Merry Christmas
25 Dec 2008 Leave a Comment
in Holidays Tags: Christmas, family, friends, long distance, Merry Christmas, phone calls
Tis the season to be jolly, to spend some time with friends and family. For many Expats, this is also a time to remember Christmas the way it used to be. Perhaps you will be making long distance phone calls, as will I, to family members far away.
No matter where you are, who your with, or who your missing, I hope all who read this will have a Joyous Christmas, filled with Peace and Love!
Merry Christmas!
Holiday Safety
23 Dec 2008 Leave a Comment
in Calbayog City, Disaster, Holidays Tags: Christmas, fire, fireworks, Holiday, lights, New Years, safety
About 1 week ago, a house/business caught on fire, here in Calbayog. While I don’t know what caused that fire, I do know that every year there are many fires caused by faulty Christmas lights. This is the tropics, and it is both hot and humid. The plastic used for the Christmas lights is also cheap. If you reuse your lights from previous years, it is important to inspect them closely. Here is a picture of one of my old sets, that I, obviously, can not use.
Another common cause of fires at this time of year is fireworks. I remember one foreigner telling me about his experience in Cebu. It was New Years Eve, and many people were setting off fireworks. One rocket happened to land on a nipa roof, which quickly caught on fire. There was no time to call for a fire truck, as nipa burns very fast. Everyone grabbed any kind of container, and started throwing water on the fire. I think the house was pretty much destroyed, but at least it did not spread to the other houses.
I pray that this year everyone will be safety conscious, and there will not be a lot of unfortunate tragedy!
Ferry Boat Capsized
17 Dec 2008 Leave a Comment
in Boats, Disaster, Travel Tags: capsized, Don Dexter, ferry boat, Masbate, philippines, Princess of the Stars, Samar Sea
This year has seen it’s share of boating accidents, in the Philippines. It started with the capsizing of the M/V Princess of the Stars, in June, where many lives were lost.
Then, in November, the ferry boat Don Dexter capsized near Masbate Island, in the Samar Sea.
And now, another ferry boat capsizes. This time the “wooden-hulled Maejan” capsized in Cagayan Province.
Now the scary part is that this boat is like the pump boats we take to Almagro Island. Yahoo news explaines what happened:
“The ferry, loaded with more than 100 people along with a cargo of pigs, cows and water buffaloes, was traveling from Calayan islands in the Luzon Strait when it encountered huge waves and currents that broke its bamboo outrigger, causing it to flip over.”
About the same time as the Don Dexter sank, we were on another trip to Almagro. There were high seas, and one of the supports for the outriggers broke. There are normally 4 large beams going accross the boat, that attatch to bamboo outriggers. In our case, only 1 of those broke, but it was serious enough for the boat to stop and do a temporary repair job. These boats have a very narrow “V” shaped hull, so the outriggers really are necessary. Here is a picture from last weeks towing incident that shows a pump boat’s narrow design.
Towing a Ferry Boat
12 Dec 2008 3 Comments
in Boats, Samar Sea, Travel, Visitor Tags: adventure, Almagro, CrisJeff2, ferry boat, Jeff, pump boat, Queen Aiko, Samar Sea, towing, twin engines
We took Jeff out to the Island of Almagro for a couple of days. If any of you have been out to the small islands, in the Samar Sea, you already know it is quite an adventure. This time we rode on the ferry boat, locally known as a “pump boat”, called the Queen Aiko. It is a relatively new boat, only 1 year old. But the engine came from the previous Queen Aiko, so it is older. Shortly before we passed the first island, there were some strange noises comming from the engine room. Upon investigation, the crew discovered a transmission problem. We limped along to a village with another pump boat, and asked them for a tow. Here is a picture of the Queen Aiko being towed by the CrisJeff2.
This picture was taken on the CrisJeff2. The pretty lady in the back is my wife.
I know this next picture is a little difficult to see, but it was taken through a glass window, down into the engine room of the CrisJeff2. Most pump boat ferries only have one engine, but the CrisJeff2 has two! That really came in handy for towing the Queen Aiko, as there was still lots of power.
Tall Foreigner
09 Dec 2008 2 Comments
in Calbayog City, Travel, Visitor, Welcome Tags: airplane, arizona, Calbayog City, foreigner, Jeff, PAL Express, Sabang Airport, tall, turbo prop, Visitor
We have a visitor from Arizona! Jeff came to visit my wife’s sister. We met him at the Sabang Airport in Calbayog City. Here is a picture of his plane, a PAL Express turbo prop.
This was their first time to meet in person.
Jeff is 6′ 2″ tall. As you can see by this next photo, Height has some disadvantages, here, in the Philippines. I’m glad I’m only 5′ 4″!
But seriously folks, Jeff is a real nice guy, and we are glad to welcome him to the Philippines!
Mail to the Phils
08 Dec 2008 3 Comments
in Holidays, Mail Tags: cash, Christmas, expensive, Express Mail, FedEx, Holiday, LBC, Mail, packages, philippines, Postal Service, save, tracking system, UPS, USPS
Christmas is almost here, and it’s getting late for sending packages. But I just wanted to share some information that I just recieved.
As many of you already know, the postal system here is not safe! I have heard many stories about people’s letters and packages never making it to their destination. First, and foremost, NEVER SEND CASH! For some reason, some people still send cash to their families in the Philippines. And then they wonder why it didn’t make it. Duh!!!
Sending by a service, such as LBC, FedEx, or UPS is pretty reliable, but it’s expensive. The secret to their success is the tracking system, which discourages theft. You can save money by using the US Postal Service’s Express Mail®, which still has a tracking system. While I have not, yet, had stuff sent to me this way, I have recently gotten good reports from others who have. So, if anyone wants to send me a package, give Express Mail® a try. Here is a link to the USPS Express Mail® tracking website: http://www.usps.com/shipping/trackandconfirm.htm.
Running for water
06 Dec 2008 2 Comments
in National Highway, Poverty Tags: Almagro, Calbayog City, Catbalogan, fetch water, filipinos, hand pumps, luxery, National Highway, philippines, poor, Poverty, running water, water containers
Most people, who are not living in poverty, take many things for granted. One of those things is running water. You may have heard, or read, about a time when people used to have to go out and fetch water, but have you ever had to do it yourself? When I was a child, growing up on a farm, we had to carry buckets of water to the animals, but at least we had running water in the house. Many of the worlds poor, including in the Philippines, don’t have such a luxury. Even my house on the Island of Almagro does not have running water, except that someone goes running to get the water. Here are some pictures of Filipinos getting water from hand pumps. Notice the plastic containers they use. Looks like a gasoline can from an old jeep. If you’re lucky, you can buy containers that origionally contained cooking oil. You have to wash them a few times, with soap, then you can use them for water. Each container carries 20 litres, or 4 metric gallons.
These photos were taken along the National Highway between Calbayog City and Catbalogan.
Drying fire wood
05 Dec 2008 Leave a Comment
in National Highway, Poverty Tags: charcoal, coconut, cooking, drying, fires, LPG, National Highway, philippines, Poverty, samar, wood
While I’m still on the subject of drying things, let’s talk about cooking. In the Philippines, and especially in Samar, many people can not afford a nice kitchen. The lucky ones have an oven with stovetop using LPG, a mixture of propane and butane. Next level down doesn’t have an oven, just an LPG stovetop. That’s where I’m at right now. Don’t really want an oven here anyways, as it gives off too much heat. The rest of the people make some kind of cooking fire. I have seen both charcoal, made from coconut shells, and wood fires. We will talk about coconut shells a different time. Today I want to show a couple of pictures of how people dry their wood for cooking fires.
This picture shows a Filipino style wood stack. First the bark is removed and the wood is split. Then the pieces are piled in such a way that air can get between them, and they are left to dry.
In this next picture, the person did not bother with piling the wood, and just spread the pieces out on the cement.
These pictures were taken along the National Highway between Calbayog and Catbalogan.
Drying Rice on Highway
04 Dec 2008 Leave a Comment
in Agriculture, National Highway, Poverty Tags: Agriculture, drying, farmers, humid, National Highway, philippines, Poverty, product, rice, rice dryers, samar, tropical
Rice is an important agricultural product of Samar. It grows very well in this humid, tropical environment. But drying the rice is another story. Every year, too much rice is spoiled before it ever gets dry. Recently the Philippines government gave away many rice dryers to poverty stricken rice farmers, in an attempt to prevent such waste, but there are still many smaller rice farmers who don’t have a proper way to dry their rice. What do they do? They buy a cheap tarp, and dry their rice along the side of the road, or anywhere else they can. Here are some photographs from my recent trips to Catbalogan, showing rice drying along the National Highway in Samar.
Drying Clothes in Samar
03 Dec 2008 Leave a Comment
in National Highway, Travel Tags: clothes, drying, National Highway, philippines, samar
Even in America, it is common to see people hanging their clothes out to dry…when the weather is nice. But when the weather is bad, most people have access to an electric/gas dryer. Either they own one, or there is a self searve laundry mat with one. In the Philippines, things are very different. I have yet to see a real clothes dryer, except at the commercial laundry facilities, which most Filipinos can not afford. When the weather is bad, you either wear your clothes dirty, or wash them and hang them up indoors. It’s very humid here, though, so clothes really need to be put into the heat of the sun, or they don’t really get dry, and they start to smell musty. On my last trip to Catbalogan the weather had just cleared up, and there were lots of people hanging out their clothes to dry. Here are some pictures people drying their clothes along the National Highway. Notice on the fanciest house, some of the clothes are just put on the metal roof to dry.
