Tim and I are on week three of our time in the Philippines, a last minute travel decision made when Tim found a team to pick up with for the "best beach ultimate frisbee tournament in the world." We didn't know much about the Philippines before we got here other than about Imelda Marcos' shoe collection and that they speak Tagalog, but a fellow traveler we met in Colombia (Steve Martin, no, not that one, the one who also stayed at the Bubble in El Salvador and knows Mario) raved about the country and the people.
He was right - the people are super friendly and lovely, and the beaches are beautiful. It has a very Central American feel in that everyone is at least a foot shorter than Tim, there are stray dogs and chickens everywhere (have we told you about the barking dogs and incessant cockadoodledoing yet? We had a nice break in New Zealand...), food and beer are ridiculously inexpensive, and, wait for it, the United States got all up in their political affairs for a number of years. People are definitely friendlier and seem less suspicious of us than in Central America, though; probably because we didn't cause or contribute to a civil war here. Anyway, some other differences are that goats compete with the chickens and dogs for real estate on the side of the road, way more people speak English, and instead of mototaxis there are "trics" (tricycles, a motorcycle with a side car) and "jeepneys," a short, long piece of scrap metal on wheels that is exuberantly decorated and costs about ten cents to ride.
Here are some other fun facts: the country is comprised of over 7,000 islands, and there are over a hundred local languages in the Philippines. Our first week we spent at the Happy House, a permaculture farm and hostel six hours north of Manila in a region where most people speak Ilokano. The locals could understand the five words of Tagalog we managed to learn on the flight over, but Ilokano is totally different, so we didn't do much communicating in either language when hand gestures and pidgin English would do. Side note: Filipino languages have a lot of "ang" sounds in them, and Bing and Bong are actual names. I'm also reading a novel by a Filipino-American that won the Man Asian Literary prize with a character by the name of Ding-Dong. I have yet to confirm if any Filipino living or deceased has ever actually had this name.
The Happy House was pretty remote, so we had a lot of nice down time to read, play guitar, and walk up and down the main road and give out high fives to little kids. It was also common for people to get really excited to see us amble by their front yards and yell, "Hello! Where are you going?!" We didn't know if this was a direct translation for Ilokano and meant more like, "How's it going?" but we responded that we were going "that way" every time, and they seemed content with that answer.
Next we spent five days in Siargao (Shar-gow), an island known by surfers for its famous Cloud 9 break. We couldn't even get close to it on our boards because the current was so strong, but we did some other surfing at the not-so-Secret Spot. I stood up a total of three times, a new personal record. Tim is of course crushing surfing, like all sports, so I remain engaged in an one-person competition to be better than him at something already, jeez. Ahem. We also rented a moped for transportation and cruised around like the locals sans helmets and through foot-deep puddles. As Tim would no doubt say were he authoring this post, the drainage on the roads was terrible. We got one flat tire and got it repaired for ONE DOLLAR.
Our accommodations were at a hostel run by an extremely garrulous Filipina woman who wanted to plan every minute of our stay on Siargao, so we spent a considerable amount of time trying to sneak out of the hostel unnoticed. One of the days we escaped to take a day trip to a lagoon where we did stand-up paddle boarding, snorkeled and hung out with some Filipino priests-in-training who were on a "bach trip" and hitting the sacramental rum pretty hard. We didn't always know what they were saying, but they seemed to be having a good time.
Now we're in Cebu for a day to try their famous "lechón," roasted pig, before we fly to Boracay for the big frisbee tourney. Sa susunod na pagkikita!
Your writing is very humorous Jenn! I can hear you saying all that you are writing! I am enjoying your reporting too Tim!
ReplyDeleteI loved this place too, I am enjoyed my vacation in siargao island last year. Now I am planning to buy Hobie Kayak For Sale Philippines
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