Shipwrecks and floods

---

Ok I said last time that rain would be a big deal here for a while …… well we just had 27cm in one 24 hour shot! To put it in perspective Edinburgh gets about 63cm in a year. I will never complain about Scottish rain again. That was the wettest day but it kept going for a whole week making the place super wet. My room stayed dry ish only because the rain that did come in drained out again through the gaps between the floorboards.

Luckily we had no flooding or landslides (not near where people live anyway) but the rivers turned a deep red brown like liquid dairy milk. Not so tasty though. The plume of sediment washing out into the bay made the surfing a little less attractive for a while.

Lots of you reading this are sailors so let me run a situation by you and see what you think. The local government unit apprehended a commercial fishing boat of about 3.5 tons, they bring it into the bay and anchor about 100m off a lee shore with a strong wind blowing and plenty of swell - even breaking further out. The anchor is lightweight similar to an admiralty pattern, there is no chain only rope and its attached with fishing twine. The bottom is shifting sand. Will it last the night? No of course not. The 2 guards left on board cant start the engine so quite soon its on the beach and breaking up - the first picture was taken the day it washed up, the other was taken 3 days later. There was great hilarity when a white guy (me) joined in the salvage in my dugout getting some materials for my landlord. The big question now is will the local government be liable for the damage? There is no conviction yet for the illegal fishing that the boat was apprehended for so it’s an ongoing argument.

Ever get a gut feeling saying you should or should not do something? In my experience they are always right and should always be followed! If it’s a little gripe saying Loo Now then don’t wait for LOO NOW get on and go (a tip for ant travellers coming this way). Aside form the bog experience the gut feeling that I am very glad I followed was not to go up into the forest for some survey work that we were doing. Some people are always telling me not to go off the beaten track into the forest (even with guides) but this time there were just to many warnings to ignore. I am sure I made the right call by ducking out as we have had rebel activity all over the place for the past few weeks and I would be a nice lucrative kidnap victim (I hope I would be worth plenty anyway!). The activity is stepped up a gear in the run up to local elections. Each candidate needs to obtain a “ticket to campaign” to ensure their campaign is not disrupted by the rebels. In reality its just a chance to extort some cash and we are not talking small sums here. Anyway the group that did go up to do the work didn’t meet anyone face to face but their camp was found and all its contents (food, tents, dry clothes) were taken away. Not by the rebels but by a military patrol.

Instead of trekking in the forest I took to my canoe for a bit of adventure. A couple of hours paddle through the mangrove swamps got me to the mouth of the largest river in the area and about half way to Cantilan, the largest local town. I had one sinking incident when I was very glad for the waterproof bag holding my camera wallet etc. It was a successful bit of exploring and now that my arms have recovered from the 4 hours of paddling I am planning on making the big shopping trip all the way to Cantilan. More about that next time if I make it.

There is some disturbing evidence this month that I might be turning Filipino. I have found that when riding home very slowly in the rain on my motorbike a good way to pass the time is to sing inside my helmet. The acoustics are even better than in the shower at home (not that I sing in the shower at home). It only works well with the visor closed. For some reason this behaviour only seems ok when its dark and wet so maybe I haven’t gone completely mad / local yet.

Now for the pup-date, they are growing fat and round and getting everywhere. They have lots of little sharp teeth to nip my fingers and toes with and they are very cute! We haven’t taught them to surf yet but they should be ready for lessons quite soon.

In a couple of weeks I will be off to West Java in Indonesia for a forestry cross visit. Its organised through VSO and an EU funded project to share skills through the region. Hopefully I will be taking two of my colleagues from the Local Government Unit but they both have to get passports and the first two people who I wanted to come had errors in their documents so are stuck on home turf.

That’s all the gossip for now.
I hope everyone is having fun (especially Ross and Heather with the wedding planning)

Matt

PS. Only 3 valentines so far - is that good or bad? Not sure.

---

Photos

Brolly
The most familiar view! My umbrella has been called a "walking shed" because its so big. Keeps me dry though.

Chocolate water
The river turned to chocolate with plenty of erosion in the heavy rain – Yuck!

Shipwreck
If you get your boat confiscated for illegal fishing don’t expect it to be anchored anywhere safe!

Breaking up
A few days later there is not much left

Canoe trip
That’s my intrepid canoe an hour and a half from home.

Brown pup
The pups are getting bigger – and under everyone’s feet

Comments

[deleted_14800]

I want one!!
I want one!! That one will do - he has nice fudge coloured legs.