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Published: September 12th 2006
My 8 foot beauty
No waves but I had to go for a paddle and try out my new toyThis month (or so) I have been really getting to know the area well. Going up into the hills to visit some of the tribal villages, taking part in two more fiestas, eating lots and getting fat. I also moved house and got a surf board. Putting this blog on the web has been delayed by a holiday with Viv but that can be the subject of the next entry in a week of two.
First a random thing about eggs - why do I still buy 6 eggs at a time?
Is there some unique rightness about buying eggs 6 at a time? Here eggs are sold by the piece and placed loose in a bag to take home. I have been asking around and volunteers still tend to buy 6 at a time - some sort of well ingrained habit from home? Strangely I have seen locals buying by the half dozen as well so maybe eggs just like being in a 6!
The surf season is just beginning and my surfboard arrived right on time. Its made locally with woven bamboo matting replacing the usual glass fibre. Being a learner I went for an 8 foot
Logging truck
In the hills, in the rain and there goes part of the forest down the mountain. longboard. I can stand up already but don’t look “cool” just yet. Updates on my progress later in the surfing season.
Work is mostly about budgets, board meetings and other project management activities. In between I have been getting the chance to get up in the hills and see the upland communities as well as the first hand effects of logging. Its amazing how diverse the culture in the upland villages is. Two villages within hiking distance of each other can have a totally different way of life. Many of the people especially from the Mamanua tribe are still semi nomadic, hunting in the forests and practicing shifting cultivation. Others are settled and engaged in vegetable farming for an income.
Deforestation is happening here and quite fast. There is no one to point the finger at as the main cause more of a combined effect. The logging companies open up the forest then the local people exploit the more open structure for agriculture especially coconut, abaca and cassava crops this prevents forest regeneration. The end result is that everyone points the finger at someone else and no one is wrong! The question is what do we do about
Pump boat
This is one that we had just been for a ride in - the ones racing at Cortes were just the same it?
Pump boat racing at the Cortes Fiesta, a pump boat is a small boat with an engine either 5.5hp or 16hp they all follow the same design. Narrow with a solid wooden keel cut from a single tree trunk along the dugout canoe style. The freeboard is increased with plywood to give a very nice long fine hull. Large bamboo outriggers each side provide stability. These boats are everywhere along the coast here and are used for everything, transport, fishing and dragging illegal logs up and down the coast. The engines are regular lawn mower type air cooled things with a fixed shaft. As soon as you start the engine the boat is off. No pictures from the racing because I didn’t take my camera - it was a good thing there was nothing dry about me after this trip.
All the spectators were on the breakwater (and quite often falling off it) with the boats starting from the shallow water nearby. Plenty of arguments pre-race, jostling for position, who is cheating with a non traditional boat design that sort of thing. Its all helped along by plenty of rum and kept in order by a load
My new house
I am in the room on the left as you look at the picture. of police with big guns and live rounds. Getting near to the start the breakwater goes crazy with informal betting all done vocally - and a few people falling off in all the chaos. I nearly leapt into the water myself when the race was started by one of the police standing just by me firing off his Armalite “starting pistol”. No chance of anyone missing that bang.
The racing itself was close and its amazing how fast a 5.5hp boat can go. The fishermen are racing the boats that earn their livelihoods so you would expect them to be a bit careful. Of course not! There was only one sinking. Right on the finishing line two boat touched, the outriggers broke and one of them turned over. Amazingly it was just taken as bad luck and didn’t seem to cause a fight. Afterwards if you lost in the race, backed the wrong boat or supported the wrong boat then sink some rum. On the winning side? Then sink some rum to celebrate.
Just the other week a new “resort” opened in Lanuza. I liked the look of it so much that I decided to move into one
Breakfast view
This is what I have to look at in the mornings - not a bad way to start the day! of the rooms. So now instead of a big modern house on the main road I have one large room right on the river. Its made of local materials in a traditional ish design. There is a shared cooking area and plenty of outside space. The most important feature is the location, its very quiet, and the view from my veranda is spectacular.
For another fiesta this one in Cantilan (the town where my office is) the mayor invited me to be a judge for the “Cleanest and Greenest Porok” competition. The porok is the lowest level of political organisation in the Philippines. It comes from the Spanish for boat the idea being that the Spanish settlers came ashore and continued to live in a unit with their shipmates. The town of Cantilan has 14 poroks and during one day we inspected each one for overall greenness, sanitation, upkeep of the community gardens, segregation of waste and a few other measures. The cutest picture of the day comes from one of the squatter areas where the houses are built on stilts in the river. They farm pigs in small pens built under the houses - effectively pigs on the
Pig
This pig just wanted to come with us and escape being eaten for the Cantilan fiesta ground floor people above. The most amazing thing was how much effort and pride families in these areas put into making the area pleasant with decorative pot plants on racks outside the houses.
That competition was to help make sure that the town was looking is best for fiesta. On the following day I managed to visit 5 houses having lunch in each one! I skipped dinner that night.
The sunset is here for everyone in the office and the motorbike picture is to prove that Viv has been here.
More holiday pictures as soon as I get organised
Cheers
Matt
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David
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Dewde
So, let us know how the surfing shapes up. After three years at Bangor I managed to stand up, but never look cool either on or off a board! Amazing pics. Can't say you're missing much!