Party with some Whale Sharks

New Years in the Philippines is culturally a family celebration where people stay home, eat and shoot off home-made fire crackers. Of course this differs a lot from the American tradition of going out, staying up late and counting down the New Year. So most volunteers make travel plans to party places in the Philippines. My friends and I decided to spend the weekend in Cebu, an island in the Visayas that none of us have spent much time in. We planned on staying in Cebu City for the big night since there are lots of food and bar options, also hoping to see some good fireworks shows. But Jensen and I decided to head south first for some diving in Moalboal, Cebu.

Its a three hour bus ride to the dive town of Moalboal where the atmosphere is chill with lots of places to eat and drink along the beach, and a dive shop around every bend. The reserve near Moalboal is Pescador Island and we had already decided we wanted one of our dives to be there. But for some reason a lot of the dive shops were not going to the island, even though it was a really close 10 min boat ride away. But after walking around the beach strip we were able to find a shop that would take us for a morning dive to Pescador Island. We also opted for a second dive in the house reef. 

The weather was a little gloomy but that wasn't about to stop our dive plans. Despite the overcast and a few showers, visibility was great and we had two fun drift dives. The dives were walls of reef, tons of coral and fish. The highlight of the trip was to see four Green Sea Turtles and a good size frog fish. We didn't have a dive camera but for those that don't know, a frog fish is one ugly creature! However it is really neat to see on a dive. Below is a picture I pulled off the internet just to give you an idea of what we saw:

He thinks he is camouflage... the one we saw was actually sitting on a coral that resembled his colors. I think this one is confused...
(Pic: scubatravel.co.uk)

I really enjoyed the dive town of Moalboal (called Pangasama beach by the locals). The atmosphere was really chill and quiet. There were a lot of foreigners there, some just visiting and others liked it so much they live there now. It is a nice beach strip with seafood restaurants and bars on the water but still has a small town feel, unlike the over populated and overcrowded Boracay. It was a great morning of diving in Moalboal but our adventure was not over yet!

Heading to Pescador Island reserve.

Had a great time with Nelson's Scuba!

When we had walked around to find the dive shop, we kept hearing word that there were Whale Sharks at a small town on the other side of the island. Most people head to Bicol to swim with whale sharks in the Philippines but it's a long ways away and we hadn't made the trip yet (its around a 12 hour bus ride from Manila). But this town was just on the other side of Cebu from where we were. After our dive we headed back to Cebu City to meet up with our other friends, but on the way we decided that we just couldn't pass up the opportunity to snorkel with whale sharks when they were so close to where we were.

In case you don't know, whale sharks are sharks and not whales. They grow very large, with the largest documented whale shark being over 12 meters (36 ft), making them literally the largest fish in the sea. These massive fish, despite being part of the shark family, are actually gentle giants that are filter feeders. Because they are so large but eating such small food, they move quite slowly. Snorkeling with whale sharks has become a popular tourist attraction and has been on my 'bucket list' of Philippine activities for a while.

So after having dinner with friends in the city, and getting a few hours of sleep, we got up and headed out on a 4am bus (the whale sharks are only out feeding in the morning hours). We rode a packed bus, standing room only, for three hours, as we headed back down south. The driver knew right where to drop us off for the whale sharks (where all the foreigners were headed haha). We brought our own snorkel and mask but rented fins and paid a small fee that goes to the local fisherfolk.

The whale sharks showed up in this small town two months ago when fishermen were out in the early morning trying to make a catch. They were very surprised when this big shark bumped against their boat trying to get the small shrimp the fishmen use for bait. At first the whale sharks were seen as a nuisance but then the locals realized that they had a great tourist attraction in their waters. So they have been getting the word out the sharks are there, enticing tourist to come snorkel.

Jensen and I headed out to the water and were amazed at these huge and beautiful creatures! They move slow and gracefully through the water, sometimes surprising us as they swam underneath. It was an amazing experience that I am sure I will never forget!

These were the "little guys" at around 4 m.

I am swimming with the biggest fish in the sea!!!

One big shark!

After our adventure with the whale sharks we made it back to the city utterly exhausted. And of course New Years Eve was upon us so we rested up with a 4 hour nap before getting ready to hit the town and bring in the new year!

We had a great view from the top of Cebu City to see all of the hundreds of fireworks shows down below!

 It was lots of fun celebrating the new year with good friends in a big city. The volunteers who have become my friends over the past year are my friends for life. We are able to share all of our frustrations, stresses, experiences and celebrations with each other and have become more like family. I don't know how I would get through all of the ups and downs of this experience abroad without them and I look forward to another year together serving in Peace Corps Philippines.

Guimaras volunteers celebrating the New Year!

Fireworks! Happy New Year!

So I hope everyone had a very happy New Year! I look forward to 2012, and all the experiences that await me!
Next week I leave for Thailand and Vietnam! I will be sure to post when I get back about my adventures!

Diciembrye sa Guimbal

Wow this holiday season really flew by! Since I am on my last year here in the Philippines, I really want to make the most of every moment. Christmas last year was still new to me with culture and food and the language but this year I have a better understanding of the culture here so I feel I am able to participate more in the traditions instead of being a bystander. Christmas in the Philippines really is more about the weeks leading up to Christmas day. There are lots of fiestas and Christmas parties and of course lots of food!.

My LGU (local government unit where I work) held a Christmas party the Thursday before Christmas weekend. There were lots of Christmas decorations everywhere, especially the star lanterns that are so popular here. This year Stacey (the other volunteer at my site) and I were asked to prepare the games for the Christmas party. Because it can be difficult to explain a game in another language, we decided to use a lot of Filipino party games that people are familiar with but also add a little bit of new games we know from the States.

A classic Filipino game is 'longest line' where there are two teams that must make the longest line they can in a given time by using only things they are wearing. It is pretty funny to watch as people take off shoes, belts, jewelry and anything else they can use to add length to their line.

Making the line long!

These lines even made it outside the building!

Another one of my favorites to watch the employees play was the 'hoola-hoop' game. In this game the teams had to pass the hoola-hoop down their team line without breaking hands. There were a lot of nice moves going on to get the hoola-hoop around their body and on to the next person in the line. And some of my co-workers were on the winning team!

moving that hoola-hoop down the line!

he must have some great dance moves too

All in all I think everyone enjoyed the games and Stacey and I enjoyed putting them on.
Next was time for food! My office bought a 'baboy lechon' or roasted pig! It is a favorite party food and can feed a LOT of people. There were also the Filipino staples of rice, milkfish,  and pancit noodles. I made some deviled eggs, which my co-workers had never tasted before but seemed to like.

posing with my co-workers' kids

time to butcher the baboy lechon!

the food line in my office

After lunch we all hung out in the office, chatting and playing card games. One of my favorite Filipino past times (besides singing kareoke) is to play tongits, a Filipino card game. It is somewhat similar to rummy but with an added betting element. I really enjoy playing with my co-workers even when I end up loosing 20 pesos ( I can just make it back the next game).

playing tongits in the office

Christmas in the 'Pines really culminates on Christmas Eve when everyone goes to midnight mass and then comes back for a late night fiesta. Last year I went with my host family but this year I decided to head to Guimbal (the site of Elliott) for the Diciembrye sa Guimbal Festival. It is a week long festival that Guimbal puts on every year. The entire lawn of the Municipal Building is covered in lights and every night there is lots of food, drinks and dancing!

Lights lights everywhere!

 Elliott's parents were visiting from the states and they treated us to dinner. It was really nice to have that added American family, especially during the holidays when we are all missing our own families so much.

dinner with the PC family (plus E's parents)

 On Christmas day we were invited to Elliott's host family for lunch. They prepared a big spread of Elliott's favorite Filipino foods. There were also three cakes in celebration of the family birthdays in December.

Lola (grandma) seems to be guarding the cake...

Our American-Filipino Christmas Family

After our Christmas lunch we hung out with the family and played with the kids as they opened their Christmas presents.

Renz thinks Ty is a mountain to climb

The kids playing with their new toys

Renz is so happy to wear his Georgia shirt, xmas gifr from Elliott's parents

So that was my last Christmas in the Philippines! Stay tuned for a recap on my New Years adventure complete with Whale Sharks!

New Heights

Let me preface this by saying that although I am an Environmentalist and I love being outdoors, the longest hike or camping trip I have been on is a couple nights and not too difficult of a hike (mostly in the coastal Carolinas). But I have always wanted to go on what I deem a “real hiking trip” - up a mountain and far from roads or cars or any other chances of escape. So when another volunteer suggested we go on a week-long vacation after MST (Mid Service Training) and hike Mt. Amuyao in the Mountain Province of Northern Luzon, I decided it was my time.

But let me back up for a second….

It is a PC Philippines tradition to celebrate Thanksgiving in the mountain village of Sagada. It takes a 12 hour bus ride to get to from Manila, so not every volunteer makes it there. Last year I was too new at site and it was just too far to travel. But this year I decided I needed to take part in the tradition and experience the cold weather of Northern Luzon. The other reason for making the long trip is a chance to see the famous rice terraces, considered a staple stop for tourist visiting the Philippines. The most popular place to go to see these rice terraces is Banaue, Ifugao. Most people take a short day hike around Batad to see the terraces…. but we (five of us volunteers) decided to go off the beaten track.

Our journey began with a 10 hour night bus to Banaue to meet up with our guides. Then we took a jeepney ride to Mayoyao, only 44 km away but the winding and unpaved mountain roads made the trip a 5 hour ride. It sounds grueling but the view along the way is spectacular! By far the best jeepney ride I have had! We had a fantastic view of the mountains and rice terraces. The rice terraces of Mayoyao are said to be over 2000 years old!

Rice Terraces of Banaue

We spent the night at the Barangay Captain’s house before setting out the next day.  Part of the experience of hiking in the Philippines is the Filipino hospitality. When we got into town, our guides (who speak the local dialect) asked around for a place for us to stay. It never took long for them to find a family that was more than happy to have us spend the night, offering up the best they had.

The Barangay Captain and his family where we stayed our first night.

Staying with a local family is another way to get to know the people and culture. My batch of PCVs is mostly in the Visayas (the middle part of the Philippines made up of all the smaller islands). Since these islands of the Visayas are smaller, most of the towns are coastal or have pretty easy access to the coastline. Therefore fishing is a major part of the culture. In the past year we have gotten to know this culture pretty well and often make the mistake of generalizing the Philippine culture as the culture we are familiar with. But our trek through the mountains gave us all a glimpse of a completely difference Filipino culture.

One of our guides preparing the chicken for dinner.

The mountain villages are so isolated that they have their own culture. And instead of fish being the main source of food and income, rice is the cash crop. Every mountain village has its own beautiful array of rice terraces up and down the mountain side. And the people there not only speak a different language, but they have an entirely different way of life, from the way they build their houses, to the way they prepare their food.

Our hike from Mayoyao took us 6 hours through the mountains, following around the mountain sides and to the town of Pat-yay, where we stayed the night with another generous Filipino family. We even bought one of their chickens to slaughter and eat for dinner (our guide did the food preparation part while us volunteers watched). This small town is home to barely 100 people and has no electricity. The only way in and out is the hike that we traveled to get there.  The bathroom was a log on the edge of a wall (so you squat with your behind over the log and do your business… and try not to look on the other side because it’s not pretty).

Hiking along the terraces.

Taking a short rest..

 The next day we hiked 7 hours up to the summit of Mt. Amuyao, 2702m (over 8,000 ft). The trail is not used often so it was a challenge, along with the cold weather, off-and-on rain, and wet ground. But we made it before sunset and the clouds cleared just in time for us to take pictures of our accomplishment. The view was breathtaking! Mountains as far as the eye could see, a truly amazing scene.

The trail had a lot of fallen logs to go under... not my favorite part.

We made it to the top!

Awesome view!

There is a radio tower at the top that is manned by two guards. There is also an old building with a bathroom, kitchen and two rooms, complete with fireplace. And since the weather was cold and getting colder as the night set, we made a fire and dried our socks and shoes for the next days hike down. (It was refreshing but also kinda strange to be so cold in the Philippines.)

Our "home" on top of the mountain..

And the stockings were hung by the... no wait, wrong story..

Our decent the next day took around 4 hours to get to the town of Burlig. The way down the mountain towards Burlig is the most common trek to the mountain top and as we hiked down we were passed by workers carrying supplies up. It was mind boggling to see these older men carrying jugs of water and gasoline up and down the mountain! I was going slow and shaky down the wet and slippery steps but they went up and down so quickly, making it look so easy!

My legs were tired and my feet hurt but I made it back down the mountain. It was an amazing hike and I will definitely remember it forever!

Made it to the town of Burlig.

Once we finally made it down, we thanked our guides who then accompanied us to Sagada for our PC Thanksgiving Day. There were around 25 volunteers there, which really made it a nice celebration. Here are a few photos from our PC Philippines Thanksgiving.

The chicken being prepared for Thanksgiving dinner.

The turkey waiting his turn....

The Sagada bags - hand made bags that have become a trademark of the mountain town.

Local women weave the fabric for the Sagada bags. 

Cutting the Thanksgiving birds.

Lots of yummy Thanksgiving foods made by PCVs.

I had an amazing trip to the mountains of Luzon and would recommend any traveler to the Philippines to visit the Mountain Provinces and see another part of the Filipino culture. It was a challenging trip but worth every moment!

Happy Holidays everyone!

p.s. Thanks to I.A. for sharing his pictures with me. We both ended up having lots of pictures of each other but none of ourselves since we were usually in front of or behind one another on the trail. So thanks for swapping pics with me :)

The PCV Experience - Celebrating 1 yr of service

Well November has flown by and December is almost here! Nov 15^th marked my batch’s 1 year anniversary at site. Instead of just listing some of my recent activities, I thought a better way to mark my one year of service is to share more about the "real PCV experience".

 Peace Corps Philippines Batch 269 started out with 145 Trainees and, now at the one year mark, we stand at 117 Volunteers. Some went home before swearing in, some went home due to medical or family issues, some went home for breaking policy (i.e. riding a single motorcycle) and a few decided PC just wasn’t for them. Being a PCV is not an easy life. There are constant ‘ups’ and ‘downs’, and statistically the year mark is one huge ‘down’. But PC Philippines knows this and so scheduled our Mid Service Training (MST – govt agencies love acronyms).  

MST consist of two days of medical (we have a physical and dental check-up in Manila) followed by three days of PC training sessions. These sessions include some skills training that we can take back to site, but more importantly, it’s a chance for us to look back over our first year of service and take the time to think about our original reasons for joining the PC. Why did we originally sign up? What did we expect to get from our service? How do we feel we have changed in the past year? What do we expect to get out of our last year and how do we accomplish this?

Really MST is PC’s way of helping us get through the ‘low’ that most of us are experiencing. At past conferences and trainings many of us spend time talking about how things are going at site and getting to know how others are doing too. This time very little conversation revolved around projects at site. It was a chance for us to just be around our fellow volunteers and “just be Americans”.

We know coming into the PC that it will be both a challenging and rewarding experience. I remember thinking before I came to the Philippines and wondering about what my time would be like here and what challenges I would face. There really is no preparing for what lies ahead; you just have to go into it knowing there will be rough times. When I write my blog posts I always try to highlight the positive in an effort to share my experience and good times with you, my readers (although few of you – hi mom!). But in reality it is a roller coaster of emotions. There are so many highs and lows. But it’s the highs of course that get us through the lows. Getting used to the cultural differences here is, to me, the hardest challenge. The slow pace of work and passive attitude often frustrates me and makes me wonder ‘what can I really accomplish here?’ We all try to fit in so badly, to make friends and be thought of as part of the community. And although I have made friends here and do feel a sense of community, my own culture continues to separate me from those around me (not to mention my fair physical characteristics and giantness compared to their darker features and petite statures). 

We all go through these times of depression, feeling that we aren’t getting anything done, feeling isolated and alone even when surrounded by people, and of course that homesick feeling. But we also get through these times, either by texting another volunteer to vent, locking ourselves in our room to read a book, or even sometimes forcing ourselves to go out and be social.

So, there are times of frustration, sadness and depression, but I think that is a necessary part of living and working abroad. We are separated from our family and friends and everything that seems normal to us. And all of us come here with dreams of ‘making a difference’. But the real difference that is made is in the relationships we have with the people. I can hope that the MPA I will help to establish will still be here 10 or 20 years from now, but what’s for sure is the people I have met and worked with, the relationships I have made and the impact that I have had on others and they on me. I am sure my co-workers will always remember me and tell stories about the Americana that lived here for two years. I hear stories all the time about past volunteers (and the last one at my site was in the 70’s).

So as my batch 269 of PC Philippines celebrate our one year of service, we reflect on our experience thus far, the positives and the negatives. This MST was a great chance to not only reflect, but to also remind ourselves the reasons we joined the PC, and to know that although sometimes we may feel alone, there really are 116 other people who know exactly how we feel.

We have one year down and one more to go. I know that the road ahead is full of challenges and rough times, but it’s the hard times that we learn the most from and allow us to enjoy the good times that much better. Being a PCV is definitely not for everyone, but this experience has helped me to realize all the rewards that go along with the hardships. To know another people, another culture, and another way of life is a remarkable experience that will always stay with me and make me a better person. As they say, “it’s the toughest job you will ever love."

Happy Anniversary 269! One year at site! woohoo!

Paint a mural!

Been pretty busy again this past month, so here is an update of all my going-ons!

This year the Peace Corps is celebrating its 50th Anniversary so provinces all over the Philippines have been holding events. We just had our Guimaras PC 50th Anniversary event. We joined forces with the RRCY which is a local center for children in conflict with the law. Boys come to live at the center after having too many run-ins with the law as an effort for rehabilitation. There were also some kids from local highschools who attended the event too. We (the six of us volunteers on Guimaras) gave a series of lectures on what PC is, and what it is to be a volunteer. We also talked to the kids about solid waste management and had a beach clean up followed by a mangrove planting. It was really fun!

Talking to the kids about PC and being a volunteer.

Planting mangroves with the kids and community members

Next was my CRM (coastal resource management) Planning workshop. Representatives from all of the coastal barangays in my municipality came and we discussed what CRM is and coastal zoning. The participants were broken up into groups and given maps of the coast so they could mark where the different coastal zones should go. Participation was great and the workshop was a great success! The information we gathered at the workshop will be used in creating the new CRM plan for the municipality of Jordan.

The groups marking coastal zones on their barangay maps

After the workshop I went off for a long weekend trip to Dumaguete, Negros. It was a long 5 hour bus ride (after an hour ferry ride) but I was able to visit a new province and all of the volunteers there. The are two other CRM volunteers in the region so we decided to go diving at the Apo Island Reserve, which is right by Dumaguete. The Apo Island Reserve was the second MPA (marine protected area) created in the Philippines and was established in the 70's or 80's.

So many fish and corals!

walo-walo or sea snake, very poisonous!

under the sea!

After my trip to Dumaguete, I made the long trip back to Panay Island and then to the rural province of Antique. The volunteer in the municipality of Culasi had planned an Environmental Camp for all of the high schools and needed assistance in facilitating it. Myself and two other volunteers from Bohol were there to help out with the camp. We taught kids ages 14-16 on various subjects such as population growth, plants, climate change, solid waste management, fisheries and map making. We also worked with the kids to create and paint a mural for their school.

Presenting to the kids

Playing games with the kids - trees, loggers, mudslides! (a different take on rock, paper, scissors)

Painting the mural at the 1st school

Mural at the second school. The words are in tagolog and say "we protect our resources" and "plant a tree".

Mural at the third school. Yeah for the environment!

I am back at site again but have my Mid Service Training (MST) in Manila in two weeks.
Thats all for now!
Halong!

Happy Fiesta!

MY GRANT HAS BEEN APPROVED!!!! Woo hoo!

(As a reminder, this is the grant for establishing a second marine protected area-MPA in my municipality.) I am also working on creating a CRM (coastal resource management) plan for the municipality. This has been a task that has been hard to get started on but with the help of another PCV on Guimaras (shout out to you Jensen!) and from my friends at the provincial capital I have been able to really make progress. We are having an upcoming CRM workshop to include community members and other stakeholders in getting their input in the plan and having them participate in assigning the coastal zones for the municipality.

For a non-work update, I joined a volleyball team, which has been a lot of fun! Guimaras has its “goodwill games” every few months and this past month started volleyball season. There is no municipal team this time around so the Governor’s office invited me to play for them. Our team is called Gov’s Crashers and we’re not too bad (not the worst and not the best haha). We meet several times a week to practice and then have games on the weekend. My teammates have become some of my good friends and we have loads of fun playing volleyball and hanging out!

And as mentioned in previous posts, I moved houses. The owner of my last place has decided to make some renovations, so I decided this was as good a time as any for a change of scenery and move into town. It was great living in the rural community, very beautiful and peaceful. But the provincial capital of San Miguel is closer to work (although still a 20 min jeepney ride away) and offers all the convenience of living in town. I moved to a boarding house and it has the local market and many eateries all within walking distance! I also have so many more opportunities to ride my bike around too!

Recently was the Barangay Festival of San Miguel. Barangay Festivals for each barangay occur on the date of that particular barangay’s patron saint day. During a barangay festival, the streets are lined with flags and there is lots of loud music and dance competitions. But the real highlight is the food! It seems as though everyone is having fiesta at their house! The tradition is to go around and visit friends living in that barangay, eating at each of their houses, for at each house is a Filipino spread of food like no other! This year I was invited by about 5 or 6 people to come to their house for fiesta. My first thought was there was no way I could make it to all the houses, but indeed I made it to FIVE houses, eating at all but one (I manage to stay away from the buffet table). Of course my Filipina friends tell me the strategy is to eat small amounts at each house, but this is made to be nearly impossible when everyone is constantly bringing more food items to you and telling you to “eat, eat!” Needless to say I was beyond stuffed by the end of the day and vowed not to have another bite of food for a week! But that is the price to pay for fiesta!

At one of my co-worker's house for fiesta

Filipino favorites! Chicken estufado, pancit canton, pasayan, puto, chop suey and carne!

So Happy Fiesta everyone! (There is another one in a couple weeks so I should start fasting now….)

and Happy eating J

Rainy Season in the Pines

I knew before coming to the Philippines that there were only two basic seasons here: wet and dry. However I did not understand that this is not an even divide. Over half the year is considered rainy while the "summer" months are usually considered to be March, April and May, with June starting the rainy season again. For the past month or so we have been under virtually constant cloud cover and stop and go rain everyday. Especially for the past two weeks we have had one storm after another roll over the Philippines. As soon as one passes through or dissipates, another is on its way.

Sometimes I do wake up to the sun shining and it starts to get hot again. There seems to be not a cloud in the sky and I think to myself maybe its over. Wrong. It is at that point when you start to make outside plans like going to the beach, going on a bike ride, or doing work on the boat that it will suddenly begin to darken and pour!

Most storm systems that come through come from the east and hit the eastern Visayas and Luzon (northern Philippines). And I mean they get dumped on! My friends in these regions have to walk around in knee high waters (usually mixed with oil and other pollutants - yuck!) and even evacuate to higher ground at times. PC is pretty good about keeping us informed though. We all get text messages updating us on the status of any storm approaching the 'Pines and what areas need to prepare for the worst of it. We also have to check in with them after any typhoons. (So to friends and family out there - no worries :).

I never thought I would want the Philippine heat but really I just miss the sun on my face (oh and doing laundry would be a heck of a lot easier too).

Work update: I am in the process of submitting a grant for my municipality to establish a Marine Protected Area. The grant monies will include enough to build a guardhouse and purchase assessment materials. I am really excited about the reserve and training the locals on how to perform coastal surveys. I hope this will be a way to instill a sense of community participation in the management of their resources.

Also I recently went to Barotoc Nueva, a small town in Iloilo province, along with 4 other CRM volunteers. There is a fisheries college there, where all of our Filipino counterparts went to school. We gave a lecture on Coastal Resource Management to the fisheries and tourism students. We were very well received and it was really fun talking with the students. During the question/answer period after the lecture, our first questions was from a student asking us how he can help us with our projects. It was really great to see so many students interested in sustainable management of the environment.

Halong everyone and stay dry!