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Port of Maasin
I had expected the port to be busy but found no ship at all on the docks. Maasin is a bustling little town - or city, as the inhabitants of Maasin will insist - with quite a bit of sophistication, or at least more than I had expected from a place that on the map seemed a million miles remote from civilization. Although the major modes of transportation are your usual jeepneys and motorcabs, there are also plenty of privately owned vehicles. There are two local colleges in town. One is St. Joseph College which is associated with the Catholic Church and the other is the College of Maasin which is associated with the United Church of Christ in the Philippines and founded by Dr. Angel Espina, an educator from Maasin who got his doctorate in the United States. As a matter of fact many of the local residents of Maasin have connections in the United States, whether having relatives who immigrated there, or having relatives as overseas workers like nurses who work in the United States. This was surprising to me. However, I was also a little disappointed because I had wanted this place to be like your typical remote town in the Philippines with little contact at all from the outside world. I discovered soon enough
Maasin Market
Across from the pier is the Maasin wet market. They sell everything from pig's heads to lizard skins and all kinds fruits and vegetables, most of which I have never seen before in my life. that many people in this town, and probably in all of the Philippines, know at least one person who is living in the United States and have a great deal of contact with them.
Although the place that I'm staying in town, Ampil Pensione, is spartan I was able to sleep well the night before and didn't wake up until late in the morning, around 11:00 AM. The travel the night before by ship was exhausting enough to put out for eight hours or so, and I didn't even drink an ounce of alcohol. After washing up, showering, brushing my teeth and all I went downstairs to ask the clerk where a good place to eat might be. She suggested Jollibee of course, knowing that since I'm from the US that that might be what I prefer. I promptly told her that I hate burgers and fast food and that I'd rather have something local, where everybody goes to eat for lunch. She brightened up when I said local, pride beaming out of her big eyes and exposing her big teeth. She eagerly pointed me to a place called
Kinamot, the local term for
eating with your hands, as
Central Maasin
A very busy street of Maasin. This is at the center of the town, or city, as the inhabitants of Maasin will insist. To the right is the Church, and in front of the church is the central plaza with the Rizal monument. the desk clerk lady explained to me.
Do I have to eat with my hands?
I asked.
No sir, you can eat with a spoon and fork
, the lady assured me.
So off I went to Kinamot which was only a very short walk from where I was staying. When I got there there were plenty of cars parked in a small unpaved parking lot, small SUVs and Japanese sedans. An armed security guard was stationed at the entrance, naturally. When I passed by him I gave him a quick nod. He ignored me.
The restaurant was another pleasant surprise. The place is unpretentious but heart warming, with Filipiniana decor, bamboos, handicrafts and all, and an open view to the Ocean, sort of like having a restaurant in a very large patio. After looking over the menu I knew exactly what I wanted to order; lechon kawali(roast pork sliced in bits), isda kinilaw(ceviche), and fish soup with rice. I washed it all down with a couple of bottles of San Miguel. It was a very satisfying meal, very different and perhaps more delicious than the Filipino food that I've had in restaurants in the US. If you've only eaten Filipino food at a restaurant in the United States then you haven't really
Catholic Church
The Catholic Church, or Simbahan in Bisaya, is a Maasin landmark and dates back to the colonial times, somewhere in the 1700 or 1800s. tasted authentic Filipino food. Here in the Philippines the local food is fabulous. Perhaps it's the local ingredients, which are picked fresh daily, slaughtered recently, or caught from the ocean only a few hours ago before being served on the plate in front of you. Whatever it is, it tastes good.
I lingered around for a bit after lunch, people watching but not really writing anything down. The place is called Kinamot but hardly anyone is eating with their hands. People are eating with a spoon on their right hand and a fork on their left. No knife. Did they ban knives in the Philippines? No, but the local tradition is to eat with a spoon for the rice and a fork for your meats and other complements to your rice. Rice is the central - or should I say fundamental - component of a Filipino meal. Having fish, poultry, meats and vegetables are mere pretenses, just another excuse to eat rice. Of course, I didn't figure all this out by myself. I was told this by a friendly fella who gave me an unofficial and perfunctory walking tour of Maasin City.
After my meal I walked around
Rizal Monument
There's a Jose Rizal monument in every barangay of every town in every province of each island in the Philippines. A Barangay(some people call it Barrio) is, for lack of a better analogy, like a district in the States, with it's own school district, neighborhood council, etc. I'm not sure if that's a good analogy. towards the port area. The port seemed too big for the amount of shipping traffic it was handling. On this day there were no ships and no sign of any ships, passenger, cargo or otherwise coming or going anytime soon. I asked the security guard stationed at the kiosk when the next ship to Cebu will be and he told me once week there's a ship that goes to and arrives from Cebu. I asked him if I can walk around and take pictures and he said okay, so I took pictures of the ocean and area around the pier. On the left side of the pier about a hundred yards away is the view of the patio that is Kinamot Restaurant, a place I just came from only minutes ago. To the right is the local wet market. I've always been fascinated by wet markets and so I decided that I would head towards that direction. That's when I met the friendly fella named Costancio who refers to himself as Cocoy. That's a hell of a name, I told him, and he just laughed. Every Filipino has a rhythmic sounding nick name, Dodong, Bong-bong, Jojo, etc. My favorite is
Simbahan Front
I was fascinated by this church. If you have a discerning eye then you'll notice the loud speaker on the upper left window. That's so you can go outside, take a smoke break and not miss a word from the message of God. Very thoughtful. the generic nick name for a young lady, Inday, because it sounds so endearing.
I met Cocoy while walking on the bridge to the wet market. He was driving a minivan and noticed that I was carrying a camera and so immediately he thought that I was a
Balikbayan
. I told him that I hardly qualify as a Balikabayan. You had to have left the Philippines first and come back home afterwards, say in a hundred years or so. After all, that's what Balikbayan means, to come home to the home land. I had just arrived. Thankfully, that didn't disappoint him too much. I had thought at first that he wanted money but after awhile I realized that he didn't want anything at all. He had no ulterior motive. He just wanted to know about me and my life in the US, who my parents are, do I have relatives here, etc, etc,... and in exchange he showed me around town and introduced me to places that I would never have seen just walking around by myself. He was the one who took me inside the campuses of the Saint Joseph College and the College of Maasin, and much
The Podium
The Virgin Mary is revered by Catholics on the same level as God the Father. A statue of the Virgin Mary is such a common sight in the Philippines that you would think she was God. my of knowledge about these schools, their history, their distinguished alumnae, came from my new friend Cocoy.
I was astonished to see how very different yet somehow familiar this little city is. It's a small town with many Barangays in its midst. There must be at least forty or so Barangays under the jurisdiction of Maasin. It stretches from up North on the border between Leyte and Southern Leyte and all the way South to the town of Macrohon. I spent the rest of the afternoon touring with Cocoy as my guide and visited his family for dinner at some place called Tuburan in the evening. They were gracious hosts and I was taken aback by their generosity because I am used to being suspicious of people from growing up in the United States. They invited friends over and introduced me to them. We spent the night drinking and just shooting the breeze, telling tall tales and probably tellling lies to no end. It was great stuff.
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Pat
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The guy at the pier must have misunderstood you. There are 3 boats per week to Cebu going back many years. When you come back next time you won't know the place. Gaisano Mall; new fish market, old fish market area developed (stores restaurants etc).