Life In The Province

I’ve only stayed in Biliran now for a couple months so far. Not really enough time to know it all, but still enough time to get acquainted with the immediate area of the barangay and the people. I would have included pictures, but just click this link for far better pics than I took. www.biliran.com

The setting is my girlfriend Mary’s house. It’s a wooden dwelling consisting of a living room, one bedroom, and a huge dining/kitchen area. Her parents have their bed in the space of the dining room, but it’s still in it’s own area. There is also a kitchen area semi-outside where the cooking is done over open flame fueled by various wood collected. All the floors are dirt except for the living room. The roof is corrugated metal and the structure made from coconut lumber and various sheathing material. The inside walls are not finished nor is the outside. Although it is for the most part water tight, it is definitely not airtight. This is ok since there is no air-conditioning. Electric fans are in every room.

The electrically powered devices they have consist of a stereo and karaoke system with a TV, a toaster oven, electric skillet, a large refrigerator, and a clock. Each room has one single fluorescent light. Of course there are multiple cell phone chargers.

The bathroom is in another building about three feet out the kitchen door. It is about ten feet by eight feet. It consist of a toilet and the water hose that continuously fills a large plastic container. The runoff simply runs out of the building into the yard and ultimately into the gutter. The reason for this is that the water is supplied by a natural spring. A seven stage filter makes this water safe and is probably the best tasting water I ever drank.

The house is about eight-hundred square feet I guess. It sits in a lot about one hundred twenty feet square. Inside this lot there are also the houses of two of her brothers. These two houses are each very basic bamboo shacks with dirt floors and elevated sleeping areas. Each about fifteen feet square. One has a small sari-sari store attached. There is also a pig sty and a water trough for the cow. At the time I was there, there were two sows with their piglets tied up under trees at two separate corners of the property and three pigs in the sty. Chickens ran loose throughout. A cock or two would be tied at times. These would be the ones for fighting. Each house in the province has a covered porch. This tends to be the social area when company comes.

The barangay itself has about a thousand people. The two main roads are paved and most the houses are just off these. Few more are scattered towards the rice fields. The barangay is about a twenty minute walk to the sea or a five minute drive. It’s elevation is about six hundred feet and is about three miles from the mountains. There are a few sari-sari stores and a church. Downtown Biliran is a five minute drive.

During the day, the men are off to the rice fields, the children in school, and the women are doing their daily chores. Small children are abundant and usually playing happily close to wherever mom is. Dogs and other animals lay around lazily in the shade. Lolos can be seen sitting on porches or tending their gardens. Music can be heard from most the houses and occasionally a TV. The only traffic is the occasional motorcycle taking someone into town.

Late afternoon, after the children are home and the men return from the rice fields the barangay comes to life. The older kids will be training their fighting cocks and the younger ones toying around with whatever they come across. I brought back some large lengths of blue rubber bands that I used as tie downs on my motorcycle, they were just less than an inch wide. I later found bungee cords so was going to discard the lengths of rubber. One of the boys asked for them, so I let him have them all. The next day I noticed practically every little boy had a sling shot made from a Y shaped tree branch with blue rubber bands.

Taking a walk down the street you will find where the caribou are tied. There were four medium size caribou and one skinny cow. A small shaded pond about two or three feet deep was in the center of a clearing of trees. The children would play with the caribou like ATVs. Getting on them and riding them through the mud and up and down the hillsides. Sometimes three or four kids at a time on the backs, with one falling off every so often. The caribou actually seemed to enjoy the exercise.

There are two different locations of basket ball courts. During the day they are used for drying rice, then afternoons they are filled with kids. No slam dunking going on, but they played very well actually. There are almost always games going on when it’s not raining.

Mary’s family has a beach house, about a six hundred square foot open room, five minutes away. It is completely screened in and has two large bathrooms. It has electricity and running water. It sits on a concreter dock with steps going right into the sea. During low tide I could walk out fifty yards into the sea before the water was deep enough to get my shorts wet. The water was crystal clear and almost warm. The ocean floor was littered with star fish and you could see them clearly fifty feet away. We regularly would hunt crabs, snails, and clams here since they are my favorite sea foods. The entire area is shaded by a mountain so sun block was not needed, even for my very white body. The property from the road to the sea, about an acre, was well groomed and even had picnic tables. It’s all fenced with a locking gate. A concrete slab is there where a house once set. (Yes, I have an idea...)

As evening approaches, most families are having their dinner. Rice of course is served daily along with side dishes of self grown vegetables and either a rice or pork dish. After dinner time the vendors would walk the street selling various snacks including of course the balut. The sounds of bad karaoke starts to fill the air and adults gather in their porches or in some gazebo type places throughout the barangay. They enjoy drinking mostly the home made coconut wine. The teenage girls would walk around in groups and the boys would make cat calls. It all slowly winds down as darkness approaches. Especially during the weeknights, the barangay will grow silent a couple hours after sunset. The dogs go on full alert and will now bark and growl at any intruder to their property. The streets become deserted and the people are indoors.

Nighttime is peaceful silence with only the sounds of insects and the occasional dog. The morning sun and the roosters announce a new day and life goes on in the barangay.

Bud

Thank you for sharing that portrait...I enjoyed reading it.

Not a mongering report but sure was a fun read. During one of my trips to Mindanao, I spent a day on a small island beach that was very similar to the beach you described. The number and variety of starfish in that clear water was amazing. The ones with the iridescent blue sheen especially impressed me. And the barangay you described -- well, thanks for the memories.

VERY interesting. We rarely get such detailed descriptions of where our girls come from. This gives me a little taste of what to expect if I actually do go visit Chona's family on that small island off the north tip of Mindinao.

How are YOU adapting to what must be a very different living situation? And why? What do you do about making love with your girl, with all those people around?--do like the natives and ignore them?

Really fantastic post. You are experiencing a life few of us know anything about. Was there an earlier report about how you ended up at this place? How long do you plan on staying there?

Tight Fit -- I don't know but perhaps the right question has something to do with when the statute of limitations expires...

I ended up in the province because I got bored off my ass living in Angeles City. Only so many times I could go into the bars before it became very routine. I was ending up spending most my time going to places like Puerto Galera just to relax at the beach. Also the fact that I have met the girl that I'm always out looking for. She is my sexual fantasy in every respect and we get along perfectly. I know I know, here we go again...



As far as the life style. Well once I get the satalite TV and internet going I will have basically all I actually enjoyed in the USA. I'm living here for less than $120 a month for daily life. The funnest things to do here are free, beach, mountains, waterfalls, and just doing things with the locals. Excursions to Cebu cost about $60 for both of us via the big slow boat and taking along my motorcycle. Tacloban is 3 hours away and has the McDonald's, malls, and pretty much anything else one could expect in a big city. $20 gives us plenty for a full day. Resorts there are quite nice and within a couple hours, plus they are very reasonable.

Privacy is not a problem. The family knows the score, literally. Soon we will have our own place, probably there on the beach house property. This will take about a $3,000 investment for a semi-USA standard house. The biggest thing to get used to is the constant shit eating grin on my face. Another beauty of it all is the fact that if it all goes to shit, I can simply pack up and do the old "fuck the bitch, I'll buy another" routine.

Bud

All I can say is WOW. You're living the fantasy.

Good work.

Ain't MY fantasy, for damn sure, but I hope you continue to enjoy it. Send us an update in a couple of months and let us know how you are enjoying it.

Bigballs wtf man now I know where you been.

Ahora, I lost my camera! Email me some of those pics we took! You a wild man!!!

mongering1@yahoo.com


Bud

(Message edited by bigballs on August 27, 2005)

Ok I will do that asap

"Ain't MY fantasy, for damn sure"

lol--Aint a bad way to spend a few weeks...

BB, loved the report dude. I've considered doing it myself IF I had a mil or so tucked away.

Anyway, if anyone cares to check out my Mary, well I can't bring myself to post her pic on a mongering site... However, you can check out her profile on www.2matchu.com her ID there is maryjoys.

Bud

Bud, excellent post. Live it up there, man. I promise I won't tell anyone about how y'all do it in the shower for privacy.

Mary is a super sweet girl. We had a great time a few days with porker Mary bud me and my girl. Best part is when we almost kicked some asshole military guys ass in a kareoke bar lol

shit-- robofool musta been with ya ?

Bud, like 2matchu isn't full of hos'?

2matchu gets me through my ppd, love the webams. It's also nice way to get some back ups. I look at it like this, can get most of my interviewing done here so I can have a hit list when I roll into town, or just have them come to me wherever I am. So far it's worked out about 90%.

Bud

Bud,
Best of luck to you, sure it beats the Vegas heat.
I'm making my first trip to AC within the week, can't wait.

cheers
kj

KJ, I been waiting and waiting for you to make that trip! I'll message you my cell number when I get a new sim card. You can be my excuse for coming up to AC!

Bud

iam moving to the philippines in the newyear
can anyone give me info on internet at home and
cost. thanks steve.

Steve, you need to be more specific. What location, desired speed, dsl or cable. Cost range from about $10 dial up to over $100 for cable modem with all the TV channels. I haven't all the details for my area yet, but so far it's looking just under $20 for internet and another $20 for satalite TV. When I lived in AC, my combined cable bill with 512 internet was about $110. I did NOT go with the lowest price. DSL with phone ended up about the same. Again, I didn't go with lowest price. All prices in US currency.

Bud