Life in Marinduque, Philippines

Lightbulbs that work when the power is out? Perfect for Marinduque

2010-06-10T17:12:00.005+08:00

A company called 'Lite-On' is about to release LED-based lightbulbs that look like a traditional incandescent lamp, but have batteries inside that allow them to light for a couple of hours after the power goes out .. sounds perfect for Marinduque doesn't it ?

In more real terms, the best solution I had found to keep my lights (and more importantly, fans) working during a powercut was a 4D truck battery (from the battery shop in Boac), a charger (that came from Raon) and a 'power inverter' (cheapest I could find was from here -> http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.21980) but they're also for sale in Boac, ask at the battery shop.. it's a guy called Eric who sells them. A charged battery will easily keep a fan, energy saving lamps and my laptop going for a day, and a pinch it runs my 32" LCD TV too which is not bad at all!

Congratulations to Congressman Lord Allan Jay Q. Velasco!

2010-05-13T16:14:00.004+08:00

My heartfelt congratulations to Lord Allan Velasco on his election to congress! I know all of Marinduque is behind me in hoping that Mr. Velasco will have the strength to promote Marinduque and bring the island forward!

On a sidenote, my congratulations go to President Benigno Aquino, the newly elected president of the Philippines. It feels like the Philippines is entering a new era, hopefully with increased transparency, clean politics, and a genuine effort for the common good. The Philippines needs to regain it's status as the most prosperous SE Asian economy, and may Marinduque regain it's position as the heart of the Philippines.

new Marinduque photos!

2010-05-13T16:10:00.001+08:00

some new photos of my house in Marinduque .. apparently it's still standing!

I miss Marinduque!

2010-03-07T23:34:00.003+08:00

Anyone who follows this blog will have noticed that I haven't posted anything for 3 months now, so here's an update. The reason for the lack of posting was primarily that I haven't been in Marinduque at all - We visited Malta (my home country) for a holiday and got held up here since Laila wasn't feeling very well. The good news we're having a new addition to the family soon :)

Today I got sent some photos of my house which is still in the process of being completed - We have slowed down work, especially on the finishing, since as I won't be using the place for a while it would be better go get to that stage closer to my return. I'm posting the photos with here.

I really miss Marinduque .. here in Malta it's just work, work, work and everything is so expensive! We don't have powercuts quite as often, the weather in winter is quite cold, I don't have my motorbike to drive around on, the Hotsprings are thousands of kilometres away..

ps. doesn't the staircase look cool ??

Marinduque - Brown Out Capital of the Philippines!

2009-11-11T13:44:00.003+08:00

Although compared to the day on / day off regime during the worst of Marinduque's powercut spell we're living in a brightly lighted heaven now, that isn't to say that there are no powercuts any more ... we had no powercuts yesterday, 2 powercuts (of a couple of hours each) the day before, and there's no power at the moment, for at least 90 minutes now ..

Still, compared to Brazil, Marinduquenos are amateurs!

Brazil Powercuts

in today's news .. a dam providing 17,000 MW, about 20% of the total power in Brazil went offline. The whole of Paraguay (the dam is on the border between Brazil and Paraguay) went off too, though not for as long as Brazil ..

Our lovely Marinduque runs on a puny 7 MW of power .. even my homeland, Malta, which has 1/3 the land area of Marinduque and twice the population, has over 700MW of power generation capability.

I keep on thinking that they can't get it right because they really don't want to!

The current rumours are that though Napocor is, for better or for worse, providing power, there is still no agreement signed between Marelco and Napocor - Marelco seem very intent on flogging their dead horse, the agreement made in 2004 with 3i Powergen .. and meanwhile, the people live in poverty.. so sad!

Smartbro is faster 9 times out of 10 .. not in Gasan!

2009-11-10T13:27:00.002+08:00

I saw this advert on TV this week, and after patiently suffering horrendously slow Smart Bro connections for the past few months, it seemed really funny ..

I haven't had the temerity to run a speedtest, however in Gasan Smart Bro runs over a 2G network, achieving a blinding 50 kilobits / second .. that's worse than my dialup modem back in the 1990s. Coupled with modern websites, it just doesn't work .. GMail doesn't load except in the 'lite' version, and even that takes me 10 mins to log in & check my email. Facebook? forget it! Given 15 minutes of time I can just about load the Google Analytics page to check traffic on this blog.

Are any of you readers in the forgotten areas of the Philippines suffering from the internet divide? (between the haves and the have nots, that is) ..

PLDT told me a while ago that they should be launching ADSL service in Gasan come December, as with everything else in Marinduque i'm adopting a 'won't believe until I see it' and avoiding raising false hopes. It would be so nice to be back online at home!

IHI for 2 pesos, DUMI for 5 pesos .. roll up guys!

2009-11-05T14:10:00.006+08:00

some Santa Cruz funniness .. this sign is near a public latrine, for the non-tagalog speakers, it reads 'Piss' and 'Shit', at 2 pesos and 5 pesos respectively ..

here's a jeepney coming up to Santa Cruz public market ..

Our house in Gasan - building update..

2009-11-04T12:48:00.001+08:00

At the moment work on the house seems to be progressing at a snail's pace - there's a lot being done, but finishing work is probably the most time-consuming work, and some jobs have been held up by miscalculations in materials, which must be shipped over from Lucena - a process which always takes a long time!

That said, the attic room is beginning to take shape - as the photos here show - the ceiling frame and panels are really complicated! Interior painting has been started too, and the bathroom tiling is mostly ready (though currently at a halt because the supplier in Lucena sent the wrong quantities of tiles).

We've had our well dug - it was quite a funny process - and very 'manual' in the filipino style - a pipe was given a pointed end, by cutting out sections with a hacksaw, beating it to a rough point, and welding the edges together. The area behind the tip was then made into a sort of rough filter, by punching holes through the pipe - not with a drill as one might expect, but by hammering a nail through the metal repeatedly! The pipe was then driven into the ground by force of lots of hammering and the occasional twist with a wrench. Incredibly water does come through, and at quite a good rate!

Also, last weekend a surveyor came over (he was meant to come the weekend before, but in the filipino idiom, didn't show up and switched off his mobile phone) and marked out the actual boundaries of the property, so now I can have a fence put up without borrowing bits of my neighbour's property..

An 'orchestral' brass band concert at Santa Cruz, Marinduque

2009-11-02T12:35:00.002+08:00

Lately I have been missing my previous life in Europe - and what I really miss most is the cultural life - concerts, gigs, exhibitions of all sorts are always happening. Here in the Philippines, culture isn't a high priority, and once you're in Marinduque, that feeling is even more pronounced - you can't expect art galleries if there isn't even a cinema or a decent rock club! So, I was really surprised when my significant other told me she was invited to an orchestral concert last Friday, and doubly surprised when the concert turned out to be quite a decent and enjoyable event!

After a long drive we arrived at Santa Cruz - the concert was being held in a 'gym' there - it's probably the largest well lighted hall in the whole of Marinduque, so actually quite a good place. The concert was given by the Mogpog Brass Band (with 30 or more members, i'd say) led by their able conductor, together with a rock-band outfit - guitarist, bassist, keyboardist and drummer. The bass drum guy from the brass band sang vocals on some song, and there was a woman with a really lovely voice .. the names escape me, as I didn't manage to get a copy of the programme .. if you are reading, send an email and i'll update my article!

The first part of the concert was a series of filipino band marches (which to me sounded quite similar to each other ..) followed by a number of american band marches (more of the same, but with the occasional extra flourish). The real performance was the second half of the concert - where a number of popular songs were rendered by the bands, most times with the vocalists - the first one was Evanescence's 'My Immortal', but the style went from samba to 80's (with songs like 'Gold'), all very well rendered!

The ongoing typhoon put a major damper on the proceedings round 9pm, when (in typical Marinduque style) power went out - however the conductor wrapped up the concert by bravely playing one last song in the dark, using only a torch!

So, a very enjoyable evening, and a big bravo to all those involved!

Power in Marinduque for 2 days in a row!

2009-10-16T09:46:00.005+08:00

Yesterday the guys at Marelco amazed the residents of Gasan/Boac by not shutting off power at the customary 5pm shutoff time .. it's 9.51am the day after now, and we still have power! Seems Napocor have installed their new generator on schedule, and are again supplying enough power for the whole island. I've even heard that some residents have become allergic to electric light after 6pm and are actually keeping the lights off :)

I think Marelco is direly in need of a change in top management - they have failed Marinduque badly, and I think it's high time the people responsible resign. The sensible solution seems to be to close once and for all the failed 3i Powergen contract, and maybe sue them for damages, and hand the power generation duties back to Napocor, who seem to want the contract, and definitely have the means to supply power. I'd go as far as saying that the island urgently needs new administration in general - it's a small place, and still the top brass seems very distant from the daily life and needs of Marinduqenos. Maybe some fresh candidate, with some experience as a CEO could turn the island around.

My voice has no weight though, best I can do is wait and see what happens!

Blaze Brute 150 motorcycle review - Marinduque biking

2009-10-13T09:04:00.007+08:00

Here's a little review of a motorbike I bought to get myself mobile. Here in Marinduque, a bike is probably the best form of personal transport - it's economical and the roads are reasonably safe - nobody really goes fast and there isn't too much traffic. After shopping around a bit, I almost bought a Kawasaki Wind 125, a nice bike at 59,000php but finally settled on a Blaze Brute 150 for a few reasons - firstly the cheaper price (hard bargaining got it down to 45,000php), bigger engine (same BHP but at lower revs than the Kawasaki), electric start, and generally nicer (ie. more retro) styling. The only obvious minus compared to the Kawasaki was having a drum brake and not a disc brake in the front, but that's not really a problem.

The first bike was returned to the agent very quickly - it had a leaky fuel tank - fill it up with petrol, and it goes pouring onto the engine, not very safe. The agents here, Starbike, are really nice guys. They replaced my first bike with a totally new one, and have been very helpful in fixing all the gremlins in the 2nd one .. When it comes to gremlins, Blaze is king! On their website Blaze proclaim themselves to be a filipino company, and it shows. The bike is really chinese, but may be assembled in the philippines. The basic design is OK, the assembly is .. uhmm ... lacking! The total list of faults on my 2nd bike were : faulty starter switch, headlamp at the wrong angle (making it very dangerous at night), a wonky fuel gauge that would let you run out of petrol while merrily showing more than half a tank, a rev counter that jumps from 6000rpm to 10000rpm without any major change in engine speed or road speed, and just about everything was loose. In Starbike's defence, they have rectified all these problems (except the one with the rev counter, I didn't mention that one, and I think that having a bike without at least one gremlin will make it not filipino enough .. and also I have a feeling that if I fix that one, something else will come up ..).

With the problems fixed, the bike is actually quite nice to ride. Compared to the Kawasaki it's NOISY .. and it vibrates a lot. This is partially due to the bike's design - it seems it was designed for tricycles, so it has the following 'not so useful' features .. it's on 4 springs/shock absorbers at the rear, so it feels a bit like riding on a stone - i'm contemplating removing 2 of the shocks to afford a softer ride - and the rear sprocket wheel is enormous, with 52 teeth. On 5th gear (the bike has 5 gears, and quite a nice gearbox actually) it does 10km/hr for every 1000 rpm (that is until the rev-counter becomes wonky and you're doing 11,000rpm at 70km/hr). At normal cruising speed, 50-60km/hr here, the engine is trying to tear itself off its mounts. I'm trying to get myself a rear sprocket wheel with 42 teeth, to gear the whole thing a bit higher, but it's not a part you can buy off the shelf here in Marinduque, and the agent is quoting a 2 month delivery time. The noisiness is partly due to the engine being a bit rough, and also due to having a very small silencer. There are plus points though, the 150cc engine pulls like a beast, and because of the really low gearing, once you're in top gear there's hardly ever a reason to downshift (it can pick up again from 10km/hr in top gear with surprising power). Economy is not bad either - the tank is quite big - a full tank yesterday cost me 510 pesos, which at the current price is over 11 litres - and a full tank goes forever. I think it's doing about 50km/liter or maybe a bit less, but I haven't worked it out accurately yet. Compared to the underbones which seem to be the order of the day here it has a much more macho look .. it's a proper 'big' bike, quite heavy, and stable at speed (if you call 70km/hr speed, that is). I'm a big guy and I think on a little underbone i'd look a bit sissy. Also, it's built like a tank - strong and simple. Anything can be taken apart with a few spanners,and the construction of the bike seems like it's built to last.

There is precious little information about the Blaze Brute 150 on the internet - the company website seems to be partially complete (or partially incomplete, depending how you see it) and classifies the Brute as an underbone, which makes the rest of the technical information look suspicious.

Some additional info :
i've calculated the exact mileage the motorbike is giving me .. it's taken 10.11 litres of petrol for 347 Km, about 34.3 Km/litre. That's not very good, considering that most of my riding is done in very little traffic (this is Marinduque after all), and on paved roads which are mostly flat with very little hills here. My average riding speed is 50-60Km/hr, above 70Km/hr the engine of the bike is really stressed due to the mentioned very low gear ratios. I am hoping that once I get the rear sprocket changed mileage will improve, however finding a part is proving almost impossible - it's been ordered at the agent for close on 6 weeks now, and they have no idea when it will be delivered. 26-10-2009

Powercuts, construction,and general thoughts ..

2009-10-12T22:07:00.004+08:00

It's been a while since I posted photos of my 'work in progress' house in Quatiz, so here are a few ..

this one is the ceiling under the awning of the roof at the front edge, almost done (it's actually totally ready today - photos are a few days old)

and the interior ceiling in the bedroom

a slightly lower shot showing the granite tiles ..

higher shot with more ceiling ..

this is the 'glass block wall' that separates the main bedroom from the living room, from the bedroom it's west facing, and it gets the sunset beautifully! (there is the large front door opposite)

the wooden ceiling frames

Since these photos were taken, all the granite tiling has been done, the ceiling frames and ceilings are done too, and there is a lot of little plastering going on. Next jobs are the front and rear fences (made of concrete, with wood gates, to resist seawater corrosion!) and tiling the terrace area. Plumbing in the bathroom is done, what's left is the tiling and putting everything together .. i'm beginning to see the light at the end of the tunnel!

The french windows are a bit behind schedule - the carpenter is complaining he can't work because of the continuous powercuts, and I do not blame him. I am trying to get hold of a generator large enough to power his tools - the one we have at the site currently (and running almost all the time) is only a 1.5 kVA model, and can power the angle grinder, or the planer, or a couple of power drills, but that's all .. still it's a godsend and without work would have ground to a halt!

Today there was a very successful mass rally to show Marelco that the people of Marinduque are very unhappy with the crisis with electrical power. It has been suggested that Napocor resume where they left off in 2004 and take over power generation for this island - I think that would be a great solution as a national company like Napocor surely has the resources necessary to succeed where 3i Powergen, the private company meant to be supplying power to Marinduque but actually doing nothing, failed miserably. There is still no end in sight to get the actual problems solved, but the word around is that by the end of October power should be back to 'normal' (what 'normal' is here is debateable .. one powercut a month would be a great achievement! - but I think that's more than what is expected here!)

Fire in Gasan Public Market, Dili - Marinduque

2009-10-04T01:57:00.009+08:00

After a relatively early night enforced by yet another 'brown-out', I was woken up midnight-ish by what sounded like a very badly organised marching band .. it wasn't a dream - the sound didn't go away and after a while I decided to investigate.
Looking outside I could see a bright orange glow in the sky, and the tops of the tallest palmtrees were clearly illuminated. The Gasan Public Market had somehow caught fire.

I didn't have my camera handy (left it in Tabi) and the video camera only had enough power for a couple of shots, but here's one anyway.

The public market was totally destroyed - most of poblacion's populace was at the scene, together with fire engines from Gasan and even Buenavista. People could be seen desperately trying to salvage stock from the stores at the fringes of the fire. Incredibly even the central
fish/meat market area, which consists mostly of concrete tables seemed to be on fire.

It seems nobody was hurt, fire engines turned up promptly, and the fire did not spread beyond the central market area ie. the surrounding shops are unharmed. Let's hope the market can be rebuilt - it's my first destination every morning at 6am for a dalawang portion of lugaw.

I'll post more photos as soon as i'm properly online ..

Marelco, Marelco .. where art thou!

2009-09-29T10:22:00.003+08:00

Following the great powercut at the end of last week, it seems that power generation on Marinduque is reduced to 3MW or so, about half the required demand - for that reason the friendly folk at Marelco (Marinduque Electrical Cooperative) have decided to divide the island into East (Sta. Cruz, Torrijos) and West (Boac, Gasan, Buenavista) and give us power on alternating days - power gets restored at around 6pm, and cut again 6pm the next day - it's been like this for a few days now, and it makes life really difficult.

Yesterday I was driving past the Marelco main office, and I noticed their 'vision', painted in large letters near to the entrance gate - I took a photo for amusement purposes, i'm not sure if this 'vision' statement is meant to be humourous, sarcastic, sad .. These are the guys that have managed to screw up an agreement made in 2004 to the point that it's impossible to keep a few lights on, and anyone with a business has to keep a generator going!

Electrical Power Outages 'brownouts' in Marinduque

2009-09-24T07:56:00.002+08:00

A few days ago, blogger Eli Obligacion, on his blog 'Marinduquegov', published a very informative article about the reasons behind the frequent power outages here in Marinduque read

From what i'm gathering there was a major failure at the power barge on the night of Sept 22nd, and there has been no power since yesterday. I'm running on generator at the moment, but can't keep it up forever - petrol is quite expensive, and the generator consumes quite a lot!

It is pretty obvious at this point that the reasons behind the problem are almost purely political - it seems that in 2004 the Marinduque Electrical Cooperative (Marelco) decided to ditch Napocor's services and engage a 3rd party power provider - this company (referred to as 'NPP' - new power provider) never did anything, and now, 5 years later, the problem has degenerated to the point where it is causing severe economic hardship to the inhabitants of Marinduque - tourism cannot take off, and the island seems stuck in the 1990's.

Napocor (national power corporation) at this point are washing their hands - seems that Marinduque brought the problem on itself - Napocor say, rightly, that the powerbarge was only meant to be a temporary solution - that it's ageing and beginning to fail (as we are experiencing) and that it cannot be expanded to cope with increased power demand.

And what about the bigwigs at the capitol? it seems they are enjoying their airconditioned offices.. the capitol is well known as the only area of Marinduque that doesn't suffer regular powercuts. Seems pen-pushing is considered more important that any other activity on this island, and all that pen-pushing isn't helping at all when it comes to solving Marinduque's greatest problem - unreliable electric supply!

addendum:
this post didn't get posted yesterday because my generator decided to pack up before I managed to - turns out it was a problem with the carburettor float, and it was getting flooded - anyway - in Boac later, Marelco sent a van round with speakers on top repeating a message blaming Napocor for the lack of power. The consensus was that we were going to be with no electricity for at least a month, probably till November! Actually power in Gasan was restored late in the evening, so the total outage was about 36 hours or so. I really think that Marelco blaming Napocor, or even sending vans around blaming people, will not help the situation. Someone needs to stand up and get things going - it's been 5 years since the current failed agreements were signed, for pete's sake, something needs to be done!

Butterfly farming

2009-09-05T10:37:00.000+08:00

On our way to a visit to the waterfalls, we passed numerous small butterfly farms, and stopped at one to take some photos. South boac is prime butterfly territory, and butterflies, both wild and reared in captivity, abound.

Beautiful examples of Pachliopta aristolochiae (Common Rose Butterfly) feeding.

This Hypolimnas bolina butterfly perched on my glasses .. it's also known as 'The Great Egg Fly' .. silly name, but it's not my fault ..

This one, in flight, is known as Idea Leuconoe or the Paper Kite butterfly .. it flies with leisurely wing flaps, and is a rather large butterfly.

This is a 'Parthenos sylvia', also known as a Clipper butterfly .. difficult to take a photo of since it's constantly in motion.

some more photos of the same species ..

I forget which one these caterpillars belong to ..

but this one definitely belongs to the kite wing

some pupae too .. the one with the gold flecks is the Kite Wing, the others ... mm .. forgot!

A trip to the waterfalls in South Boac

2009-09-03T11:01:00.000+08:00

Monday, 31st August, was the last day of ramadan, and even here in very christian Marinduque, it's a day off .. together with my good friend Francis and his family, we organised a trip to the waterfalls that are inland at the very southern tip of the Boac region. Getting there takes a bit of doing - there's a car ride over some rather rough country paths, followed by around an hour of hiking to get to the falls proper. It's well worth the effort, though, the countryside is very much unspoilt, and dotted with butterfly farms - this area is prime butterfly territory, and butterflies are everywhere - and the falls themselves are very beautiful, with clean cold water to swim in!

we stopped at this sari sari store, and the owner even brought us pomelo (pink grapefruit) .. as usual the people of Marinduque excel in their friendliness and warmth

these are tokay gecko eggs, glued to the ceiling of a small cavern

this is the waterfall we went to see .. the pool right beneath the waterfall is quite deep, and the water is nice and cold, and very clean

the kids had a great day too!

after hiking back to the car, we took a couple of photos of the pristine Marinduque countryside

Laila, Mito and I ..

and our great friends Francis, Nurissa and their daughter, Maelee.

Mito and his crush :)

on arriving back in Gasan, we stopped at an eatery for a very nice supper of pork with crackling

so .. a very pleasant end to ramadan .. i'd recommend a trip to the waterfalls to anyone visiting Marinduque!

Filipino Childrens' Day - Little Stars Preschool presentation

2009-09-01T10:34:00.005+08:00

Filipino Childrens' Day was on the 29th August, Little Star, the school Mito goes to, put on a show where the children could sing and recite, while wearing traditional costumes from different parts of the Philippines. Mito was wearing the white and red Visayan costume.

good kids even clear up when they are ready ;)

what has red and white spots, and doesn't like being photographed?

2009-09-01T10:32:00.008+08:00

these are my best photos yet of a tokay gecko, taken at the clubhouse/restaurant at the Marinduque Hotsprings, during another pleasant evening of dipping and dining!

the gecko escaped, and packed himself into the decorative bamboo wall covering - unhappily for the guy, the bamboo didn't lead anywhere. Here Mr. Tokay exhibits his cavernous mouth, he's probably thinking 'I kill you' (actually he's really angry at the camera flash) ..

Construction update photos.

2009-09-01T10:30:00.006+08:00

further work going on at the site .. the roof substructure is almost done, the horizontal bars are what the roof panels will be bolted onto.

this is the view from the right side of the house (kitchen and 2nd bedroom windows)

taken on a separate day, the wall of the living room, including apertures is now in place..

this is the view from the kitchen looking into the living room

and the rear on the house, with the substructure for the attic dormer window in place

and a front view - the vertical bits welded under the roof edges are supports for the gutters, the front is being plastered ..

Ms Gasan - Final Night - Lots more photos of beautiful filipinas!

2009-08-20T10:07:00.005+08:00

Last night (19th August) was the big night for the Gasan 400 year celebration pageants, with the final pageant for the Ms. Gasan beauty contest .. it started with a bang - a few bangs actually - nice fireworks!

.. but we went there for the girls not the fireworks really ;) here is my personal favourite, she placed as 2nd runner up (which equates to 4th overall) ..

this is the 'modern philippine dress' section .. I didn't know modern filipinas dressed this way, but there's always something new to learn!

contestant number 8, here, actually won the contest and the title of Ms. Gasan 400 ..

and here is the winner of the 'Miss Gasan Tourism' title ..

together with the unofficial winner of Miss Gasan - Sexiest Derriere 2009
(and also the 1st runner up in reality ..)

The swimsuit defile' involved 10 girls aggressively removing their sarongs, to reveal the same terrible bikinis from the bikini show at the Hotsprings a couple of days ago.. maybe for the 500th anniversary they'll find something a bit nicer!

Evening gown is obviously the crowning point of the evening ..

our contestant came well prepared for one of the famous Marinduque 'brown-outs'

the 2nd and 1st runner ups, holding their prizes

There's a much more complete gallery on my facebook account, it can be accessed here :
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=102356&id=637233806&l=a477d1b5ab

Malbog Sulphuric hotsprings - Buenavista

2009-08-20T08:44:00.005+08:00

A short visit to the Malbog Hotsprings in Buenavista - the first thing that literally hits you in the face is the smell of hydrogen sulphide - a homely smell of rotten eggs - the Malbog Hotsprings are volcanic in origin, and hydrogen sulphide is a common gas where sulphur and heat are present.

Getting to the springs themselves is slightly difficult - the road leading to the springs' entrance is not paved, and at one place one has to ford a stream. The car made it, and we survive to tell the tale!

First photo is the main pools - the water isn't actually hot at all and seemed to be at ambient temperature. The circular cistern in the background bubbles with gas constantly, however the swimming pools seem to be more still.

This little spring also bubbles gas constantly, and yet again the water was not even tepid ..

the sky was looking gloriously ominous ..

I guess this acacia was struck down by lightning - it looks really nice now that it has been converted into a sort of flowerpot

this is the bottom of one of the pools - many bright colours due to the deposits of sulpher, and i'm not sure what causes the blue (copper maybe? copper sulphate is blue ..) .. quite a 'primeval soup' type of image ..

Ms. Gasan .. beautiful filipinas!

2009-08-19T10:53:00.003+08:00

Another activity to celebrate 400 years of Gasan .. 'Miss Gasan' .. the swimsuit part is definitely the most interesting, and apart from the terrible swimsuits that must be old stock from the 1920's (with padded brassieres too!) it was fun to watch. As I happened to be carrying a 'nice' camera (actually a creaky Canon EOS 300d) I was allowed to stand in with the photographers, so I got some pretty good shots! The location here is the Marinduque Hotsprings, in Buenavista, one of my favourite haunts around Marinduque.

here's a link to the album on Facebook with the complete photoshoot, including the photos from Ms. Gaysan ..

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=102356&id=637233806&l=a477d1b5ab

Ms Gaysan - Gasan 400 year celebration - gay pageant

2009-08-19T10:42:00.004+08:00

Gasan is celebrating 400 years since the town was founded, and one of the activities organised by the local council was this gay parade, called 'Search for Miss Gaysan' .. I haven't managed to work out if it was meant to promote gayness, make fun of gayness, or just provide some mass light entertainment. What is sure is that the contestants seem to have taken it quite seriously! For some reason a good percentage of the Gasan male population is gay .. lesbians (which are far more interesting if you ask me ;p) don't make a showing though ..

the initial defile'

costumes ..

this shot is from the 'talent' section .. this particular guy had a monkeyish talent!

and finally .. the swimsuit contest ..

the crowd present was enormous, and everyone seems to have had a great time! We left before the evening gown show - Miss Gaysan was run simultaneously with a dance contest of sorts - rather boring stuff with lots of kids dancing out routines to hip hop, with bits of Michael Jackson thrown in for good measure, for some reason where it comes to music black american culture is the most popular here - it was past midnight by the time the swimsuit defile' ended, and we needed to wake up at 5.30am as usual, to get the kid to school.

Marinduque Provincial Hospital - Photos

2009-08-19T10:30:00.005+08:00

I couldn't find any photos of the Marinduque Provincial Hospital on Google, so here are a few should anyone ever need to see this 'lovely' building!

Construction update - 2nd week August

2009-08-19T10:21:00.006+08:00

the roof trusses are more and more complete, the doubled up trusses on the front are there because the bottom links were removed to allow the area above the kitchen and living room to be open all the way to the roof (and not have an interior ceiling ie)

wooden form for the extended deck ..

working on the trusses, precariously ..

the deck - with steel bars in place

partly concreted .. the doubled up bars at the ends transfer the cantilever load of the deck extension onto the beam that is supported by the foundations.

seiving sand .. by hand .. the wooden assembly allows the seive to be swung

the concrete deck, now complete and set (a couple of days later)

painting roof trusses with red lead, they will be painted again with red lead primer, and then gloss finish paint in situ.

Meanwhile, the granite and ceramic tiles, glass blocks, bathroom set have been ordered and should be delivered from Lucena. The roof gutter should be delivered today, and the rest of the roof material early next week. more photos will follow then!

Garden wildlife ..

2009-08-19T09:32:00.003+08:00

I took these photos one night while looking around the garden with a torch ..

this is the light under our porch, with a 'constellation' of red ants around it .. these buggers really nip!

a yellow frog .. I picked this guy up and he squirted water at me .. seemed VERY pissed off!

and a smaller frog of a different species .. great attitude!

one of the many crabs that live in our garden, the first image shows the hole they dig as a hideout .. this one seems to have a pincer missing

and this friendly little guy was crawling across our front doorstep .. I think it's some sort of freshwater hermit crab, looks quite similar to the sea version though ..

little brother ;)

Beautiful & Colourful fish at the Gasan fish market

2009-08-19T09:27:00.002+08:00

I don't have the faintest idea what species the fish are, but they looked cool! The colours are natural, as they came off the camera ..

Mogpog (Sunrise)

2009-08-10T09:57:00.006+08:00

a lovely view on the road to Mogpog .. very early to get the fast ferry to Lucena on time ..

islands in the bay near Mogpog

one of the ancient ferries that does the Mogpog (Balanacan Port) to Lucena (Dalahican Port) trips .. if you look carefully there are japanese names painted over beneath the newly painted filipino names .. i'd guess these ferries were scrapped in Japan a while ago ..

can't say the view isn't wonderful though!

our favourite power outage generator ..

and the friendly National Power guys who put their slogans on trashcans!
I think in the meaning of 'excellence' here is used VERY flexibly ..

Panoramic shots taken in Quatiz (Barangay Masiga, Gasan - Marinduque)

2009-08-10T09:08:00.004+08:00

These are some panoramic shots I took near my construction site in Masiga, Gasan. They were taken as multiple shots and then stitched together, the one at the back of the house is over 360 degrees! They are mapped in a cylindrical projection, click the images for versions with much higher resolution (and still a lot lower than the resolution of the original panoramics .. the big one is over 18,000 pixels wide!)

Marinduque electrical power .... aaaarrrrrghhhhh!!!!

2009-08-06T10:30:00.004+08:00

This week powercuts have been continuous, I think on average 8 hours a day there's no power. The news trickling through is that out of 4 generators in Marinduque's floating power-house, only 2 actually work, and powercuts are being scheduled in sequence through the towns in order to reduce the overall power load .. your luck depends on where you live .. areas like the capitol have less powercuts, and unlucky areas like Buenavista get to enjoy the clear and dark night skies (actually this week wasn't even good for stargazing .. a full moon ruins that!)

It doesn't make sense that an island that can run on just a few megawatts of power (I think the average full load consumption is around 6 or 7 MW) is being crippled this way .. The three major issues that keep Marinduque from joining the rest of the world in the 21st century are availability of internet, abysmal healthcare and daily powercuts ..

I really wonder what the powers that be here are doing about the situation - tourists who visit are definitely not prepared for daily outages and candlelit nights - and anyone trying to improve tourist facilities and resorts must be having a really hard time! I'm pretty sure the locals get annoyed too, and it's quite obvious that solving the power problem will give Marinduque a large economic boost that it really needs. The local government needs to be doing a lot more in this respect.

addendum: as if by magic, power went out just as I finished typing this article .. 10.45am .. the generator is low on petrol too - so i'll go buy some petrol - come back - post this .. and go enjoy the great outside!

Marinduque construction update - Roof trusses (33rd day)

2009-08-06T10:21:00.005+08:00

I haven't posted any photos of the construction site in a while - mostly because the memory card in my camera decided to corrupt itself while I was transferring the files to my computer ..

This is the kitchen area, with a filipino-style bench in place, the pipes to the left are where the main distribution board will be fitted (we're even having an ELCB .. something of a first for a house in Marinduque ..). The walls are being plastered, and the mesh of steel bars on the floor is read for the screed to be laid .. the steel bars are there since the floor is resting on embankment/rubble, and will prevent buckling/cracking if the embankment had to subside.

a slight change of plans here - the sea-facing window in the kitchen will now be a bay window, with angled sides ..

roof trusses are going up too, in preparation for the roofing which will probably be done next week.

a better view of what the roof is going to look like ..

and this is our famous gravity-defying architect himself .. a drumroll please and an applause .. for Mr. Francis-Allen Mandita!

Fishy isn't it!

2009-08-06T10:16:00.005+08:00

While visiting our construction site to check on the progress of works, a woman came round with a couple of interesting fish for sale .. just caught!

First one up .. a 2kg tanigue (spanish mackarel)

and another very cool looking fish that I don't know the name of!

The tanigue joined us for supper .. for 300 pesos .. it was a very pleasant evening, I cooked spaghetti marinara (got mussels, some octopus, and dorado from the Gasan market) and the tanigue was barbequeued .. very nice!!

Essential Gadgets for the Geek seeking to live in Marinduque

2009-07-27T15:37:00.003+08:00

Marinduque isn't exactly 'geek-friendly' .. internet access is generally considered an unnecessary luxury, good coffee can't be had for love nor money, and many services the average geek would take for given (eg. electrical power) are very much hit and miss .. After living here for a couple of months, here is my list of what is the bare minimum gadget-wise ..

Item 1. Generator Set

With lengthy powercuts on average 4 times a week, a generator set isn't really an option! The one I have is has a 2 stroke petrol engine, so it's noisy and rather inefficient, however it powers my computers, fans, fridge and a lightbulb when the powers that be fail to provide! I think patchy power-supply is one of the greatest killjoys of living in Marinduque! Funnily enough, it proved impossible to buy a generator in Marinduque .. I was expecting them to be wildly popular, but no, after touring the whole of Boac I found one shop that was meant to have them in stock 'next week', and 2 weeks later, I had to ask a friend to buy me one from Lucena .. such is life!

Item 2. ADSL or wireless internet

If you live in the central Boac area, you are within the ADSL coverage area - the service is expensivish (1000 pesos a month) and not very fast (512 kbits/s) - still it's the best you can have in Marinduque, so take time to relish it. Anywhere else, the only possibility for internet is via one of the 'over mobile network' connection - these are provided by Globe and Smart, however after testing the Globe service I found it totally unuseable. I borrowed a Smart setup (USB modem with built in SIM) and it's a lot more useable. It's still terminally slow! In Gasan, where I need mine, there is only 2G mobile service, so speed is limited to around 50kbits/s - it's like being on a timetravel trip to 1995 and dialup modems, with the only difference being that the internet is still firmly in 2009, and pages take ages to load! Streaming video/youtube etc. are of course totally off the menu!

Item 3. Bialetti Mukka Express + Supply of Coffee
(or at least a Bialetti Mocha espresso)

Good coffee is an essential part of the day - not to the average marinduqueno though! If you want good coffee here, you need to make it yourself. Otherwise, forget it! With amazing forethought, I bought myself a Mukka Express prior to moving to Marinduque. Even in 'modern' Manila, this was no mean feat - it seems that filipino culture doesn't generally include coffee!! A *lot* of digging through the internet (and ebay.ph in particular) revealed that there is actually a Bialetti agent in WakWak village, Manila - Bialetti are Italy's (and hence the world's) number one manufacturer of espresso percolators - same guys also supplied me with a kilo of top notch Saquella ground coffee - and combined with fresh milk in 250ml tetrapaks, i'm a happy camper! For some reason, fresh 'fresh' milk is not available here.

Item 4. Nokia N810

A nokia n810 is not a mobile phone - it's Nokia's not-so-popular 'Internet Tablet', basically a small computer, running a linux-based OS (Maemo) that can do most things a geek would normally want to do, and fit in a pocket at the same time. The n810 has a couple of features that make it really but REALLY useful here in Marinduque - it has a lovely high resolution screen (800x480), extreme battery life (over 7 hours on a charge!) and good built in PDF support. These days my N810 is mainly my ebook device. There are no bookshops of any interest in Marinduque, so if you need something to read, the internet is your friend! A surprising amount of material can be found in PDF format, and this is perfectly comfortable on the N810 since it's so small and compact, and pages can be flipped using the touchscreen. The long battery life comes in handy during the not-infrequent powercuts, and I always have a good supply of reading material at hand on my Nokia!

Item 5. a decent laptop!

I this this one is a bit obvious - something powerful enough to run photoshop and the normal browser stuff is needed - i'm running a Dell Vostro 1310 which I bought from UK which is quite cute, but has terrible battery life (which can be a problem considering the power cuts!)

A prospective geek should also remember to bring enough plug adapters to run the gear! The plug sockets here are in the american style, with no provision for earthing, but running at 240v/60Hz (!) (when there is power, of course!) .. a bit of a safety warning - ELCB's are not common (actually, they are positively rare, i haven't seen one yet!) - and electricity is treated with a very 'if I can't see it, it can't hurt me' attitude in this place. This is the type of plug you can expect here :

cheers!

Moved to Gasan!

2009-07-27T15:17:00.004+08:00

Living in Tabi was getting really tiresome - I had rented the flat initially as an office, and the combination of noise (from cars and tricycles passing by at all hours), very poor design and hygiene (from one place it's possible to look through a hole in the ceiling into a toilet on the level above!) was becoming a bit too much to live with. An 'incident' with a large cockroach was the final straw, and we decided to move .. with a bit of help from our friend Francis, we found this place in Gasan - called FYPS - that's really nice! and that we're renting for practically the same price as the place in Tabi ..

this is the facade, the bit we're living in is to the left, you can see our door and window - the place is very small - just a kitchen/living room, one bedroom, and a bathroom, but it's clean, nicely tiled, the bathroom has a proper flushing toilet and shower (unlike Tabi!) .. and the lawn is a great plus!

the view across the lawn in the evening is wonderful, there is even a hummock between the palmtrees, very very comfy!

wonderful sunsets are included at no extra cost!

there are some downsides - there is no ADSL service in Gasan (according to PLDT 'maybe in 1 year') and although I now have a SmartBRO USB modem, there is no 3G in Gasan, so browsing is restricted to about 50kbits at max, and by today's standards, that is *slow* .. still, compared to Globe service, which is unuseable, with Smart, if you wait at least you get what your websites, so I think it's worth it.

Construction update

2009-07-27T15:01:00.006+08:00

I've been sick these last 2 weeks - had a cold, but a bad one, so there are less photos than usual, and they were taken over a number of days..

here the walls and most of the upper beams are ready..

this photo was taken on the 24th, Friday of the fourth week of construction - it's the first time i'm stepping into the house! This is the view from the living area into the central landing - the small room ahead will be a WC, left and right are the main and 2nd bedroom respectively.

this is the view from the main bedroom - the 'window' to the left connects the bedroom and the living room, and will be built of glass blocks. The tall window ahead is between the bedroom and the narrow (5ft wide) part of the terrace that wraps round, and affords the bedroom seaviews and light.

this is the view looking from the kitchen over the living room and terrace - the beam above is where the living room ends and the terrace starts, and there will be the main door (left) and a large sliding door under it.

the view from within the kitchen - most of the seaview is obscured by the lean-to which the workers built to store cement under ..

a view of the sea-side facade that's starting to make sense - on the left at the back is the main bedroom, the terrace starts near the main bedroom and wraps round to the kitchen on the right, and the living room is in the middle.

and this is the cesspit being built, the inner tank is for sedimentation, the other one for water ..

Electrical Power Supply in Marinduque

2009-07-19T16:38:00.005+08:00

When I first visited Marinduque on a scouting mission, in early May, one of the things I noticed, photographed, and didn't pay any further attention to was a barge anchored at Mogpog (where ferries arrive and depart) that was largish, boxish, and labelled 'Power Barge'. This is the photo.

At the time I hadn't experienced the pleasures of Marinduque mains power supply. Basically, power goes out on average every other day. Powercuts last from a few hours, up to days at times. Longest I've experienced was about 2 days, I think there's a post in this blog complaining about that .. Also powercuts seem to occur for a number of reasons, the most common being rain, lack of rain, lightning strikes, and random. When there actually *is* power, voltage fluctuates between 190-230v, at the low points even the energy saving bulbs start to flicker.

Well, mains power doesn't come from the air, so when we paid our electricity bill this month (surprisingly high!) I enquired, and found out there is a 'schedule' for powercuts, and many times you can know a few hours beforehand. Apparently there isn't enough power to go round, and so powercuts are scheduled as a means of load shedding, possibly to ensure that everybody gets at least a little bit of electrical goodness. I do know that I never spotted a powerstation, or the telltale smoke, when driving around the island, so my naive assumption was that there is an undersea cable to some point on the mainland - not the case!

Apparently Marinduque is what the Philippines calls an 'off grid' region, and that power-barge I spotted is actually the main powerstation for the whole island! Also, it seems the power-barge is owned by the national power company, while the distribution is in the hands of a local (Marinduque ie) cooperative, and the two don't quite see eye to eye. A bit of digging around reveals that the powerbarge houses 4 Diahatsu diesel generators, generating 1.8MW each. As of January 2009, 3 were working. There are a couple of other very small on-land sites (at Boac and Torrijos, apparently) the Boac plant producing 2MW and the Torrijos plant being mostly decommissioned, but having 0.5MW capacity.

That is actually VERY little capacity for an island of this size and population, and I think goes a long way towards explaining why the whole system feels so fragile. In Marinduque's ongoing touristic development, I'd say that power generation is one of the greatest hurdles to overcome. High class resorts are dependent on power for comfort, and it's not easy to explain to your average tourist that power depends on a string and a prayer. I think power must already be high on the agenda of the local government - and any investment into this sector will be rewarded richly with tourism income.

Construction in Marinduque - Day 11 update

2009-07-11T02:30:00.004+08:00

walls are up, the next stage is the roof beams ..

embankment of the foundations is not ready yet though, that will be followed by the beams supporting the internal walls, and then the internal walls to solidify everything ..

the horizontal steel bars are actually supporting the bricks above the window

view from the rear - that's a bedroom and WC window ..

Fishing - Hauling in the nets

2009-07-11T02:00:00.005+08:00

the boat is used to pull the net outwards ..

this is the view over the net when it's almost in ..

pulling teams!

this is the endgame part, the people pulling the lower parts of the net converge to close the net at the bottom ..

this sock-like thing is at the very apex of the net, and it's where most of the fish end up

most of the catch is mackerel, but there are some other fish I can't recognise ..

this one I was told is an 'angelfish' ..

and this one .. I draw a blank ..

lots of mackerel ..

and a few other different species - I could recognise a garfish and a pipefish (sort of straight seahorse ..)

here's the pipefish ..

:)

Mito's photos - taken by a four year old!

2009-07-10T04:44:00.004+08:00

I'd say the kid has a surprising eye for composition :)

and here is Mito himself, putting on a pose, and yours truly (with the 'Hungriest Cookie t-shirt) together with the engineer taking care of the construction work.

Only in the Philippines ..

2009-07-10T04:42:00.004+08:00

I think the plans for this 'bucket seat' could be used by Formula 1 teams in their attempts to conform to the new budget restrictions! I think the jeep is actually from the 40s, or does it only look that old?

and this must be a very safe way of carrying a gas cylinder - in the scorching sun too!

Gasan Marinduque - Construction update ..

2009-07-10T04:38:00.003+08:00

these are photos taken on day 8 of construcion - amazingly the foundations are ready, and quite a good bit of the walls are already up! The next step would be to backfill the foundations (the delivery of backfill material was late) and to have beams put over the windows.

Philippines fish - a couple of photos from the Boac fish market

2009-07-10T04:32:00.004+08:00

One of the constants about living in Marinduque is fish - power comes and goes, you can buy beef on a Sunday, but even on a bad day you can be sure that there will be fish at the market. Today I took my camera with me and snapped a couple of photos. It was slightly late, so the selection wasn't as big as usual, but still interesting.

The fish on the left of this photo, looking like mullet, are known locally as 'Bangus' and are very popular - I haven't treid them yet. The ones at the centre are Maya-Maya (red) and Lapu-Lapu (brown), two species of grouper. The slices in the pan to the top left are my soon-to-be supper.

an overhead shot - I have no idea what the fish looking like a big red mudskipper is, but it's bigger cousin now lives in my stomach - and it was really good! The red fish central to the photo is a maya maya, and the silver/blue ones next to it are small tuna.

Fish is very fresh, and suprisingly affordable. My fish today cost 120 pesos a kilo, 140 for the whole fish. Couldn't get those prices in Europe for sure!

Construction the Philippines Way ..

2009-07-05T09:26:00.004+08:00

These photos were taken round 2pm on the 6th day of construction, the walls are the foundation, above which the main support beams will go - the iron rods for the beams are visible. The whole house will be raise about 1 metre compared to the surrounding land. The wooden frame is just to keep things square and vertical while they are being put up.

Boac Market in the Morning

2009-07-05T09:17:00.002+08:00

Some photos taken Sunday morning, round 7am, during a visit to Boac Market to buy meat ..

Kittens!

2009-07-01T00:24:00.003+08:00

While at the building site, I heard a 'miao' and spotted a little black kitten .. one of the workers told me that there were 3 kittens actually. They appeared clean and in good health, though a little scrawny, so I decided to take them home for a 'holiday' .. they're eating solid food (they demolished a plate of tanigue!) and they love milk, so I think they will survive .. we've named them Laila (the tri-coloured), Mito (white and red tabby) and Dave (black one). Laila is the most adventurous of the three, and also the smallest. Mito the quietest, and the one that tends to stay behind when Laila is out on her travels. Some photos ..

Construction - 2nd day

2009-07-01T00:20:00.003+08:00

Construction of my new house in Masiga (Gasan Region) started yesterday, and today I went to take a look at the plot to see how work is progressing .. I was quite amazed! lots of people working at the same time, and seems that the foundations have already been excavated. I took a few photos while I was there, here they are

Forum + Social Site for people interested in life or living in Marinduque

2009-07-01T00:19:00.004+08:00

i've just set up a forum specially for people who may be interested in living in Marinduque, or even as a means of communication for expats who already live here. The URL is : http://marinduque.socialgo.com/ so feel free to have a look and subscribe.

A difficult week

2009-06-26T03:26:00.003+08:00

This week our kid, Mito, was taken ill. He vomited at school, and a pediatrician prescribed antibiotics. At night he was still not OK, and we took him to the hospital. They put him on a drip, for rehydration, and prescribed stronger antibiotics. After 2 days on the drip, the doctor at hospital suggested oral rehydration. We were back at the hospital in less than 24 hours, and this time lab tests revealed an amoeba infection. A further 2 days in hospital, and a visit to Manila later, he's back to OK, but it really was a difficult week for Laila and myself.

What really scared me, though, was the cost of medicines here. They are on the same level as i'm used to paying in Europe. The hospital provides free consultation and service, but no help at all with medicines. I spoke to a friend of mine, and he confirmed my thought - people visit the hospital only as a last resort, because they know that in all probability they won't be able to afford the medicines prescribed. His term was 'mona lisa hospital' - they look at you, and let you die.

There must be some way to help, at least the very poorest patients. Poverty here is different to the notion of poverty in other places, I guess. Many people live directly off their land. Local produce and fish is particularly cheap, and the value of labour is ridiculously low, even compared to, say, Metro Manila. The price of medicines therefore seems dispropotionately high. A 1 litre solution for IV (drip) is 120 pesos, that's about 2 euros, and normally lasts 8 hours - so 3 in a day - that's more than many people here earn in a week. One of the antibiotics we bought was over 1000 pesos. I am trying to set up a fund to help buy medicines, and if any reader would like to contribute, do please contact me. Even small amounts are welcome, and could very well save lives.

Visit to Marinduque Hot Springs Resort in Buenavista

2009-06-21T00:07:00.005+08:00

Today we were invited to the Marinduque Hot Springs Resort, it's a bit of a drive to get there - about 18km from Gasan, which is in turn about 18km from Boac, however the roads on the way are really picturesque and it's a lovely drive. Most of the distance is along the seashore, with beaches to the right, grasslands to the left, and green mountains in the background.

These are the 'tres reyes' islands, owned by Carmencita Reyes who used to be governor of Marinduque - from what I know she's well into her 90's these days, and still a senator! Here in the philippines politics and riches seem to go hand in hand ...

Having arrived at the Hot Springs resort, this is one of the first views .. I didn't take photos of the larger pools (silly me) - there is a main pool, which is deep, and a shallower one for children, both of which have water approximately at body temperature. The one in this photo is the hottest of the pools, and is equivalent to a hot bath .. in the centre of the photo you can see the water coming out from the spring, it's actually very hot to touch! The weird colours of the photo are because they were taken after dusk, and this is actually a very long exposure (13 secs or so if I remember well)

with friends ..

we met this guy, and many of his brethren, in one of the passageways - it's quite a big frog, about 8cm from tip to tail - he froze in place, scared by the camera flash, but when I touched him gently he hopped off on his way ..

this is one of the larger pools, but not the largest one - the covering on top is netting, to stop trees and insects falling into the pool.

What the photos don't show is the excellent supper that came exactly afterwards .. the cook really went out of his way to please us .. we had tanigi (one of the nicest fish around here, 'Spanish Mackerel'), two types of chicken (cordon bleu, and some sort of chinese dish) and rice, with San Miguel to help it on its way!

All in all a very pleasant and relaxing outing .. i'll surely be visiting the Marinduque Hot Springs Resort again soon!

Firefly, Firefly ..

2009-06-21T00:03:00.003+08:00

the little lights that can be seen in the photo the trail left by a firefly .. it's a 6 second exposure. I was just testing my camera after having solved a long-standing battery problem (a couple of batteries I had bought off ebay have a tendency of blowing up chargers .. I fixed my last blown up charger by replacing the 12v power supply, and got myself a new battery, and all is fine!).

The 'firefly' was really a tiny light brown beetle-like critter .. about 8mm long.

Visit to a Butterfly Farm in Gasan

2009-06-13T16:44:00.003+08:00

Today we visited a butterfly farm in Gasan, Marinduque - there wasn't much variety on display - seems that the rainy season is not a good time for butterflies, and after last week's heavy rain in particular, not much was left to show.
The place is lovely though, very green and tranquil ..

the url for the farm is www.marinduque-butterfly.com

Trip to Poctoy Beach

2009-06-04T13:08:00.008+08:00

the day before yesterday was taken up by a drive around lovely Marinduque .. the destination was actually Poctoy Beach, which is one of the few beaches in Marinduque that has 'white' sand. The sand is actually a golden colour. Most beaches in Marinduque have black sand, strewn with pebbles and bits of coral. It may sound strange, but it looks nice (check out my photos taken in Gasan).

The itinerary for the trip was, starting from 'home' in Tabi, Boac in the direction of Santa Cruz.
We stopped there to visit the market.

From there we drove through lush greenery all the way to Torrijos, which is where Poctoy Beach is located. It's quite easy to miss the beach itself, there is a sign on the right, and a large archway on the left saying 'Welcome to Poctoy Beach'. Through the archway leads to a parking area (I think we were meant to pay P25 for the parking) and from there it's easy to step down to the beach itself.

Although the weather wasn't ideal (it was rather overcast and windy) the sea was warm and swimming was pleasant. After a swim, we bought a large dorado (dolphin fish) from a woman with a stand by the shore, and for a little extra she barbequeued it for us .. really good and healthy eating! We paid for the fish by the kilo (80 pesos per kilo) and an extra 50 pesos to have it cooked (the cooking was by the kilo too, actually) .. so .. an excellent meal, in lovely surroundings, for very litle money.

As in all Marinduque, the people at Poctoy beach are incredibly friendly. The guy tending the showers charged us 10 pesos for the use of the shower, and then came up with fresh buko (coconuts, cut open for drinking) that he didn't want to be paid for! He said we could even come back for more, as he had lots .. I struck up a conversation with some people who were holidaying in Marinduque, coming from Manila. As usual, I had to explain where Malta is.

After Poctoy beach, we took the 'long' route back, through Buenavista, Gasan (and stopped to check how 'our' beach was faring), and finally back to Boac. It's quite a long drive around the island, but the roads are good, the scenery is incredibly beautiful. I spotted quite a few bright blue birds - though I wasn't given enough time to identify. From my fleeting glimpse they might be some type of kingfisher, though I might have to correct myself later.

I also spotted some places i'd like to visit on future trips - the butterfly farms in Gasan, hot springs in Buenavista .. Boac cathedral is on my list too :) each day I love this island more and more!

8 hour 'brown-out' .. arghhh!

2009-06-04T02:55:00.003+08:00

it's almost 3am, and i'm just back from over 8 hours without power, what the locals (euphemistically?) call a 'brown-out' .. from what I am gathering, power-cuts are a regular occurrence here, i've experienced 3 in the past 2 weeks, normally about 3 or 4 hours, but today was a real whopper. Apart from being unceremoniously dumped off internet in the middle of a conversation that was important, everything that was in my fridge is now suspect, and i'm working at 3am to make up for the lost evening ..

I wonder what makes the power here so unstable .. first time round, a couple of weeks ago, power dropped due to strong lightning, but today the weather was calm and there was no indication.

I think a generator is in the offing !!

a couple of photos ..

2009-05-30T20:35:00.004+08:00

this is the view from my plot in Gasan, looking out to sea ..

and this is me playing King of the Castle (well .. the castle has yet to be built .. out of sand maybe?)

this is a panoramic photo of the beach, with the sun at my back.

A rainy day ...

2009-05-30T20:30:00.004+08:00

it's been raining all day today, and when I say raining I mean really raining - very heavily. In the afternoon we went to Boac to get something for supper - I bought 3 small yellowfin tuna, total of 750g, for the grand sum of 90 pesos. The woman at the stall even filleted them for me!

This evening I saw the biggest gecko i've ever seen in my life, he was in our WC, probably came in to shelter from the rain outside - the WC roof is made of steel, and there are cracks a gecko, even a big one, can get in through. This particular gecko was about a foot long including his tail, and a sort of blueish colour with red dots - very beautiful for a gecko! There are a number of smaller geckos living in the apartment, they hunt at night and you can hear them calling. I let them be - they control the insects, which is a bonus.

a bit of further research reveals that this was a 'Tokay gecko'

Welcome ..

2009-05-30T13:56:00.001+08:00

hello! I am Dave, and I am Maltese, from Malta, in Europe.

I am currently living in Marinduque, which is an island that is at the geographical centre of the Philippines. I've been here a couple of weeks only, but i've rented a flat, set up my stuff, and yesterday signed a contract on a plot of beachfront land that will eventually be my home here. I am living with my girlfriend, Laila, who is a filipina from Manila, and her son.

The reason behind this blog is firstly as a space to share thoughts, photos, and keep a rough diary of the goings on here - Marinduque is a truly beautiful island - it should also provide some insights that might be useful to the expat considering life in the Philippines, or even in Marinduque.

It's raining right now, and there's a plate of cold fresh pineapple waiting for me .. so .. later!