ang pilipinas part I
June 29th, 2009This would be a monumental post if I were to post my whole trip to the Philippines at once, so out of three weeks this represents the first two days or so. What to say about the first couple of days? Well, it was not the first time I’ve traveled, but it was a reminder of what an anomaly my lifestyle is, and how things go down in the rest of the world. The air was bad, the coconuts were good, the warm ocean was a dirty wonder, the animals were worse for wear (but for the prized fighting cocks of course), there were rosaries and bible verses in every vehicle but seat belts were thin on the ground. Now I’m going to fuss with putting text between the pictures.



Some beautiful, serious kids. They seemed grown up.







A man getting coconuts for us to drink and eat. Below is my first fresh coconut, and I credit it with saving my withered little life just about then.



Yes, it was so hot that kids’ hair was plastered to their foreheads with sweat. And I was trying to wear a cardigan to protect me from the sun.





Most of our transport was in the back of a pickup with lots of other hot bodies.







When we weren’t living off of coconuts and mangos, we ate at these little ‘hole in the wall’ joints. The term is more descriptive of these places then anything in North America, really. You go in, lift the lids on the pots on the counter, and point to what you want. Four of us could eat for about $2 CAN.


Ian feeling not so daisy fresh.

Since I’m vegetarian I would always be done eating first (i.e. I hardly ate) so I would take photos of my vascular foot above welcome mats among other things.

Kids just hanging out by the side of the road on Camotes Island.

This is a deep cave with a freshwater pool discovered by the Japanese in WWII and used as a hiding place. I cut my foot on a rock here and it took almost three weeks to heal.

A nice old church. What you can’t see is me gasping for clean air. I don’t know why it was so bad this night, but I was about to lose it around the time I snapped this.


Being tall is no help when traveling in the Philippines.


Halo Halo, the national dessert, done best at the otherwise lame fast-food chain ‘Chow King’

I wish I provoked this kind of reaction at home.

Tagbilaran, the city on Bohol. Busy street, bad air.

IESVS•NAZARENVS•REX•IVDÆORVM ET DOLLI PLASTICI


Warranted.



The Chocolate Hills of Bohol. Ancient mounds of coral eroded by rain and wind once no longer submerged.


Ube (purple yam) cake. I give ube an enthusiastic two thumbs up. Even from the back of my pickup.

We stopped at a very sad little zoo. See the crushed spirit of the owl below? We undid the owl cage and left the premises, but other cages were too firmly wired. This place put me in a moral dilemma, and it felt the wrong choice to do nothing. Ironically the police stopped us for lesser infractions fishing for bribes on other occasions. More on that in part two or three.


Oh yeah, and the animals were subjected every day to multiple showings of a transvestite air band performer. I rest my case.








































































