My Trip To Legazpi

A little over a week ago I had the pleasure of traveling South to Legazpi to visit friends and see some more of this lovely country I live in. I would recommend a trip to Legazpi or anywhere else down in Bicol just to see another side of the Philippines. Here's the highlight reel from my trip.

As the plane to Legazpi adjusted for landing most everyone was treated to a fabulous view of the local volcano Mt. Mayon. It's the "perfect" volcano and is striking in person. It's a solitary figure in the landscape of mainly low-lying fields for miles around. The volcano is still active with eruption (minor) every couple years. It's over-due for another eruption currently and when I was there but it was easy to see where the old lava flow had previously cruised down the side.

Legazpi City (facing away from Mt. Mayon)

When I arrived the volcano was totally clear of all clouds. I was informed later that this was out of the ordinary as typically the volcano wears a veil of cloud-cover. Since I didn't recognize my fortune I just walked off the flight and neglected to snap any photos from the runway, which was situated in clear sight of the volcano. Thankfully I was able to snap some photos a couple days later.

In Bicol, my volunteer friends tell me, it rains like no other. I can now say there's no exaggeration in this statement. In my city it's been dry for about 2 months straight. It might rain but typically at night for maybe an hour so when I went South I wasn't prepared for what I found. I found heavy rainfall. It was light during my stay of four days accroding to my friends but to me it felt intense. Imagine it raining so much that you can expect your umbrella to be heavily battered and where some people just give up and just allow themselves to be fully inundated. At least it's warm.

Speaking of warm, in Bicol if it's not raining it's hot. So this puts you in an awkward prayer situation, do I want to wet from sweat or from a torrential downpour? 

One interesting touristy spot I was able to visit while in Legazpi was Sagsawa (First Picture). This was a destroyed church of a massive size that saw it's demise thanks to one particularly catastrophic volcanic eruption. From what I recall there were hundreds of people within the walls of the stone church when the eruption nearly razed it completely. All that remains now is a skeletal framework of stones that resemble walkways and rooms, with the largest structure being the surviving belfry. A sad story but a beautiful place to visit, not surprisingly in direct sight of Mt. Mayon (the volcano).

On my last day in Legazpi I was able to see my friend Kaiti's YMCA camp on it's first day of a week long  work camp. It's nice to see the ideas and hard work of a friend payoff so well. I have plans for my site too and seeing a success in person is all the more encouragement I can use back at site. 

I'm Doing Alright: An Update

The last few weeks have been slow at work. I finally got a camp on the list of things to-do but nothing else has come of it. The preparation for the camp has been put on the back burner thanks to current scheduling and me to some degree.

I had proposed a camp off-hand several times and my superiors finally made me put up something of substance. I handed in a thorough proposal to my division boss and made it clear that the proposal will need cleaning up, to make it feasible. This was moments before a week long build up to and a week long celebration of Araw Ng Kabanatuan (Day of Cabanatuan), my city's festival. So, here's what I did instead:

Went to Pantabangan (pahn-tah-bahn-ahn), Nueva Ecija

One of the first things I did when I hit the dirt in Nueva Ecija was start asking “what's there to see here?” The responses were not encouraging, no one seemed to know of anything in my new province that was noteworthy. I took to the internet and after awhile of staring at a satellite image of my province, I saw that we (Nueva Ecijans) have a massive lake/reservoir North of my city. I did some reading and decided Pantabangan and it's lake was a must see.

Fast-forward a couple months and factor in a lazy weekend looming, I proposed the trip to my friend Emily and we made it a plan. The ride there was uneventful, even though we overshot the town due to it's small size. We took a trike to the lakeside and finally made it to our destination.

I should note that the town is a strangely long distance from the lakeside. The trike ride was about five minutes and the road we took just turned into a boat ramp, leading straight into the water.

The lakeside is underdeveloped. There wasn't even a small homeowned sari-sari in sight. There was a foundation of a house that the house had rotted away from. All of this in the face of a stunning lake. The air was fresh and the breeze strong. I don't know why you wouldn't want to live on the water's edge, it's obviously beautiful.

(there may be variation in water level so that may have something to do with it. There were some houses down there though, so who knows.)

One interesting note about Pantabangan is: there's a sunken city from the 60's that was flooded with the completion of the Pantabangan dam. I don't know if it's still there to see but but would it be cool to swim down to see.

Went back to Olongapo and Subic on a trip with co-workers

Radio Tower in Subic

I was offered a seat in a car headed to my old stomping grounds from training and happily accepted. The reason for the trip was two-fold, 1. My office mates wanted to see the new fiance of one of my co-workers (and to poke fun at her incessantly throughout) and 2. Have some fun on a quasi vacation.

This trip was great. We visited the fiance's home and had breakfast and an early lunch before we left to see the Subic base in all it's glory.

Co-worker

On the way into Olongapo I had us stop over at my old host family's place so I could get a big bag of black beans I left there. While there I was greeted by an old friend, AJ!

He didn't recognize me, or so it seemed.

My stay there was very brief. The way my old host family treated me while I was there really melted my heart though, love all throughout.

We continued on and began a proper tour of the old military base in Subic. I didn't do this while I was in training and was surprised at how massive the base really was. During the tour we were treated to such interesting sights as massive fruit-bats sleeping the midday away in trees, massive mangroves, sights of old bomb shelters, the detonation sight for bombs to be disposed of, and even an aquatic center.

Massive Mangrove

West Philippines Sea/South China Sea

In front of the West Philippines Sea

We wrapped the whole show up with dinner at my favorite pizza place in the Philippines. What a good time!

My Supervisor hard at work at the pizza place

Celebrated a friend's birthday in Manila

I ate a large amount of this cake

My technical trainer from training got a hold of me on Facebook and invited me out to his place to celebrate his birthday in Manila. After a few days of thinking it over, I figured it might be a good time.

I've been to very few birthday parties here, and this one turned out to be a text-book good time. I was treated to chicken feet, chicken wings, pancit, cake, ice cream, videoke, introductions to new friends, and all the while in the middle of a busy street/alley in Manila.

I was welcomed in with gusto and the friendly spirit was kept up throughout the evening. At some point I was bold enough to take hold of the videoke mic in a solo rendition of “Dust in the Wind”, after an introduction trial through a duet of “Gold” by Spandue Ballet alongside my friend.

I was ferried away the next morning, only spending the one night in Manila. I had a great time experiencing a Filipino birthday party done right.

My Friend and his daughter singing

I went surfing

This last weekend I had the great pleasure to go North to San Juan, La Union. I stayed with PCV friends in Caba and on the morning of Saturday I rode to San Juan with a married couple of PCVs. There was a surfing competition in San Juan and we got there in time to see it kick off. To be honest though, a long-boarding competition is a little unexciting.

My friend Tom invited me out into the water for some surfing lessons and I accepted, praying not to drown (I can't swim very well). He hit me with the basics and got me out there and set me up with some nice beginner swells. I was able to get up three times and it was a blast the whole time.

I spent the rest of the day lounging around with more PCV friends, there were a ton f us, and even met a fascinating returned PCV (RPCV) from Bulgaria.

That's what I've been up to these last few weeks. I have some exciting events coming up, even a vacation to Bicol, so I'll keep you posted.

My Apartment, First Floor

I've almost been in my new place for a month now. I've been moving around so much with work and vacations that I haven't made my new home mine all the way yet. I've slowly outfitted it with the essentials, from cookware to a hammock. It's getting better and that's all I can hang my hat on for now. It's a mess but at least I can cook for myself (which is synonymous with "feel good"). Check this place out!

This is my messy (I want to show you the REAL Austin) entryway/living room. There are several things to note here, first the hammock. I just bought that this last weekend and boy is it nice. Everyone should have one in their house. It's secured to my staircase and the window frame. Window frames here are pretty tough/strong, it holds me no problem. You can also see: my beloved bike, helmet, laptop, and all three backpacks I own (one of which is the wicker looking thing on the far right).

Now this is a photo where my back is to my front door and I'm facing into my apartment from my living room. Prominent in this shot is my staircase which I've turned into an improvised clothes hanger. You can also see my dining room table, more shoes, and way in the back is my favorite place, my kitchen.

Here it is. I spend considerable amounts of time here. Looks like a nightmare but it works alright. There's the propane stove and it's best friend Tank on the left. behind that back door is another room, half indoor, half roach and spider infested. I don't go out there much. If you look closely at the window, on the bottom right part is a piece of cardboard wedged against the screen by a vitamin bottle. Why did I do that? At first I was blocking hole, about the size of a pool ball, that I thought was letting bugs in. Turns out something bigger, with claws, uses that hole. I've had to replace that cardboard several times, it was knocked out once.

So, it's basic and there's no getting around that. The faucet is finicky and the sink has spots that wont clean. There's the pot I use to make...

Chili!

My open face cupboards. I have all the essentials and a ton of terrible other stuff. The terrible stuff includes packets of sugary drinks, sweet spaghetti sauce, Vienna sausages, mega-oily tuna fish, and banana catsup. The good stuff is beans, onions (blue bag), garlic (light blue bag), beans (green bags), spices, hot sauce, loose tea (dark pink bags, upper right), and my new very healthy kombucha baby (bottom right, covered with a piece of t-shirt).

Here's my ref. In the Philippines refrigerators are referred to as refs, the more you know!

Aww yeah, the bathroom. Only the finest of accommodations here, I have both a knee-high spigot, and a pipe that spits on my head! Actually, this is out of the ordinary, usually people use a tabo (small bucket with a handle) to pour water on their heads, so I've got it good. The above ground piping is nice too. 

Toilet seat? nahhhh. I like to imagine the people that lived here before me took it with them, rationalizing it as "well, we bought it" (they may have). Or,there never was a seat to begin with. This toilet has also lost it's ability to flush, so I have to pour water from the big green bucket.

From the kitchen facing the front of my apartment. This is where I live. It doesn't fit with my first idea I had of where I might end up in the Peace Corps but I'm not complaining. You take what you're given here and I was given an alright apartment.

Christmas In Sagada

It took 12 hours of continuous travel to get home from my Christmas vacation in Sagada. As long and drawn out the trip home was it was a return from a good time.

The trip there started on the Thursday before Christmas as I left Cabanatuan City for La Trinidad, just outside of Baguio. From work, I took my bags to the transportation terminal in town and was loaded into a hot hot hot van. The rule with the vans to Baguio is we don't leave until it's packed. Packed so much that the van owners have hand crafted seats that fit the gaps between seats, the gaps used for getting in and out. We waited for 45 minutes and pow, we were off!

Leaving any place at five in the afternoon has to be rough. Cabanatuan City is no exception, actually it's more the rule. Couple the time of day with the fact Christmas was two days away, traffic was dense and slow.

After about four hours, I was in Baguio for the first time. I found myself in a place where I don't sweat because I'm barely moving. The temperature was delightful. Thanks to my friend Ericka, I had a place to stay that night free of charge, so I made my way out of Baguio and went to La Trinidad right next door. I was greeted by Ericka and her old host family from training and fed all the food I wanted. We talked and quickly called it a day. We had to get up early for travel the next day.

Ericka and I rose early and left to find another friend and the next transport we'd use. It's worth noting that I left my pretty new tube of fancy toothpaste at Ericka's host family's house, oh well. Anyway, we found our other friend, Matt, and loaded into another van. Instead of going directly to Sagada, we had decided to see Matt's site. It's along the way and we were sure we could pick up a bus when we wanted to leave.

The van took off and started climbing the edge of La Trinidad and the next thing we knew we were driving along the ridges of mountains. The pictures I took barely give justice to how grand the scene was. I can't say how far up we were but I assure you, we were way up there. The sides of mountains were cut with shelves as if they were the physical representation of topographical maps. The shelves were where mountain farmers would plant their crops. I assume they're called rice terraces but I know that they grow other things like cabbage at least some of the time.

We drove through this beautiful and half-ways frightening landscape for nearly four hours before reaching Matt's site. By this time I was wearing the fleece jacket I left Portland with that I had assumed would not see use again til my return to home, the temperature was downright cold. Matt's site was beautiful, fitting with almost this whole experience. He's located at a place called Mt. Data (daw-taw), it's a small town that stretches along the highway, on the side of a mountain. He introduced us to his current host family and showed us some highlights of his community, including the school he works at. The views around his community were quite enviable.

Trash Hole: Not so Beautiful

Cloudy Mountains: Beautiful

When we got back to his house I was excited to see how Dinaguan (chocolate meat(pork stewed in pork blood)) was prepared. His host family was making it and had yet to add the blood to the mix. I've found myself excited about cooking recently (seen my cooking website recently?) and therefore wanted to see the process. I was particularly interested in the bucket of blood they had in the kitchen, how often do you see that? Dinaguan is actually a fairly non-outstanding dish, it doesn't have all that much flavor in my opinion.

Ericka and I were only allowing ourselves a short amount of time at Matt's site and we quickly grabbed our bags and began our wait for the next ride headed to Sagada. Matt was going to stay at his site while we went on ahead. Little did we know that we would be waiting a long time.

Three hours later, of standing, waving, yelling, pleading, and patience we were on our way again. At this point I was tired and just let my head hang and fell asleep, waking up to see the beauty and grandeur of the mountains we were crawling through. After another two hours, we were dropped off at the base of the mountain Sagada stood on top of.

We flagged a passing truck headed to Sagada and hustled into the bed. The road to sagada quickly turns from paved to dirt to scary. The scary parts were where our truck would be driving along a road that was closer to a ledge than an actual road. There would be quite apparent roadside deterioration that was coined as “slippage.” If any of the road had “slipped” anymore we would have fallen well past 100 feet. Thankfully that didn't happen, and we made it, finally, to Sagada in one piece.

Sagada is beautiful. It's picturesque, homey, cold, and interesting. When Ericka and I rolled into town we met up with the big group of friends who also had decided to spend their Christmas there and we all marched off to our vacation home. The house we were staying in was an apparently extra home of one PCVs counter-part. The walk to the house took us ten minutes away from the town by a walk and took us through a functional rice terraces. Inconvenience aside, I was truly grateful to have a free cozy place to sleep.

Ericka, Ebonee, Becky, and Gypsy in the Communal Cottage

The day after arriving, I got together with my long lost training friend Kaiti, along with her dad who was visiting, and we headed out early after breakfast for some exploring. We teamed up with my friends Becky and Ericka for a full party.

Kaiti's Dad (Daddy Joe as he was known), Becky, Kaiti, and Ericka

In Sagada there are several big attractions which include hanging coffins, caves, and waterfalls. We saw all three in a three hour tour with our friendly but quiet guide Benjamin. We started with seeing some hanging coffins from a long distance off, and yelling into echo canyon “SKYFLAKES” (a terribly popular saltine-like cracker) to the bewilderment of the other vacationers. We then went to the coffins, clambered down some muddy (slippery) paths, saw a small cave and crossed it's small stream, scaled a large rock, walked more muddy paths, crossed a larger stream, saw a much larger cave, climbed out of Echo Valley, and finally walked a long ways and downhill to a quaint waterfall. The water was delightfully cool, it would have been brisk if anyone of us had decided to dive in. There were some local kids who caught up to to us and dived in no problem, just in their skivvies.

Benjamin Our Guide

Hanging With Friends

I'm on a Massive Boulder Taking This Photo

One of the Caves

The Brisk Waterfall

Ericka and Becky

Also, it's interesting to note that this whole trip we were accompanied by a female dog with a lame back left leg. She was friendly and fairly unobtrusive, although I almost tripped over her once. After we made our way back to town she took off.

As far as Christmas goes it was very laid back. I woke up early and gathered breakfast goods (eggs, bread, oil, coffee, peanut butter, and love) for everyone and prepared breakfast. It was a plain breakfast but everyone seemed to appreciate the thought. It wasn't until far later in the day when we all reconvened that we did our Christmas celebrations. These included dressing up, making dinner, listening to Christmas music, and a gift giving game. I didn't bring a costume but my friends helped me into what I assume was an approximation of a hipster, I was dressed as such next to my friends the Jeepney, King of Peacocks, New York Business Woman, Jesus, Merienda, and Biker. Surprisingly I don't have any photos of these events.

In the gift giving I was the last to choose what gift I wanted to steal or I could take the last unwrapped gift. I saw that everyone was happy with what they got and although I would have preferred what they had in hindsight, I chose the unwrapped gift (kindness of the heart I say). I got a coin purse.

I had a great time, saw some great sights, saw my great friends, ate some good food, and felt cold for once in a long time. I recommend Sagada if you want a cool place to visit in the Philippines. By the time I was headed home, I was ready to feel heat again, I never thought I would have that feeling.

Merry Christmas!

Massive Cave. Maybe Thanksgiving.

Youth Leadership Summit and Moving In

I'm writing this on the bus headed home from one fun gathering of youth and friends. The youth summit was located in Dupax Del Norte in Nueva Viskaya, North of my site by four hours bus ride. The bus trip took me from the lowlands I live in, into the mountains I can only just see at the edge of the horizon when I'm home.

Before I left for the summit on Thursday afternoon, I had to move out of my host family's house and move into my new apartment. I was able to make the move completely by bike, I made about eight trips back and forth, filling my backpack and grabbing another piece of luggage each time. I left my all my stuff all over the downstairs, locked my bike up, and started out for my trip North.

At 3:17pm I was on the right bus. I was left with one spot in the back of the bus where the seats had broken into a form that forces all who want to use them to lounge-out. Thankfully the trip was fairly uneventful, it was exciting to see more new countryside and to climb out of the farm lands into the mountains. Some of the roads looked hairy, with one side of the roads hugging the face of mountainsides, with a steep drop off the other side. I made it to Dupax Del Norte by 7:10pm.

When I arrived I was greeted by a van full of friends and we immediately rode towards the place we'd be staying for the summit. What we arrived at was a resort, the kind of place no one had imagined we'd be staying. We were given clean and comfortable rooms, a small room allowance for food and drinks, and were even greeted by the owner of the resort. This gave me a chance to finally catch up with my friends who I only usually get to communicate with through Facebook or text. After a few hours, we were all tired from traveling (everyone else had arrived hours earlier than me) and settled into bed, looking forward to the next day's events at the youth summit.

The summit was prepared to host about 120 kids but when all was sorted, we had about 50 youths. The first day had the youths doing group work and allowed us PCVs to break the ice. The PCVs rotated groups facilitating different activities all revolving around leadership. After several hours of groups everyone was allowed to go home and told we would reconvene the next morning.

The Bus Home for the Youth

After most of the youth had left, in a huge truck, the PCVs settled into one of the most favored pastimes here in the Philippines, videoke. The PCVs tried their hands at singing but none of us could really muster the courage to really belt out songs into the mic, instead we opted to do choral versions of all the songs selected. Songs included TLC's Waterfalls and an N'Sync song I can't recall the name to. Be assured that it was artistically impressive.

The next day of the summit (Saturday) PCVs were split into two person teams and had one activity they needed to facilitate the whole day. The youth would rotate PCV teams and by the end of the day all participants would have completed each one. I was partnered with my friend Alex and our activity was based around “discipline.”

Our activity started bumpy to begin, Alex and I were trying to grasp the concept as we went along too. We were able to get a good handle and flow to the activity and by the mid-way point we were really in full stride.

The Longest Line. A killer game.

Even with the activity in a form we really liked, it was short in comparison to the other groups, we were left with figuring out something to fill the time in with. First, we added charades, it would last one round and was a moderate success in all. Second, we added a cultural exchange, a time where the youth could ask us any questions about the US and even about ourselves. This was really fun, the youth took awhile to get rolling with questions, but after they started they hammered us with questions. One of our favorite questions was “what was the best Christmas gift you've ever received?” Finally, the last group we were working with even burned through questions so I had to come up with games on the spot. I did two games, “everybody up”, and a game I'm most proud of, “Over, Under” my quick-thinking adaptation of another game “Over, Under, Through.”

After the activities had finished, the youth and PCVs were both allowed to enjoy some videoke action. The PCVs opened the singing with another rendition of a favored N'Sync song. The youth finally started singing shortly afterwards, and further illustrated some of the great singing talents I could seemingly trip over wherever I'm at here in the Philies. After a couple hours of singing and dinner, the PCVs decided to pack it in and head back to the resort. No one hung out that night as most of us fell asleep moments after hitting the bed.

The next morning was for wrapping up the summit which included a tree planting and election for members of a new committee of youths. Also, the PCVs were allowed a chance to feel like celebrities when the youths mobbed each of us for out signatures and photos. The election went by quickly and the members who were voted in were some of the most standout participants, the PCVs were pleased. In the end, the PCVs were presented with wicker-back-packs (which are awesome) and received several seated ovations.

I was able to eat lunch with my fellow friends after the close of the summit but had to leave immediately afterward. I gave hugs all around and was driven to the side of the road where I found this bus I'm in now, writing this. I had to leave so soon and fast because I have to get my new apartment in order. As it stands now, I won't have a bed to sleep on tonight but I might be able to clean the fridge if I get there soon. 

The Long Road Home

Sadly, the bus trip has been slow. I've been on the road for about three hours and I reckon I've got several more to go.

Later... It took almost five hours to get home, as compared to four the other direction. I was able to do a basic set-up of my apartment but I've got a lot of work to do. Here's my bed and how I built it. The best way to end a great trip.

Half my dinner. Canned Vienna sausages.