A trip to the village - Philippines Style

[Butch 3,456]

Hi Fellas

 

Apologies if this is in the wrong section, Mods, feel free to move.

 

I'll start by saying that I've had to keep family members out of the pics for obvious reasons. We recently returned to Mrs Butchs' home village in order to sort out some paperwork and visit some areas where she lived as a kid.

 

It was fucking emotional for her, not least because Mrs Butch had a tough childhood which involved getting beaten up a lot, starving, having no cash and generally being treated like shit. Kind of like being married but without the paperwork. also her Dad died at a young age leaving her mum to bring up 5 kids alone. Tough call for anyone I imagine, and her Mum is the toughest& kindest person I know.

 

The village is located in the Albay province of Bicol, near Legazpi. I won't give the name of the place, simply because it doesn't really matter anyway and if you're really that worried, PM me and I'll tell you.

 

Anyway. good old Philippines Airlines arriving an hour late. Mayon volcano in the background, which is approx 14 km away but still managed to lob 1000lb boulders into the village years ago. As with many domaestic flights, you stand on the tarmac close enough to the plane for some good shots and get your luggage handed to you.

 

 

Mayon in Background

 

On the way to the Village, they were digging out the local "overflow" and also this sand is suitable for building, thus at the same time getting sand for bricks and mortar.

 

 

 

Therefore, building costs here are cheap. Land is approx Peso150 Per SqM, materials 70% cheaper than Manila. Yet, due to unemployment there is little or no money to build large houses, the bigger ones being built by "Balikbayan" cash (overseas workers)

 

 

Upon entering the village it was necessary to turn my watch back 20 years. Deserted streets and a very eerie silence.

 

 

Each corner has a hand pump for water, as there is no mains unless you can afford a deep well for the equivalent.

 

 

Approx 5 pm, rush hour.

 

I mentioned to Mrs Butch why everyone was sat around doing nothing. "They have nothing to do" came the reply.

 

 

The village is a fishing village. The views are fantastic, Mrs Butch's (cousin) relatives had the highest house in the village due to owning a successful business in the past (it's compicated, don't ask). Mrs Butch was always "persona non grata" because her mum had no money. Cunts.

 

views from the rooftop of our " Resort Hotel" .

 

 

 

 

 

We headed down to the bay to watch the fishermen bringing in their catch. Hard working guys, decent, honest men and friendly.

 

Sadly the Beach is quite badly littered. I mentioned to the Barangay Captain about getting some kind of "beach clean" operation up and running to attract tourism and maybe some investment. He's taking it under consideration.

 

 

 

Local Pier

 

Wake up to this every morning we're there.

 

 

Catch of the day, 45 Peso per KG

 

 

 

Some more views of the village from the roof of Mrs Butch's cousins house.

 

 

 

Unfinished addition simply because the money ran out.

 

 

More views

 

 

There is so little traffic, they dry the rice out on the roads in the morning.

 

 

We visited the house where Mrs Butch and her siblings and mum used to live. Not much has changed, the concrete wall was built by her dad before he died, and the family would sleep above the kitchen area between the roof and concrete.

Understandably Mrs Butch cried a lot and got pretty upset, but as I reminded her life these days is much better, and sometimes life teaches us to be humble for good reason.

 

What really touched me though were the notch marks in the wooden supporting beam (on the rear ) charting Mrs B's growth from years 3 to 8 made by her mum.

 

I mentioned to the current tenants that I'd really prefer it if they kept the beam in place and untouched.

 

 

Some things have been changed in the dwelling, but it pretty much "as is" when they left it years ago to move to Manila in search of a better life.

 

 

hopefully this gives some insight into how poor people live in the PI.

 

 

 

Kitchen

 

Anyhoo, that was the village , warts and all as we say. The following days were spent Island hopping (report to follow).

 

I like provincial living, it's cheap, quiet and nice. Waking up to views like this every day can't be all bad,

 

 

 

 

Hope you enjoyed. My Bohol / Chocolate hills report part 2 won't be comnig cos my phone took a swim and I lost all the pics.

 

However, there's a part 2 to this, Island hopping with some fancy pics and another example of how peaceful life can be in the Philippines.

 

Cheers

Butch

Edited May 18, 2014 by Butch

[Butch 3,456]

I forgot to mention, any questions I'll happily answer best I can.

 

If anyone is asking, yes you can live here , yes you can own land, albeit by going through some loopholes but one needs to consider that the village has NO supermarket, one small, house fronted "sari sari" Pharmacy selling only chinese copies, one Policeman, a school and a college, one Bar and the nearest Petrol Station is 20km. That's pretty typical of most villages in the PI. Electricity isn't 24 hours (8 hrs once a week rotational blackouts), there's no mains water either. Internet is available of course, as is Satellite TV. (but you can buy generators and put a deep well in)

 

However, consider this:

Coconut from the tree is 2 Peso. Fresh fish 45 peso per KG. Veg is 15 peso per KG. Mangoes grown locally are 3 peso or free depending upon how close to the tree you are!. Rice price is too variable but about 30 Peso per KG, then again being a rich farang you'll buy 50 kg at a time so that point is moot.

No building regs to follow. Land varies from 150 to 300 Peso per Sq M . Labour costs cheap, steel is more expensive than concrete.

 

The nearest city is Legazpi, the nearest Airport also approx 20 mins West, same for the nearest Hospital / Dentist / Whorehouse.

 

Cheers

Butch

Edited May 18, 2014 by Butch

[maahuanao 20]

Good stuff.

[Butch 3,456]

Ach, shit it, I've found some more pics..here we go:

 

Village Outskirts

 

 

 

More of the Bay

 

 

 

 

Some Street scenes during the day, plus a flower :)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Breakfast at 0600

 

 

 

More views of village life.

 

 

 

 

 

Edited May 18, 2014 by Butch

[firth1974 2,659]

Cracking photos Butch, good job.

 

What's the chance that there is some kind of organised trip to the top of the volcano, or is it still "too active" to climb?

[wacmedia 277]

Hi,

 

Great stuff, Butch ! My uncle was a great livestock trader. When I was young he always said to me "you'll find in the end, your pocket is your friend" It's always stayed with me and it seems it's a Universal truth. Even he must have been caught out sometimes !

[keyman 1,435]

Nice pics and background story, Butch.

 

 

 

KM

[Butch 3,456]

Hi,

Thanks for the responses. Firth, there are hiking trips up the Mayon but I'm not sure how close to the top they go. It's not for the faint of heart though, and the Mayon is still active. It's approx 15 km away from the village. I did enquire about a trip up in a chopper to have a look around, but there's nowhere local that does it, sadly.

 

The Island hopping is fun, for anyone with intentions of Diving, there are some great local areas apparently. I'm not a diver so couldn't offer much by way of advice, but if anyone is interested I might be able to find out some more info for you. There were a couple of Dive schools in Legazpi, one being foriegn owned iirc, but that was a couple of years ago.

 

 

If you're ever in the vicinity a trip to Cagsawa (the buried church) is worth it, along with maybe popping into Naga city to go to Cam Sur. Legazpi itself doesn't have much to offer except some decent fishing.

 

Cheers

Butch

Edited May 19, 2014 by Butch

[Obsession 571]

Nice report and insight.

What sort of conditions did you stay in?

Why are so many motorbike/ sidecar combos covered in, compared to Thailand?

 

-------------------

 

There was a documentary about a Florida ( or Miami, I think) taxi driver who stayed in the wilderness of Leyte.

http://www.channel5.com/shows/ben-fogle-new-lives-in-the-wild/episodes/episode-3-554

 

 

[Butch 3,456]

Hi Obsession

We stayed initially in a small, local resort / hotel. I'd rate it about 1 or 2 star. It was dirty, poorly maintained and the rooms / showers were tired. Then again this is a small village so it caters mostly for local weekend tourists and events. The pool itself was "clean" though, but the area around it pretty filthy, so much so that I told the kids not to play there. There were cigarette ends, litter and I told one kid to stop spitting on the floor, being locals ,as the pool is open to them during the daytime , they didn't give a shit about the place or the other guests.

It got so bad that we moved into a cousins house. Unfortunately that's the quality of the accommodation in the PI, once you get out of Manila, Subic or AC the hotels are shit. We paid about 600 peso per room, roughly £8 or $14.

 

Re the "tricycles" they all have a sidecar attachment , unlike Los I think they are used to transport rice, coconut and durian etc inbetween fares , hence they are built with the "freight option". That's what Mrs Butch reckons anyway lol. As a means of transport they are bloody uncomfortable, especially for foreigners cos every time you hit a bump you'll twat your head on the top. Fucking hard work to get out of as well.

 

Cheers

Butch

[Rushman 24]

Thanks for sharing the photo's Butch.

[Butch 3,456]

Cheers Rushman, glad you enjoyed them.

 

I've got an Island hopping trip report coming up. for anyone interested in living a simple life in SEA it's going to be a treat.

 

cheers

butch