Their primary project is mudcrab farming, but a secondary earned income projects is a coconut wine (“tuba”) brewery! They’ve built quite an operation and have won the title of best tuba in the Visayan region – due, they say, to their marketing and branding strategy (professional labels and tamper proof seals).
Our coworkers took us to the tuba brewing site, which is also being developed as a tourism spot – the fisherfolk’s organization hopes to create a platform overlooking the ocean, where folks can sip their tuba and watch the surf.
Setting up for some tuba tasting.
Prize winning wine at the on-site retail shop.
The brewery operation. Each blue barrel contains tuba at different stages of maturity.
Trying some fresh buko juice.
We think this tuba/eco-resort idea could succeed. We’d hang here.
We were scheduled to head back to training the next morning, but were convinced to stick around for the fiesta parade. It would be a great way to get our faces out there in the community, right?
Street dancers from the local university.
Parading through the streets.
My coworkers keep the sun away. I think this was right before the crowd started chanting “Brad Pitt, Brad Pitt” at Brandon…
Post-parade we went to the mayor’s house for a fiesta feast. Roasted pig (known as ‘lechon’) is a regional specialty throughout Leyte-Samar.
View from the mayor’s house.
With our sitemate, Eric, and our new host family, Nanay Dayot and Carol.
Our site is beautiful, but there is still much work to be done. We have some great natural resources and economic opportunities to work with, and there are tons of potential projects waiting for us. We’re very excited to return here in just a few weeks and get to work.
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