Philippines – Getting Some Work Done

Surprised yah didn’t I? Weren’t expecting me to sneak a mid-week update in now were you? I think you’ll find that this time I really don’t have a lot to say, but that’s a good thing I assure you.

At the end of the last post I discussed my hopeful intentions to do the following:

  • finish the household surveys
  • map San Isidro with a GPS unit
  • visit the regional DENR office
  • visit NAMRIA for maps
  • interview the PRRM project coordinator
  • visit the Dept of Agriculture
  • interview the PRRM head

Last week was a winner, because as of right now I have accomplished everything italicized in that above list. I was also supposed to get the PRRM project coordinator’s interview done last night, but she rescheduled for this evening. Also, the Department of Agriculture visit isn’t by any means a do-or-die accomplishment, so in reality after I interview this lady tonight I’ll only have one more major item left to see to in my 2.5 weeks of remaining research time – that’s efficiency baby!

So let’s review. I had requested a GPS unit be sent on Wednesday morning, March 1st, and it was sent that same afternoon Global Priority Express. In any other realm it would be reasonable to expect a package thusly conveyed to arrive early the following week. Eager to begin the GPS mapping, and seeing no reason why I should let the unit sit at the Post Office waiting for me to come claim it, starting on March 6th I began making daily afternoon trips from San Isidro into Mambajao to check the mail. [I should interject that that last statement cemented my claim to the Run-on Sentence Throne] In any case, you may have noticed the plural in the preceding line, t-r-i-p-S.

For me at least, last week was profoundly boring. My days were mind-numbingly simple – I would accompany Melvin & Jorge in the morning while Melvin interviewed the respondents in their local Visayan / Cebuano dialect, have lunch, then walk the 3km down out of the forest to the main road and catch a ride into Mambajao. Once in Mambajao the Post Master would say “Sorry Andrew, nothing today” and then I’d spin on my heel and catch a ride back to San Isidro, hike back up the mountain into the forest, and sit around observing any remaining surveys that were being conducted. In the evenings, to give myself some small shred of a feeling of productiveness, I would enter the survey results into the spreadsheets of my statistical analysis program. I did this for 5 straight days without any meaningful alteration of routine while the Philippine Postal Service was busy doing things apparently more crucial to their organizational mission than actually delivering packages.

Finally it was Friday however, and the 1pm mail truck brought me my long pined-for GPS unit. It just so happened that Melvin, having surveyed his Filipino cheeks off all week long, finished his very last interview Friday morning. So while I was gearing up for several long days of field mapping, Melvin gleefully headed back in to CDO for a much deserved holiday – probably hoping that my mapping would take as long as possible, since he knew he didn’t have to work again until I was through with it.

So Friday night, GPS in hand, I returned to San Isidro and explained the plan of attack over dinner with Jorge. I was going to map the area in two main parts – first the actual barangay would be mapped, all the roads, major foot-trails, and meaningful structures of any kind – second, with the aid of Nicoles the land surveyor, I would map the CBFM site, however this was not to be done until the following week. I then explained to Jorge that I was anticipating the roads & major foot-trails mapping to take one full day, and the structure mapping to take at least another, if not two, because I needed him to record the structure details as we went. I concluded this conversation with this sentence, which I reproduce for you now nearly word for word: “Ok Jorge, so tomorrow I will map all the roads and trails by myself, and then Sunday you and I will start the structures, ok?” … “Ok!”

The following morning at 7:30 breakfast, Jorge sat down and said “Ok, roads and shortcuts today, when do we start? 8?”

“we”

Language barriers are a funny thing in terms of which concepts can jump the gaps and which can’t. In this case I figured what the hell, I’m just going to be walking all day, might as well have Jorge along to talk to. That simple decision proved to be the beginning of one of the most physically taxing days of my entire life!

Jorge and I had all the roads and trails finished, and were standing at the top of the CBFM site by 1030am, which was all the work that I had planned for that day. So, we continued. On the way back down we started flagging all the structure with the GPS unit, and had 1/5th of the entire barangay done at 12 when we broke for lunch. We took a much needed rest after lunch until 2pm, then resumed. Both of us exhausted, dripping in sweat, scratched to hell from bushwacking to save time, and with numerous bites from the local insect community, we arrived at our last house at just before 530pm. It was only fitting that the owners were sitting outside drinking Tanduay rum and coke as the sun crept downward. Once Jorge told them what we were doing they decided we needed to celebrate and poured us both a shot. In short, we accomplished what I had been planning to do over a two or three day period in only 7 hours of grueling work. I was completely shot by the end of it, but I was also relieved to be finished.

Unfortunately, my time grows short, so I’m going to have to quit the chit-chat and speed through some pictures real quick, here goes:

About a week ago I awoke in the middle of the night to distant shouting. I learned the next morning that someone had broken into the small store up at the road near Jorge’s house and decided to set it afire on the way out. Being constructed entirely of bamboo and coconut, it went up in no time flat. In the morning we walked up and surveyed the damage.

When you live in the midst of grinding poverty you have to be a special kind of asshole to burn down the only convenience shop in your village. Awful.
When you live in the midst of grinding poverty you have to be a special kind of asshole to burn down the only convenience shop in your village. Awful.

Here’s another picture similar to the one I took a few weeks back of the girl in the window. Often times this is the most I see of the children in the village. They’re either really curious and want to play with me, or they hide!

Handsome lads!
Handsome lads!

The same family that had those two boys also had a personal small-scale coco-dryer. This type is called a “pit dryer” appropriately enough and can dry coco into copra in only about 3hrs. The quality noticeably suffers do to the more intense heat though.

Copra pit dryer - minimal initial investment, but poor quality output.
Copra pit dryer – minimal initial investment, but poor quality output.

Another survey respondent I visited was drying corn for market. Not the most interesting topic in the world but maybe you’d like to see their corn? It’s a different size from what we’re used to.

Bit stubby, innit?
Bit stubby, innit?

You can always here a chainsaw somewhere in the distance in these parts. I was finally able to catch one in the act the other day. This kid is cutting apart a “kaot” tree (local name) which he just downed. They’re a softwood shade species that has no commercial value, so are consequently cut to make room for more banana and lazones, etc. I thought this scene was especially noteworthy due to the absolutely huge chainsaw this kid is wielding. That’s a good 2.5 ft longer than anything I’ve ever attacked a tree with.

From a safety perspective, the both-hands-on-the-rear-handle approach is rather horrifying.
From a safety perspective, the both-hands-on-the-rear-handle approach is rather horrifying.

Here’s another picture of the proud-lumberjack standing next to his victim.

We protect every tree on the island, except this one - fuck this one!
We protect every tree on the island, except this one – fuck this one!

A random, but interesting picture – this is the way 99% of all San Isidrans cook in their kitchens – with real fires built from the center hunks of palm fronds.

We take a lot for granted in the West.
We take a lot for granted in the West.

Lastly, in our haste to finish we’d would occasionally just interview anyone we could find home at the time we visited a house, instead of the head of the household as we were supposed to. Once I caught him during this interview though we had to have a little chat about his methods.

"Your mother did what with a coconut?!?"
“Your mother did what with a coconut?!?”

Ok, so that’s just a cleverly angled picture taken during a good moment – but you can bet that’s how I’m going to open my Powerpoint research presentation back in APU and give my professors heart-attacks. Ha.

And that’s all I can share this time. I’ll be back in two weeks to make one last post before I head to Manila for a week and then on to Japan.

Take care!

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *