactly what it is that you're looking at. it's very odd. we went to the house of father burgos, and even received a guided tour, but i still couldn't tell you who the guy was or why he was so important. i asked, and our guide said that he was part of an uprising against the spanish. and that's it. even when you press for more information, it is still hard to come by. i really think that in this country you have to ask the exact question for what you want to know. otherwise, forget it.
guided tours here are, in general quite odd, and i think we'll be avoiding them in the future. i feel so rushed when there's a guide. through burgos' house, the guide was full of information, but she ran us through the rooms, even when brad and i were trying to pause and look at things more closely (we even said so, but to no avail). this museum even had labels, but we didn't get to read any of them. we've also had "guided tours" where the guide doesn't say a word, just follows you around, practically breathing down your neck, and only points you to where you are supposed to go next. regardless, i did love wandering through the church and houses, seeing the "artifacts" (although i don't think that every single plaque that some member of the crisologo family received is that important. i couldn't tell you why the family is important either, to be honest. or the heaps of virgin and child statues in the church museum (why so many!?)) and seeing the architecture – an interesting mix of spanish and chinese with a few filipino touches.
[the windows are my favorite; they're paned with thin shells which are strong enough to withstand typhoons, but still let in a lot of sunshine]
vigan is also the center of production for burnay pots, which are used to ferment the local basi (sugarcane wine) and bagoong (fish paste). we tasted some of each – wine much too sweet, i think, but still interesting; and fish paste just ... salty and not very appealing. we visited two different factories, with just HEAPS of pots lying around and huge kilns to make them. pretty cool. too bad they're so heavy. shopping for souvenirs is hard.
the best (or close to it) part of vigan, though, was the empanadas and the bibingka. the empanadas are like a mix between tacos and spanish empanadas, but still have a unique flavor. the empanadaan is an area in the center of town which houses a lot of stands where you can watch women making them and then buy fresh ones to eat. and oh my goodness they are delicious and served with homemade vinegar with chilis. yum!
and bibingka is a (surprise surprise) rice delicacy made from glutinous rice and coconut and is delicious. hard to describe other than that, i'm afraid ... most things here seem to be made of a combination of rice, coconut, butter, and sugar, and yet they still manage to have unique flavors. amazing. i'll try to find a recipe so i can attempt to make it when i get home. although i have no idea how i'll find the "right kind" of rice – you wouldn't believe how many different kinds of rice you can buy here.
suffice it to say that brad and i ate a lot of empanadas and bibingka.
i must also mention our rather bizarre new year's experience. we arrived in vigan the morning of the 31 and so spent a great part of the day checking out restaurants that we could go to for dinner. we figured that we'd have a late dinner at a restaurant and toast in the new year there (just as you can in the states). but ... all the restaurants told us that they were closing at nine, which made brad and i wonder if filipinos even celebrate new years. i mean, we figured it was kind of a worldwide tradition to stay up until midnight, but maybe not so much here. so we went to the grocery and bought a bottle of sparkling wine and planned on just celebrating at the hotel. so after dinner, we go back to the hotel and there are people everywhere setting off fireworks and firecrackers. really unbelievable amounts and so, so much noise. brad and i were actually scared to go outside for fear of accidentally being blown up (and read in the newspaper the next day that only 450-ish people had been injured this year, down more than 50% from last year!!!). but it answered our question – filipinos celebrate the new year by setting off fireworks and crackers – apparently to scare off bad luck/demons for the upcoming year.
we spent three and a half days in vigan and it was wonderful – a really beautiful city. and for once, we managed to relax a little bit and not run around quite so much.
09 January 2008
return to volunteer life
so i am back off to tablas and the last six weeks of my volunteer life there. i am horrendously behind in this blog and in my e-mails, so the next time i get to internet (who knows?), i promise entries on the rest of the adventures (vigan, baguio, rice terraces, manila).
what can i really say about this month of traveling? it has been good to see other parts of the philippines on many different levels. i’ve seen such a huge range of classes of people, levels of society and really feel like i have a more accurate picture of the philippines in general. and overall a better picture of the country and how it functions, works, lives. and it is good to see that some of the things that bother me so much in tablas are ubiquitous – it is just part of how things are done here.
i am starting to think about the future and the situation when i return to the states. i’ve got my plane ticket to uruguay (leaving 26 february!) and will be back in LA on march 25. i have to fly through the states to get down to south america and … i think this is going to be the worst. i will be absolutely aching to get out of the airport and to go home. but … south america and seeing brad again will be good. how nice it is to know that this break will only be for two months. but then i have future jobs and possibilities to be thinking of and considering. how weird to be planning the next phase of my life when i still have these other parts to finish.
i am … sort of not looking forward to returning to tablas. i feel unsure if i can finish what i want to before i leave … i knew these last six weeks were likely to be the hardest (excluding those first months, of course), and i just hope that i can keep my focus and drive and finish whatever it is that i may have started.
what can i really say about this month of traveling? it has been good to see other parts of the philippines on many different levels. i’ve seen such a huge range of classes of people, levels of society and really feel like i have a more accurate picture of the philippines in general. and overall a better picture of the country and how it functions, works, lives. and it is good to see that some of the things that bother me so much in tablas are ubiquitous – it is just part of how things are done here.
i am starting to think about the future and the situation when i return to the states. i’ve got my plane ticket to uruguay (leaving 26 february!) and will be back in LA on march 25. i have to fly through the states to get down to south america and … i think this is going to be the worst. i will be absolutely aching to get out of the airport and to go home. but … south america and seeing brad again will be good. how nice it is to know that this break will only be for two months. but then i have future jobs and possibilities to be thinking of and considering. how weird to be planning the next phase of my life when i still have these other parts to finish.
i am … sort of not looking forward to returning to tablas. i feel unsure if i can finish what i want to before i leave … i knew these last six weeks were likely to be the hardest (excluding those first months, of course), and i just hope that i can keep my focus and drive and finish whatever it is that i may have started.
08 January 2008
wasting time filipino style
we arrived in manila absolutely exhausted, but had the day to waste before our overnight bus up to vigan (in ilocos sur) .unfortunately, we had all our luggage and the bus station was in a not-so-touristy / nice part of manila. manila, i must say, is gross. i can feel myself getting cancer as i walk down the road from all the fumes. thankfully, the people at the bus station let us drop our bags there (people are really very nice and helpful about this), so we wandered off to the “chinese cemetery” that was relatively nearby.
on the way we passed this:
why are these poor chicks dyed different colors? can you see the tie-dyed ones? and they were EVERYWHERE! maybe if it was near easter i could sort-of maybe see why it was being done, but this i am completely baffled by.
anyways, the cemetery was pretty interesting. definitely nice to get a touch of the chinese culture in the philippines as well (interesting that it’s such a mix of chinese, spanish, and american). wealthy Chinese-filipinos are buried here in huge mausoleums – some of them apparently with bathrooms, hot and cold running water, air-conditioning, everything.
[chandelier and reflection]
in the end, though, the best way to waste time in manila (or any major city for that matter) is to hit up the mall. have i already mentioned malls in this country? they are … amazing. the area of one floor is probably bigger than the entire area of any mall in the states, and they are often multiple stories. it is a huge part of filipino city culture – malls are air-conditioned, so people just wander around them for days. and it’s amazing how easy it is to do – most of the good restaurants have moved into the malls, there are movie theatres, more shops than you can possibly imagine, cafes, supermarkets, gyms, daycare centers. seriously, you could live in these things. to be honest, it’s … kind-of depressing, just that it is how people spend their time, but brad and i are definitely guilty of this – just wandering around aimlessly for most of the day. the malls are probably putting lots of more local sorts of places out of business too, which is sad.
but yes, so we spent the better part of the afternoon wandering around the mall before catching our bus up to vigan.
on the way we passed this:
why are these poor chicks dyed different colors? can you see the tie-dyed ones? and they were EVERYWHERE! maybe if it was near easter i could sort-of maybe see why it was being done, but this i am completely baffled by.
anyways, the cemetery was pretty interesting. definitely nice to get a touch of the chinese culture in the philippines as well (interesting that it’s such a mix of chinese, spanish, and american). wealthy Chinese-filipinos are buried here in huge mausoleums – some of them apparently with bathrooms, hot and cold running water, air-conditioning, everything.
[chandelier and reflection]
in the end, though, the best way to waste time in manila (or any major city for that matter) is to hit up the mall. have i already mentioned malls in this country? they are … amazing. the area of one floor is probably bigger than the entire area of any mall in the states, and they are often multiple stories. it is a huge part of filipino city culture – malls are air-conditioned, so people just wander around them for days. and it’s amazing how easy it is to do – most of the good restaurants have moved into the malls, there are movie theatres, more shops than you can possibly imagine, cafes, supermarkets, gyms, daycare centers. seriously, you could live in these things. to be honest, it’s … kind-of depressing, just that it is how people spend their time, but brad and i are definitely guilty of this – just wandering around aimlessly for most of the day. the malls are probably putting lots of more local sorts of places out of business too, which is sad.
but yes, so we spent the better part of the afternoon wandering around the mall before catching our bus up to vigan.
island hopping
the weather our second day in el nido was much improved, so we signed on to an island hopping tour. island hopping is a really cool concept – you hire a boat for a day and travel between the different islands. because of the number of tourists and popularity of island hopping, most places arrange set tours with a max of about six people on a boat, including lunch. it makes the process a bit easier and can still be quite enjoyable.
entering the archipelago really takes your breath away, passing between islands to enter a small bay with islands jutting out of the sea – a beautiful panorama.
[a very bad video of the 360 view]
the day consisted of stopping off at a few different places to snorkel, visiting a “shrine” on one of the islands (sidenote: i must say that the filipinos love these kind-of things. perhaps one could say that this very catholic country over-emphasizes/pushes it a bit too much.), and having a bbq on the beach. my favorite part, though, was just puttering around through the islands. it is so unbelievably beautiful. my pictures come no where close to capturing it.
i must say … i have mixed feelings about the tour. i did enjoy myself; how can i not enjoy a day of sitting on a boat, snorkeling, lying on the beach? but i was … rather disappointed in the behavior of our “guides”. everywhere we stopped we anchored, which just breaks my heart, to know that we are just killing and smashing the coral below. and often they plowed the boat straight into the corals and we had to walk on the coral to reach the beach. this is appalling – there are tons of these tours every day and it appeared that every tour was similarly anchoring. this is supposedly a marine sanctuary, so why are there no mooring buoys? it would be so simple, and would prevent the destruction of so much coral.
but more so, i was just so saddened that our guides didn’t seem to care – about us, about the tour, about palawan, about the environment, nothing. they were so obviously going through the motions and not the least bit compelled to talk to us about the area or reefs or the philippines in general. they did not introduce themselves to us or speak a word (believe me, i tried). and this is typical of our travel experiences throughout this country. people don’t seem keen to tell you about things and overall there is a general lack of information about whatever it is that you’re visiting.
i hate to say this, but it seems that no one wants to share information about the country with you because they themselves do not have pride in it and what it has to offer. it makes me really sad. how can people not be proud of themselves or their country? geeze, if nothing else this trip and experience in the philippines has made me love and appreciate the states more than i ever thought i could (seriously, i am usually one of the first to criticize it). as i said previously, we are shocked by the lack of filipino-owned tourist operations. but maybe this is part of it – maybe this is part of the whole problem. there is no accountability here, no taking of responsibility for problems (i can’t begin to tell you how many times i have been told that the trash in the marine sanctuary is from long beach and none of it every god-forbid from carmen). so then, from the perspective of the work i am trying to do here, no wonder the marine protected areas don’t work – people have no aesthetic appreciation, no environmental ethic. it is beautiful here and people don’t see it or don’t care. they see a way to make money – whether it be by overfishing, illegal fishing, or these island hopping tours where they anchor the boats and destroy the very thing the tourists are here to see.
i am heartbroken by these thoughts.
and to change topics 100% completely, we had a hell of a time getting off of palawan and back to manila. very long story and lots of complications with flights, buses. suffice it to say that we ended up paying 1500 pesos to get a boat ride to the taytay airport at 4:30 in the morning to catch our flight. and this was the airport:
[yup]
this is the smallest plane i have been on. the runway was dirt, which was a bit nerve-wracking, but the plane is adorable. and the view of the reefs from above was awesome.
so there was palawan. no subterranean river, sadly, but we’ll just have to enjoy that next time.
entering the archipelago really takes your breath away, passing between islands to enter a small bay with islands jutting out of the sea – a beautiful panorama.
[a very bad video of the 360 view]
the day consisted of stopping off at a few different places to snorkel, visiting a “shrine” on one of the islands (sidenote: i must say that the filipinos love these kind-of things. perhaps one could say that this very catholic country over-emphasizes/pushes it a bit too much.), and having a bbq on the beach. my favorite part, though, was just puttering around through the islands. it is so unbelievably beautiful. my pictures come no where close to capturing it.
i must say … i have mixed feelings about the tour. i did enjoy myself; how can i not enjoy a day of sitting on a boat, snorkeling, lying on the beach? but i was … rather disappointed in the behavior of our “guides”. everywhere we stopped we anchored, which just breaks my heart, to know that we are just killing and smashing the coral below. and often they plowed the boat straight into the corals and we had to walk on the coral to reach the beach. this is appalling – there are tons of these tours every day and it appeared that every tour was similarly anchoring. this is supposedly a marine sanctuary, so why are there no mooring buoys? it would be so simple, and would prevent the destruction of so much coral.
but more so, i was just so saddened that our guides didn’t seem to care – about us, about the tour, about palawan, about the environment, nothing. they were so obviously going through the motions and not the least bit compelled to talk to us about the area or reefs or the philippines in general. they did not introduce themselves to us or speak a word (believe me, i tried). and this is typical of our travel experiences throughout this country. people don’t seem keen to tell you about things and overall there is a general lack of information about whatever it is that you’re visiting.
i hate to say this, but it seems that no one wants to share information about the country with you because they themselves do not have pride in it and what it has to offer. it makes me really sad. how can people not be proud of themselves or their country? geeze, if nothing else this trip and experience in the philippines has made me love and appreciate the states more than i ever thought i could (seriously, i am usually one of the first to criticize it). as i said previously, we are shocked by the lack of filipino-owned tourist operations. but maybe this is part of it – maybe this is part of the whole problem. there is no accountability here, no taking of responsibility for problems (i can’t begin to tell you how many times i have been told that the trash in the marine sanctuary is from long beach and none of it every god-forbid from carmen). so then, from the perspective of the work i am trying to do here, no wonder the marine protected areas don’t work – people have no aesthetic appreciation, no environmental ethic. it is beautiful here and people don’t see it or don’t care. they see a way to make money – whether it be by overfishing, illegal fishing, or these island hopping tours where they anchor the boats and destroy the very thing the tourists are here to see.
i am heartbroken by these thoughts.
and to change topics 100% completely, we had a hell of a time getting off of palawan and back to manila. very long story and lots of complications with flights, buses. suffice it to say that we ended up paying 1500 pesos to get a boat ride to the taytay airport at 4:30 in the morning to catch our flight. and this was the airport:
[yup]
this is the smallest plane i have been on. the runway was dirt, which was a bit nerve-wracking, but the plane is adorable. and the view of the reefs from above was awesome.
so there was palawan. no subterranean river, sadly, but we’ll just have to enjoy that next time.
diving in el nido
el nido is the main town of access for the bacuit archipelago, a collection of 40-odd islands. the lonely planet describes the town as loud and rather unappealing, which i think is rather unfair – it’s a cute, clean little town, complete with a number of hotels and restaurants for the tourists, but still retains an identity. yes, a fair amount of tourists, but really not to a disgusting, annoying level.
to get there, we had to take an eight-hour boat ride from coron, which was painful. getting around this country is hard. it’s a bit of a ridiculous situation – because of the holiday, all the flights (about three a week between coron and el nido) were booked and the boat only goes twice a week and costs more than a flight would. it is clear that it takes advantage of tourists, who are the only ones to travel between the two destinations. and, sure enough, it was a boat full of white people, almost all of whom managed to get seasick on the way there (both brad and i were ok, hooray!).
[view from our hotel]
we had planned on doing an island hopping tour, but because the weather was a bit rainy, we decided to go diving our first day there instead – doesn’t matter if it’s raining since you’re underwater :)
i was quite excited to go diving on the reefs here. palawan has a reputation for protecting it’s marine resources and reefs to a higher standard than the rest of the philippines, so, frankly, i was excited to see some live coral and a lot of fish. the pictures you see of reefs in books/magazines/brochures are … so not the norm. and even though these reefs are not pristine, i was still impressed by the colors, the huge schools of fish, the diversity.
[cabbage coral]
[cuttlefish]
it was also nice because, for once, we had a filipino guide. something that has been a bit disconcerting during these travels has been the realization that nearly all tourist institutions, hotels, and restaurants are owned and operated by europeans (i’ll expand on this later).
we dove with a french couple, helen and julian, who are living in bangkok and spending their christmas holiday here. we ended up going out to dinner with them both nights and island hopping with them the next day (more on that later). it is one of the things i love about traveling – meeting people and enjoying wonderful, interesting conversations with total strangers. we talked a great deal with them about the tourism situation here as compared to other parts of asia (they were much more informed about the other areas of asia than brad and i). there is such huge potential here for, but there is no drive to expand on it. neither el nido or coron has a bank, which means you cannot get cash. you can’t use a credit card anywhere in this country (ok i take that back, i used mine to pay for our place in coron and they charged an extra 7.5%). el nido only has electricity for twelve hours a day. this is a poor country, yes, but it is not taking advantage of what it has in order to expand tourism and increase their income. sometimes, i wonder if “they” (this is very much of a generality) even want to. as i mentioned, nearly all of the tourist structures are owned by europeans – why are no filipinos doing this? i realize it does take money to finance at the onset, but it shocks me that the government is not pushing for expansion. it’s surprising though. i doubt that all developing countries rely almost exclusively on ex-pats to run their tourism. in fact, according to helen and julian, many countries do do it themselves. i don’t know. odd.
i must also say that it is a bit humbling to be meeting all these europeans who are only a few years older than brad and i and, yet, have been all over europe and then most of asia and tons and tons of other places. i think of myself as fairly well-traveled, but it is literally nothing compared to many europeans i have met. obviously some of this has to do with the fact that european countries are small and there are lots of travels and so it is very easy to travel around europe. most travelers here to the philippines are koreans, but there are a fair amount of europeans. it’s interesting because as you walk down the road you can hear locals exclaim “americano! americana!” over and over and yet, ironically, brad and i are the only americans we have met so far. weird.
to get there, we had to take an eight-hour boat ride from coron, which was painful. getting around this country is hard. it’s a bit of a ridiculous situation – because of the holiday, all the flights (about three a week between coron and el nido) were booked and the boat only goes twice a week and costs more than a flight would. it is clear that it takes advantage of tourists, who are the only ones to travel between the two destinations. and, sure enough, it was a boat full of white people, almost all of whom managed to get seasick on the way there (both brad and i were ok, hooray!).
[view from our hotel]
we had planned on doing an island hopping tour, but because the weather was a bit rainy, we decided to go diving our first day there instead – doesn’t matter if it’s raining since you’re underwater :)
i was quite excited to go diving on the reefs here. palawan has a reputation for protecting it’s marine resources and reefs to a higher standard than the rest of the philippines, so, frankly, i was excited to see some live coral and a lot of fish. the pictures you see of reefs in books/magazines/brochures are … so not the norm. and even though these reefs are not pristine, i was still impressed by the colors, the huge schools of fish, the diversity.
[cabbage coral]
[cuttlefish]
it was also nice because, for once, we had a filipino guide. something that has been a bit disconcerting during these travels has been the realization that nearly all tourist institutions, hotels, and restaurants are owned and operated by europeans (i’ll expand on this later).
we dove with a french couple, helen and julian, who are living in bangkok and spending their christmas holiday here. we ended up going out to dinner with them both nights and island hopping with them the next day (more on that later). it is one of the things i love about traveling – meeting people and enjoying wonderful, interesting conversations with total strangers. we talked a great deal with them about the tourism situation here as compared to other parts of asia (they were much more informed about the other areas of asia than brad and i). there is such huge potential here for, but there is no drive to expand on it. neither el nido or coron has a bank, which means you cannot get cash. you can’t use a credit card anywhere in this country (ok i take that back, i used mine to pay for our place in coron and they charged an extra 7.5%). el nido only has electricity for twelve hours a day. this is a poor country, yes, but it is not taking advantage of what it has in order to expand tourism and increase their income. sometimes, i wonder if “they” (this is very much of a generality) even want to. as i mentioned, nearly all of the tourist structures are owned by europeans – why are no filipinos doing this? i realize it does take money to finance at the onset, but it shocks me that the government is not pushing for expansion. it’s surprising though. i doubt that all developing countries rely almost exclusively on ex-pats to run their tourism. in fact, according to helen and julian, many countries do do it themselves. i don’t know. odd.
i must also say that it is a bit humbling to be meeting all these europeans who are only a few years older than brad and i and, yet, have been all over europe and then most of asia and tons and tons of other places. i think of myself as fairly well-traveled, but it is literally nothing compared to many europeans i have met. obviously some of this has to do with the fact that european countries are small and there are lots of travels and so it is very easy to travel around europe. most travelers here to the philippines are koreans, but there are a fair amount of europeans. it’s interesting because as you walk down the road you can hear locals exclaim “americano! americana!” over and over and yet, ironically, brad and i are the only americans we have met so far. weird.
01 January 2008
christmas in the philippines
i was really nervous about spending christmas here, away from my family. every christmas, my family (just the four of us) goes to the cabin in kingston, new mexico. i can’t describe the place – it’s peaceful and … really quite magical, special. we always cut down a tree, decorate it with handmade ornaments, string popcorn and cranberries, make cookies and decorate them, listen to old records, read in front of the fire. it’s such good family time and really … i can’t imagine not having christmas at the cabin. when i decided to come to the philippines for these six months, it was a big discussion with my parents about whether or not i would fly home for christmas. and only after a lot of tears did i decide to stay here, as long as brad came out for that time.
i talked to my family before they left for the cabin (no phone service there, so i wouldn’t be able to talk to them on christmas day) and really … struggled through the conversation. my mom made the excellent point that we really needed to plan the day a bit so that we didn’t end up sitting there staring at each other blankly for the day, thinking about our families back home.
in the end, we had a good, quiet day. we bought milo and marshmallows and had mugs of that while we opened up a few envelopes and gifts from our parents and listened to the one christmas CD brad has on his computer. there’s a small hike in the hills above coron which offers great views of the bay, so we packed up a small lunch to take with us and did that.
we even went to mass (didn’t understand a word, obviously, but (warning: am about to make a not too nice comment about catholicism) i figure i never understand what’s going on during a mass in english, so that’s really not too different) and then had a fabulous dinner at a restaurant out on stilts over the bay. even the service was excellent – and that’s a rarity in this country. [usually, the server hovers over you while you look through the menu, looks surprised when you order only one (this i don’t understand. yes, i’m sure i only want one plate of pasta? only one drink?), the food takes a good hour to come out and at separate times, typically about 15 minutes apart, and then there are no drink refills and you have to beg for the check, where again they hover over you until you pay it.] we left a nice tip for our waitress and she came over awkwardly as we were getting ready to leave to tell us we had paid too much. “no,” we replied “that’s for you. merry christmas!” it so obviously caught her by surprise and made her day, a cool feeling. one thing that did make me sad was that whenever we passed kids on the street throughout the day, they would yell out “merry christmas”, to which we obviously replied the same back, and then would demand “give me money”. it … hurts to hear this – not in the way that the beggar kids in mexico break my heart, but that they are demanding money, not begging.
i was surprised, after all the hype, by how small christmas celebrations actually seemed to be. i am so thankful that brad was here to celebrate with, even if the celebrations were subdued and small. it was so different from every other christmas i have had, but that was good thing.
i’ll definitely have to spend christmas at the cabin next year though …
i talked to my family before they left for the cabin (no phone service there, so i wouldn’t be able to talk to them on christmas day) and really … struggled through the conversation. my mom made the excellent point that we really needed to plan the day a bit so that we didn’t end up sitting there staring at each other blankly for the day, thinking about our families back home.
in the end, we had a good, quiet day. we bought milo and marshmallows and had mugs of that while we opened up a few envelopes and gifts from our parents and listened to the one christmas CD brad has on his computer. there’s a small hike in the hills above coron which offers great views of the bay, so we packed up a small lunch to take with us and did that.
we even went to mass (didn’t understand a word, obviously, but (warning: am about to make a not too nice comment about catholicism) i figure i never understand what’s going on during a mass in english, so that’s really not too different) and then had a fabulous dinner at a restaurant out on stilts over the bay. even the service was excellent – and that’s a rarity in this country. [usually, the server hovers over you while you look through the menu, looks surprised when you order only one (this i don’t understand. yes, i’m sure i only want one plate of pasta? only one drink?), the food takes a good hour to come out and at separate times, typically about 15 minutes apart, and then there are no drink refills and you have to beg for the check, where again they hover over you until you pay it.] we left a nice tip for our waitress and she came over awkwardly as we were getting ready to leave to tell us we had paid too much. “no,” we replied “that’s for you. merry christmas!” it so obviously caught her by surprise and made her day, a cool feeling. one thing that did make me sad was that whenever we passed kids on the street throughout the day, they would yell out “merry christmas”, to which we obviously replied the same back, and then would demand “give me money”. it … hurts to hear this – not in the way that the beggar kids in mexico break my heart, but that they are demanding money, not begging.
i was surprised, after all the hype, by how small christmas celebrations actually seemed to be. i am so thankful that brad was here to celebrate with, even if the celebrations were subdued and small. it was so different from every other christmas i have had, but that was good thing.
i’ll definitely have to spend christmas at the cabin next year though …
wreck diving in coron
after visiting my host family in san agustin (a whirlwind of a trip that involved a lot of uncomfortable travel, but i think was worth it in the end. the worst part was trying to get back to manila, on that same awful boat, but made much worse by the multitudes of holiday travellers. they oversell the tickets, even if there are not seats or beds available, so we watched in horror as people dragged cardboard boxes onto the boat, spreading them out in every available corner – outside on the hard metal deck, in hallways, on the stairs – and children and the elderly slept on them, shoved together with no hint of privacy or personal space. we were also sold these bogus tickets, but said something to a crew member who found us an empty private cabin, where we were able to sleep. there were a number of these cabins – all empty because no filipino could afford them and no crew member would offer one to them. we were shocked and disgusted by this treatment of people, this herding, this utter disregard for people’s safety and comfort. but i am completely digressing and so will stop this sidenote here), we made it to manila, managed to make it to the airport after having numerous arguments with cab drivers (who literally are all evil and refuse to turn on meters and charge you uproarious amounts to go a mere few kilometers), dealt with the incompetent people at asian spirit (they won’t give out e-tickets, so we had to go to the office to get them to print out our tickets and literally the girl took a good thirty minutes to figure out how to enter our confirmation number onto the computer and hit print), and boarded the airplane to coron.
[propellers and everything!]
coron is the main town in the calamian group of islands in the north of palawan. it is famous for it’s wreck diving and it is the wreck diving that draws tourists to this isolated area of the earth. during world war ii, the japanese used the bay as a secure, sheltered area to anchor their ships and protect them from US planes. in 1944, a US air strike bombed the bay, sinking 24 ships all in close vicinity. the area is full then of these wrecks, all in excellent condition and at relatively shallow depths (the deepest we went was 34 m). in short, it is considered the best wreck diving in the world. how could we not come here to dive?
coron is a cute little town, built basically on top of a mangrove forest. i was a little worried that it would be overly touristy, because of its appeal as a dive site, but was pleasantly surprised. there are decent places to stay, eat, and a number of dive shops, yes, but it has also managed to still remain a filipino town.
it is impossible to explain diving, and even more so to explain wreck diving. neither brad or i had dived a wreck since our advanced certification wreck dive, so we were both quite excited. diving in general is a freeing experience and feels like you’re flying; over and through a wreck that feeling is even more prominent. it’s especially cool to be swimming through these ships. wrecks are eerie, they are haunting, to swim through passageways, windows. swimming where 60 years ago, people ran and walked, climbed, worked.
[olympia maru
[taiei maru]
[irako]
[kagyo maru (two above)]
on the third dive, we exited the wreck and then … there was … a manta ray!!!!! i almost had a heart attack right there under water from excitement and happiness. i was certainly NOT expecting that. oh my gosh, it was beautiful and gorgeous and she was stunning and graceful as she flew off. my gosh, amazing.
so yes, i highly recommend diving in coron. each dive was great and unique.
[propellers and everything!]
coron is the main town in the calamian group of islands in the north of palawan. it is famous for it’s wreck diving and it is the wreck diving that draws tourists to this isolated area of the earth. during world war ii, the japanese used the bay as a secure, sheltered area to anchor their ships and protect them from US planes. in 1944, a US air strike bombed the bay, sinking 24 ships all in close vicinity. the area is full then of these wrecks, all in excellent condition and at relatively shallow depths (the deepest we went was 34 m). in short, it is considered the best wreck diving in the world. how could we not come here to dive?
coron is a cute little town, built basically on top of a mangrove forest. i was a little worried that it would be overly touristy, because of its appeal as a dive site, but was pleasantly surprised. there are decent places to stay, eat, and a number of dive shops, yes, but it has also managed to still remain a filipino town.
it is impossible to explain diving, and even more so to explain wreck diving. neither brad or i had dived a wreck since our advanced certification wreck dive, so we were both quite excited. diving in general is a freeing experience and feels like you’re flying; over and through a wreck that feeling is even more prominent. it’s especially cool to be swimming through these ships. wrecks are eerie, they are haunting, to swim through passageways, windows. swimming where 60 years ago, people ran and walked, climbed, worked.
[olympia maru
[taiei maru]
[irako]
[kagyo maru (two above)]
on the third dive, we exited the wreck and then … there was … a manta ray!!!!! i almost had a heart attack right there under water from excitement and happiness. i was certainly NOT expecting that. oh my gosh, it was beautiful and gorgeous and she was stunning and graceful as she flew off. my gosh, amazing.
so yes, i highly recommend diving in coron. each dive was great and unique.
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