Today had an interesting beginning. After a breakfast of oatmeal and chickpea filled sweet bread, my compatriot and I decided to get a little game of badminton on. I’d have to say my game needs some major work, but it was a still a good time. Smashing the ‘shuttlecock’ is a great satisfaction. Then we decided to go for a swim in the ocean. So we gathered a couple of snorkels/masks and headed out to check the sights under the sea. Bright purple starfish and multi-colored fish were everywhere, and the water was quite clear. Both of us then decided to take the outrigger boat and explore a little further out to sea to see what we could find. However, after lugging the craft into the ocean we soon met with an untimely demise. Part of the rigging snapped off and sent us overboard. We spent the next half hour or so bailing the water out of the craft and hauling the remnants back onto the beach. A couple of local fishermen were watching us, I’m sure they thought we were total idiots. We took a brief nap around lunchtime, although I didn’t do anything but sweat off a couple of pounds.
Later on in the afternoon (after watching Pimp My Ride on MTV Philippines) we went with our host to the local basketball court. Walking through the area I started to get a better sense of the type of conditions I was surrounded by. Families sat outside rickety hats staring at us intently as their farm animals scurried about their business. After a brief walk we came upon the court, a hodgepodge of concrete and wood. At first the local kids were shy and hung off to the side, but as soon as I gestured to one of them that it was fine for them to play they all swarmed to the court. I was surprised at their athleticism, and their knack for picking up on words that we used (Oh yes!). All the kids were wearing sandals, which didn’t seem to be the optimal footwear choice for sporting activities, but they made it work. We rode back in a WWII era Japanese Jeep, I had to hold on tight lest I be thrown off into the gulley.
Sitting for dinner we once again noticed fishermen patrolling the waters with flashlights and spear guns. Dinner consisted of salad and spam type meat with mango for dessert. We saw a huge gecko crawling around the living room, nice touch. I’m still having issues adjusting to the proximity of wildlife. It’s literally everywhere, on the toilet, in my bed, on my food. It’s something totally different from the American exterminate everything attitude, you just have to deal with it here.
-Steven Campbell
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