Holy Week '08 - camping in Tublay

Holy week in the philippines is a spectacle of flagellants, pabasa, and men nailing themselves to crosses to reenact the crucifixion. Holy week also happens to fall during the most ridiculous heat of the year. So, this being our third year to experience this display of outlandish reverence, a bunch of us opted to go camping in the beautiful northern mountains of Tublay. We stayed at Sherry's host family's organic farm, helped out a little bit in the gardens, but mostly just hiked and hung out and cooked good food and enjoyed the cool, breezy weather (sweatshirts at night! crazy!)and solitude of the area. It was a bit of a last hurrah for some of us...we will all be together again at our COS conference in Manila in a few weeks, but this was a great opportunity for us to just chill and reflect on our adventures throughout the past 2 years here. I will be flying out on May 7th, so the counting of months has now become weeks, and the emotion of this experience coming to an end is beginning to overwhelm me.

swimming with whale sharks

Last weekend I flew down to Legazpi with Sherry to check out the whale sharks, or butanding as they are known by locals. There is a high concentration of whale sharks in Donsol during the months of February through May. Butanding are the worlds largest fish and can reach up to 40 feet long. They only feed on plankton and are completely docile, but because of their size, swimming alongside of them is a huge rush. Absolutely exhilarating. They are endangered because their meat and fins can fetch alot of money, so the local fishermen had all but killed off this beautiful creature in Sorsogon until 1997, when laws were passed to prevent the killing and sale of whale sharks. As an alternative livelihood for the fisherfolk of the area, there was a big ecotourism push and swimming with the whale sharks quickly became a popular tourist activity. All you have to do is rent a boat, guide, snorkle, and fins, and you are on your way. You put on your gear and sit on the side of the boat as the guide scouts the waters from up top; when he sees one he yells go and you all jump in the water and swim towards it. We saw several the day we were out, despite the rainy conditions (they are harder to spot when its cloudy), and Sherry and I swam alongside the same one for several minutes, close enough to touch it, until he whipped his tail (scared the crap out of us!)and took off. Here are some pics of the adventure:





Afterwards we visited our friends and environmental volunteers Jarod and Mariah, who possibly have the sweetest setup of any Philippines PCV. They live in the guesthouse of a renowned vulcanologist, who had his homes build on the beach, directly facing Mt. Mayon. Spectacular. They even have a nipa raft, which we swam out to with a bottle of wine to enjoy the sunset... What a weekend!

winding down

It's hard to stay motivated these days. We are one calendar page closer to being done, projects are wrapping up, and most of us are only focused on our life post-peace corps...new jobs, new relationships, a new city. Every day is a battle to stay present; to remain in the moment so that when i am home in a couple months, i dont have any regrets about my final days here. I have started a livelihood/recycling paper-making project at the center, which will hopefully teach the residents some environmental responsibility (if only i could get them to compost!) and generate some income. Ideally, I would like them to be able to do this in their communities as a source of livelihood when they leave the center. Most of them have little, if any, education, so returning to their life as a GRO (Guest Relations Officer...another word for protitute, which is legal here) is oftentimes their easiest option, especially if they have children to support. This will hopefully give them another way to make money. Here are some pictures of us in the process:
recycling the materials
ripping the paper

little helper
adding color to make the pulp pink
blending the pulp
the finished product...drying in the sun