April So Far (1)

4.19.10

Work has been slow-ish here due to the election season and all the corresponding bans and restrictions. For example, community organizing by municipal employees is not allowed, so our counterparts haven’t been able to work with us on community projects. Also, all funds are frozen, so our proposals are sitting on a desk somewhere. There are good reasons for this, like keeping corruption in check, but it has made it difficult for us to get our new projects off the ground. But we are trying to focus on all the unique experiences we get to have here. To keep spirits up this month, we had been looking forward to several big events, which all converged over the course of two weeks:

Volunteer Invasion

First, almost all of the other volunteers in our region came to visit Guiuan for Holy Week. We were nervous at first about how to accommodate 16 people here, keep them entertained, and still remain sensitive to the religious holiday and our community. But somehow the nearly week long visit was practically perfect.

We used their visit as an opportunity to see some sites in our community that we hadn’t yet visited and also took them to some of our favorite spots:


[We rented this sweet ride on the first day. We squeezed 17 giant Americans into this thing.]



[First stop was the wave watching point on the Pacific side. This was a new spot for us and is now one of our all-time favorites. We were here at low tide and explored the many tidal pools full of little creatures.]


[We brought a picnic lunch and avoided the midday sun under this overhang, which is underwater most of the day]



[Second stop was the famous tuba (palm wine) brewery. A local fisherfolk group produces and bottles this stuff as a secondary livelihood project. We’ve become pals with the president of the association, whose house doubles as the brewing headquarters. In his backyard he’s constructing a “tuba resort” for folks to sip tuba while watching the sun set over Leyte Gulf. He and his wife were amazing hosts, showering us with all kinds of food and tuba concoctions. Their favorite: mixing tuba with grape Tang…]


[Last stop for day 1 was another of our favorites, Sapao Beach. Right in front of this little island there’s a great natural swimming hole, with rocks set in a circle around it to perch on. We’ve heard that soldiers during WWII set up a diving board on this spot. While we were here I stepped on an octopus, which retaliated by latching onto my foot, sending shrieks of ‘There’s a CREATURE on my FOOT’ echoing off the nearby cliffs. It ended well for me, but not so well for the octopus, RIP.]



[On Friday, most places were closed, so we relaxed at a small local resort and kept up some American Easter traditions as well]


[The mayor graciously offered us a boat to use for Day 3, so we took a trip out to the islands in Leyte Gulf. The local bantay dagat (coast guard) served as our three man crew for a half day on the water.]


[Our main destination was tiny Pearl Island, a giant clam sanctuary run by our regional Bureau of Fisheries.]





[Folks spent the morning snorkeling the sanctuary and checking out the clams, which were the biggest and healthiest most had ever seen. Giant clams don’t produce pearls (so I’m still confused about the whole ‘Pearl’ Island thing), but they do act as great ocean filters.]

[Pearl Island is also a great spot for napping and picnicking, our other two major activities for the day].

On Good Friday, we woke early to watch the “stations of the cross” procession, where scenes from the last days of Christ were reenacted in the streets. Unlike in the US, emphasis during Holy Week here is on Friday, not Easter Sunday. Most of our community spent Thursday – Saturday in their homes or attending daylong church services, and almost all businesses were closed. On Sunday, the town came alive again and families picnicked at the beach.

After the visit we realized just how lucky we are with our site – many thanks to the Peace Corps Placement gods. Compared to other communities, we have plenty of transportation options (some sites have none), internet access, plenty of outdoor activities to keep us busy (as you can see), and even a small grocery store. On the other hand, we have one of the most “isolated” sites in our group – it’s three hours to get to the nearest city and an hour and a half to the next nearest volunteers. With everything we need here at site, we rarely have to leave, which has been great for getting to know our community better.

On the High Seas (Part 2) - Like the Log Ride, Only Better

3.20.10

We had hoped to sleep in the following morning after our all-night cha cha fest, but after a mere three hours were summoned to eat a quick breakfast and load up into another dump truck for the Magellan’s Landing mass and celebration. If the first dump truck experience was the best thing we’ve done here so far, this second truck is probably one of the worst.

I was lucky enough to score a seat in the cab as a lady, but Brandon and Eric rode in the back, along with 30+ other people. Bodies flailed about in the bed and people held onto each other as they flew forward and back over the cracks in the road along steep terrain for more than an hour. The deep red earth of Homonhon caked the truck and more red dust whipped us as we rode. When we finally made it to the Landing site, everyone was exhausted and covered in a thick layer of red dirt.

On the way, we drove across the mid-section of the island, the interior where the mining has taken place. Here are some images of the mined landscape, not a pretty sight:



Mining operations have been shut down for a number of years, but we’ve heard the company has plans to reopen. Some levels of government here are opposed to it, but on the other hand, the people (and seemingly the most local level of government) hope the mine will reopen for the sake of their livelihoods. On Homonhon there are few alternatives for people to earn a basic living. It’s a story we’ve definitely heard before, and one that makes us think of home.

Magellan landed on the south side of the island, and just inland from where he came ashore there’s a monument known as Magellan’s Cross.


[where Magellan supposedly came ashore]

The festivities took place there at the monument site, with a mass and meal.


Each village had its own table, and as the only foreign guests we were invited to join the governor’s feast.

[no silverware or plate, just go for it. pansit, fresh seafood, rootcrops, and of course rice]

The entire celebration lasted a couple of hours and we returned to the other side of the island for a much needed shower and nap.

We slept most of the day but woke up for the big event – a concert, the first ‘real’ concert ever on the island, by two national celebrities. The mayor sponsored the event and shipped over the equipment for a professional show. A special stage was built in the town plaza and a troupe of dancers from Manila was brought in. Hundreds of people flocked the plaza that night to watch the concert, which was actually pretty entertaining. Plus, we were able to get seats in the back row and spend most of the evening unnoticed (a first for us!)


The next morning we woke early and secured a spot on the 9am boat back to the mainland. We ate a leisurely breakfast and headed to the dock at 8:45, only to see that our boat was already out to sea!

[What happened to waiting three hours for the boat to actually leave, like on the trip there??]

We returned to the house dejected and were told there would be no more boats. We would have to stay an extra day.

How to spend an entire day with no plans? We were invited to tour the island with the mayor, but because we’re non-political as volunteers and it’s election season, we declined and stayed in the Kapitana’s village. Plus they were taking the dump truck again, so… no thank you. We napped through the hot hours of the day, played cards and taught folks how to play Skip-Bo, then took the Kapitana’s granddaughter for a walk. This girl is quite the character and she and her friend were great companions for a trip to the beach.


[going for a stroll]
[typical beach village scene]

[lookin for shells]

The following morning we woke extra early to ensure that we’d make the boat, yet somehow we almost missed it AGAIN, even though we were two hours earlier than the day before. Lesson learned: there is NO schedule for these things; be prepared for anything!

When arriving at the dock, we saw the little boat from the trip there (the one we had mocked because it was barely afloat) and realized that THIS is what we’d be taking back. Oh, the irony.


So we loaded up, I donned my rain jacket (although others weren’t as lucky), and we spent the next three hours getting drenched by the waves. Unlike our first, large boat that rode above them, this small pumpboat cut right through the waves. We liked to joke that it was “kind of like the log ride, only better!” Although, it’s fun for about the first half hour, and then you realize that you have two hours more of being pounded by the water and riding the rollercoaster-like waves. It gets old.

[fearfully boarding the boat]

Back on the mainland now, we’re returning to our regular work, thankful for the new connections we made and the new cultural experiences we had on Homonhon. We have many potential projects in the works. Here’s a brief list of what might be coming up:

Brandon:
-Education campaign against the non-sustainable practice of harvesting gravid (pregnant) crabs
-Writing a proposal to fund a marine protected area (MPA) project and working with the community to develop a management plan

Tori:
-Organizing village weaving associations for people who weave grass mats; the project would train weavers in new skills like dyeing and making higher value products
-Tourism development: creating a local accommodations and transportation guide for the tourist info center

Both:
-An Earth Day education event
-Ongoing climate change education
-Creating profiles of the coastal villages and training co-facilitators

April will be a busy month with Holy Week, a visit from 17 other PC volunteers, Brandon’s 28th birthday, Earth Day, and a trip to Central Visayas. We hope everyone’s enjoying the start of spring back home!

On the High Seas – Headed to the Big Island (Part 1)

3.18.2010

We returned this morning from a 4-day adventure to Homonhon Island – the most distant part of our site and location of Ferdinand Magellan’s landing in the Philippines. We traveled there for the annual celebration of Magellan’s Landing, this being the 489th anniversary. Our community prides itself on being a historical site, and this is one of the biggest celebrations of the year.

We planned to leave on Sunday morning, but we’ve learned to become very flexible with traveling and found out the boats wouldn’t be leaving until Monday. Monday morning we arrived at the dock at noon. We watched as everything was loaded – a motorcycle, an enormous generator, a massive sound system, food food food, about 40 people (including a cover band from Manila), a crate of iced coconut milk, etc – and left at 3:00.

[leaving the mainland]

We felt smug because we landed a spot on the larger, more comfortable boat. Although we were a bit cramped, the boat next to us looked like this, barely sticking out of the water:[‘man, those people are going to get soaked!’]

[on the way]

The trip took two hours on this large boat and as we had been warned many times, there were some big waves going to the island. Homonhon lies out in open sea, where the Pacific meets Leyte Gulf, and the waves are often too strong during rainy season to make the trip at all. We’ve actually heard that because the island has so few provisions and is so isolated during the wavy rainy season, they ran out of food completely one winter and it had to be brought in by helicopter to feed the hungry residents.

We disembarked to the greetings of a local marching band and our host, the wonderful Barangay Kapitana (village captain). The Kapitana is a close friend of our host mother and stays at our house often, so we know her well and stayed with her during the trip.

[arriving at the pier]

The dock was lined with palm trees and a nice beach that stretched along most of the kidney-bean shaped island. We walked through the sandy paths under the palms and into the main part of town – a very orderly, clean, simple village surrounding a small plaza.

[first views of Homonhon]

Homonhon is a massive island – much larger than the mainland area of our community. It is the only agricultural area around, with farms mostly producing root crops like cassava, camote, gabi, and palawan. The Kapitana has a farm where she grows these plus kalamansis (amazing little limes), small oranges, pineapples, jackfruit, and more.

[the Kapitana and her proud potato harvest]

There is no regular electricity or running water on the island, but the Kapitana purchased diesel to run a generator during the evenings for all her guests. Mining has historically been the major industry on Homonhon (and really the only one) – for about 10 years, a company actively strip-mined most of the interior for cromite. The local community has had no claim to the profits, other than a small school built by the mining company.

On the first night we ate dinner and prepared for the night’s festivities – a dance in a neighboring village. Because we can’t ride motorcycles (a strict PC policy), the Kapitana generously arranged for a dump truck to take us there. It is no exaggeration to say that this dump truck trip was probably the best thing we’ve done so far in the Philippines: We sat on plastic chairs in the truck bed as it climbed up a hill from the coast and we road along the hilltop with its massive, pitch black sky and stars as far as we could see. We said it felt like we were in Jurassic Park, because everything felt so untouched there, with such unique vegetation and, of course, the safari-like dump truck experience.

[our ride]

Along the way the truck made a sudden stop and the other passengers started yelling ‘sawa!’ – a word we were still unfamiliar with. We thought maybe the road was out, but when our eyes focused in the darkness on the dirt road in front of the truck, we saw a MASSIVE snake. And by massive, we mean this:



One of the other passengers jumped down and began beating it with a stick. We thought we’d then proceed with the trip, but he just grabbed the snake and hopped up into the bed with it. And us! So we rode the rest of the way (maybe 20 minutes) with what was perhaps an 8-foot python. When we arrived at the village, the man posed for this proud photo and put the snake in a plastic bag to take home for a future meal and medicinal purposes.

The dance was like many others we’ve attended here – a mix of amenudo/kuratsa (the traditional dance of the Waray region) and cha cha.


[Politicians perform the amenudos and people throw money at them in the center of the dance floor, and this serves as a fundraiser for the occasion (in this case, the money goes to the village that hosted the party; if it’s a wedding, the money goes to the couple, etc).]

We were falling asleep at our front row table, yet we were pulled out onto the dance floor for several cha chas. We watched dance after dance after dance until 4:30 in the morning, finally returning by dump truck and getting to bed at the respectable hour of 5am.

Retro

We've just arrived back at site after spending two weeks at PC conferences in Manila. While there, staff gave us the long-awaited pics from swearing in (since we weren't allowed to take our personal cameras with us). So here are some of the images of Secretary Clinton leading us in the oath back in November:

[three powerful ladies - our PC country director, the US Ambassador to the Philippines, and Secretary Clinton]

[Secretary Clinton's address]



[oath - we're about four rows back]



[full view of the embassy ballroom]

[batch 268]

More recent updates to come once things slow down a bit!