The town, program, and other events

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Hello!
Lucas and I are visiting Romblon town on Romblon island about a forty minute boat ride from San Agustin. There has been so much happening that I am not quite sure if I can get it all down, but I will give it a shot starting with last night.
Scott, Lucas and I came over to this island in the afternoon yesterday and we met up at the local deli with the other volunteers and a New Yorker named Carlos. It seems where ever we go the alcohol flows; it's cheaper than water and their rum is the smoothest I have ever tasted. So people just keep pushing drinks at us the entire night and we have to fight them off as they balk at our low tolerance excuse. So we continue to chat, drink and eat at the deli, which is owned by a British ex-pat who is very friendly and sits with us, and then we get ready to pack it in for the night. Earlier, Carlos said we could stay at his place which is where it gets interesting. But here is the background on him first:
Carlos comes from a very rich New York, Filipino family and he describes himself as a "right wing pure capitalist who doesn't care if anyone gets squashed, just as long as I get my money." So, we are struggling to get along with this self proclaimed "Bush Boy" who is perhaps the most arrogant person I have ever met, but he has a driver and a western style mansion twenty minutes outside of town, and it's free. Well after many hours of shooting the breeze, his driver takes us home and he was not exaggerating, his house is massive. The guest house has eight bedrooms and the main house is decked out. Everything is made of marble because the island's ground is about 80 percent marble. So we get to the house and Carlos says that he wants to show us something in his backyard (which is thousands of acres of palm, banana and mango trees) and we head into the darkness. He calls to one of his many live-in helpers to light up the stairs and we can then see what he was talking about. The family has built about a five story tall monument that travels up the mountain. It is the twelve steps of Jesus ( I think? ) and at each level which is divided by a section of stairs, is a marble carving of one of Jesus' hardships. At the top is a solid wood cross about twice as high as me that has a dove sitting on it. All of this was quite beautiful but obviously over the top (although the community loves it and people cry and faint on their way to the top) so as we came down the stairs, with rum and coke in hand which just felt wrong, but it just never stops flowing, Scott takes a drunken tumble down the stairs and cuts himself up. After we deal with Scott, it was time for my private massage :-) So I was rubbed down by his masseuse which was lovely and then I got a hot shower followed by a nice big bed.
When we awoke this morning breakfast was already made and we chatted with his father who is an ex-CIA member ( we are not supposed to know this) and we learned a bit about how Carlos makes his money. He deals in the local marble, selling pieces at about 20-30 k in the US and he also deals in dildos. Yes, high end wood, silicone and jade dildos that he markets to boutique sex shops in Miami, NY, LA and SF. I found this quite hilarious, especially when he said his mistake with the first batch was getting the dimensions of piece completely wrong for women. He said he projected his own insecurities into the pieces, haha.
But despite all of the hospitable things he has done I really can't stand him. All he cares about is money and it's sickening to see his carefree extravagance in the midst of poverty. But, I am holding my judgments back because I am a traveler and a traveler must use one's resources to their best advantage, and a hot shower and a massage is nice for a night.
So that was last night, but our week in San Agustin has been pretty nice. Our family is gracious and sweet. There is Eston (father), Endi (mother) and two boys, Luke and Don Don and two girls, Meve and Shyne. Endi is a midwife at the local health clinic and she supports the family while Eston cooks, cleans and takes care of the kids. We are staying in Eston and Endi's room which is small with a double bed, desk and little table. It is very comfortable except that Filipinos have no regard for noise sensitivity so it can be hard to sleep at times. The roosters don't help this either with their crowing starting at midnight. We also live with Scott, another Australian volunteer who is the most stereotypical looking rugged man. He does everything in his flip flops with a cigarette in his mouth and he is even hairier than Lucas. All three of us work on the environment program at the fish sanctuary which is about ten minutes away from our home.
The sanctuary houses mangroves and seedlings that we attend to, but the actual program is disorganized and inefficient. CERV doesn't have the money to keep a local on the island full time and the government here is totally corrupt making it hard to ban fishing when they have illegal fishing boats. Dealing with Filipinos in a cultural sense is difficult, too. They are very laid back and don't place a high priority on dealing with problems if it means "losing face." They also believe that the environment is not connected to bahala na, the Will Of God, so humans rule nature making it increasingly difficult to get the idea across that the environment is a part of humans and is affected by our actions.
So the last week has been dealing with the government, planting seedlings and picking up trash which there is a ton of. They seem to think that the ocean will wash everything away: diapers, plastic bags, food, waste, bottles, fishing nets, ect.
It has been raining here everyday and we have frequent power outages, usually twice a day. Several days ago, an internet cafe opened down the street from our house. It is owned by a Texan who owns go kart bumper cars, go kart racing tracks, and an actual speedway. He is also a contractor and just finished jobs in Kuwait and worked in Afghanistan last year where his son is now. He likes to talk a lot, was in the marine core for eight years, and he looks like the comic book shop owner from The Simpson's, ponytail and all. He is married to a Filipino woman who's family lives on the island and he opened the cafe to support them.
That is all that happens in San Agustin, it's a sleepy town and transportation stops at 3. But down the road is another village called Carmen which is where we spent our first night at their annual fiesta. The fiesta is a celebration of the patron saint and each year families get together to eat and drink for five days. On the second to last night, they have a beauty pageant for the teenage girls and winning is a HUGE deal. We were able to witness this event. The entire community gathered from eight till three in the morning to crown the girl and dance. It was kinda bizarre to watch a full on pageant with lights and a sound-system in the middle of what is normally a sleepy village hamlet, but we felt privileged to witness what was obviously a major event for people who normally lead very slow and simple lives.
Well, that's about it. Hope you all are doing well; we think of you often. Until next time.

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Comments

[Nicole]

Yay!
I am glad everything is going well for you two. The one thing I see you are learning is how much alcohol is provided once you leave the U.S. Appreciate it, for you will never have anything like it again, no matter how much you wish ;) And you will miss it when it is gone (and that doesn't make you an alcoholic anywhere but here!). I wish you both all the best as you continue on with the greater part of your journey . . .

[cameron]

Sounds like you're meeting a lot of interesting people.