By JOE CARTWRIGHT
Special to North Palm Beach Life Most of us live in our comfort zones, only grudgingly getting out if necessity demands it. As we age, we dread those times when we have to do something unfamiliar. At 70, my wife and I were planning a two-week trip to the Philippines. We’ve never done anything remotely like this before. Before this trip, I had never been outside of the United States – other than a short trip over the border into Canada or Mexico. When she was 20, Carol went with three other girls on an eight week tour of Europe. It’s all our son’s fault, actually. While working in the Persian Gulf area, he met a young Filipina woman also working in that area, and the attraction was instant. They began planning a wedding in the area where she grew up. An obvious corollary is that if your child – your only child – is getting married, you are going to be in the middle of the event, wherever it is. We flew Eva Airways (a Taiwan-based airline) from Houston to Taiwan and on to Manila to meet our daughter-in-law; we had never met face-to-face before. Dearlee’s home village is almost 1,000 miles southeast of Manila; her family lives on the Philippine island of Mindanao, in an area that’s far from any well-known tourist centers. So, we met Dearlee at the Manila airport and flew from there down to Butuan – the nearest city to her village with scheduled air flights. We knew ahead of time that we were going to an area where credit cards were usually not accepted, so in Manila we changed $400 US Dollars into Philippine Pesos -- $400 is equal to over ₱21,0000; that means if a motel room is ₱2,000 a night, that’s actually under $40. At first, things sound very expensive – but they aren’t, really. In addition, the currency is color-coded to make denominations stand out more easily. The Philippine coins are also easy to distinguish. We were so totally immersed in the “real” Philippines that we didn’t see another non-Philippine face until a week and a half into our trip. In the Licanto Family Beach Resort, a Brit married to a Filipina had the room next to ours. At one of the family parties we attended, I sang Karaoke; I will forever be apologizing to the late Dan Fogelberg for my miserable rendition of “Longer.” Karaoke seems to be a staple for parties in the Philippines. No matter how badly you sing, though, you are considered to be a good sport for giving it a try. Some of Dearlee’s sisters and aunts really had good voices, too. The Philippines actually have two official languages: Tagalog is the native language of the area, and English is required for schooling throughout the Philippines. Kids begin learning English early in elementary schools, if they haven’t already started at home. A collision language of “Taglish” is often heard as well, with a sentence consisting of Tagalog and English words strung together. We also found out that a significant export of the Philippines is labor, in all levels of skills: Manual laborers to highly-skilled professionals. We heard that at any given time at least 15% of the Filipino population is working in other countries, typically sending much of their earnings back home. |
Our first full day there, we went out to a nearby island, Cabgan Islet, for a family picnic, along with swimming and beachcombing. That proved to be a taste for many of the remaining days. The beach was white sand, and Cabgan, an uninhabited island with no utilities, is set up as a park for tourists and nearby residents. It has gazebos for picnics and a small concession stand. Several local residents provide transport out to Cabgan and other area islands. Traveling out to Cabgan, our boat passed several solitary fishermen in small boats, larger fishing boats, and seaweed farms. After that, the days were filled with family reunions, parties, island hopping, and going to different sight-seeing attractions.
When we arrived at the wedding venue the day before the wedding we met several of the people who had roles in the wedding. I immediately noticed that one of them was wearing a yellow t-shirt with the logo “Dickies – Fort Worth, Texas” in large letters on the front of the shirt. At the time, I told him that I had grown up in Fort Worth, but the incident sharpened my senses. In the nine days remaining in the Philippines, I noticed that Dickies clothing has an enormous presence in the Philippines area. For whatever reasons, this Fort Worth brand of clothing is very popular there. Midway through our stay, the wedding itself was a memorable event. Philippine weddings have a unique agenda all their own. They are similar to American weddings, but with unique aspects, as well. At the wedding reception, food and drink were overflowing, but traditional wedding cakes are not part of Philippine weddings. A complete list of Filipino wedding traditions would take another article to complete – and this isn’t the article to do it. I’ll just add that after the arrhae, the cord and the veil, and finally the Money Dance, it was all behind us. The next few days started with a trip to two natural landmarks in Mindanao. Tinuy-an Falls is a 180-foot drop, and is also said to be the widest waterfall in the Philippines. In looks, it resembles a smaller scale Niagara Falls – much wider than it is tall. It is truly in a beautiful setting, as well. Three bamboo rafts can carry visitors to a spot where they can literally be in front of the falls, behind the falls, or being pounded on by the falls. Enchanted River is a very scenic spring-fed river near the coast. It has a swimming area near the source spring, and electric-blue water. The whole area is very photogenic. Another island hopping tour took us around the Britania Islands. Some of the islands had similar white beaches to islands visited earlier, but some of these islands had overhanging rock shorelines, rather than beaches. From a distance these islands look sort of like floating turnips. They are fairly inaccessible, due to the steep, overhanging shoreline. If you do manage to get on the islands, they have very steep, heavily wooded slopes. At one island that did have a beach, a man with a jet-ski was towing inflatable rafts around, giving kids (and a few adults) a thrill ride. We spent three days in Davao City, the third largest city in the Philippines. Davao is a city like cities around the globe. It has amusement parks, shopping malls, subdivisions of homes, and so on. It also had the first traffic lights we had seen on the island. Our daughter-in-law had chosen two unique destinations for our time in Davao: We spent one day at Eden Nature Preserve, and most of one day at Davao Crocodile Park. Davao City is nestled between the Davao Gulf (on the east side) and Mount Apo, the highest mountain in the Philippines, on the west side. Eden Nature Park is located in the Davao suburbs, on a lower slope of Mount Apo. It is primarily a park dedicated to the flowers, trees, and other plants of the region. Eden shows off a wide variety of exotic plant life, a butterfly garden, and other animal exhibits. Most of the park is seen via small buses, each with a tour guide. For those who prefer a bit more excitement in their visit, Eden also has a “thrill” area with a zip line, a slingshot swing, and bicycles rolling on a cable suspended 50 – 70 feet above the ground. Davao Crocodile Park has hundreds of crocodiles of all sizes; a 15-foot specimen greets the visitor just inside the park gate. This one sits so still that he looks like a stuffed specimen – until you see him slowly blink – or you notice that enormous mouth is breathing. During feeding times, he is anything but still. During those feeding times, tourists crowding his cage were drenched when he slashed that massive tail around his pond, grabbing the food offered by the attendant. Besides the crocodiles, the park also has tigers, birds, and various primates. A wildlife show, several times a day, shows off some of the park’s residents. Just adjacent to the Crocodile Park is Tribu K’Mindanawan, a cultural park that preserves and celebrates the historical culture of Mindanao Island. The most entertaining part of this area are the Fire Dance shows in the evening. Strangely enough, the show begins with a fire safety talk, mostly about the use of a hand-held fire extinguisher. After that, the show really begins, with dancers doing increasingly more complex stunts with fire and sparks. If your visit coincides with a mealtime, then meals are also served in the restaurant overlooking the fire dance theatre. Just a few words about food: At several meals, we were served native pineapple. We have fresh pineapple (usually Hawaiian) fairly often at home, but the center of the fruit is usually inedible – almost woody in texture, difficult to cut or chew, and about as much flavor as wood. The Philippine pineapple is sweet, tender, and juicy all the way through. At cafes and restaurants, we often saw “chicken” offered with “native chicken.” Native chickens are tiny, by American standards: Not much bigger than a quail. As far as flavor goes, well, they all “taste like chicken.” |
Our last night in the Philippines, I sat down and composed a list of observations from this trip:
Photos/Video by Joe Cartwright |
My first time outside the US was an immensely LEARNING experience. The first couple of days were full of “Are we really HERE?” and “We’re really HERE!” wonderment. This was very likely because of our inexperience in international travel. Hands down, the people were the best part of the whole trip. The people everywhere were open, welcoming, and extremely friendly. I don’t think it was just because we had been inducted into the extended family – or (even less likely) because we looked like Rich Americans to them. It’s just how they are, in these off-the-map places.
The light/dark times of day did throw us off, though: by 5 am it was very bright outside – no sunrise yet, but plenty bright to walk around. By 6 pm it was completely dark outside. So, we tended to go to bed earlier and get up earlier when we were there. It was one of those close-to-the-equator things, I think.
Relationships are somewhat different, as well. In the Philippines, it is considered mandatory for the children to care for their parents as they age. Anyone who does not is looked down on. In the US, older people strive for their independence; sometimes that’s not realistic due to physical or financial problems, but independence is usually a goal for our senior citizens here in the US. The idea of an adult moving back in with parents – to be sheltered and fed by the parents – is unthinkable in the Filipino culture. What do you call your spouse’s parents? In the US, most call their mother/father-in-law by their first name. With Filipinos, it’s simple: they are “Dad” and “Mom.”
One more learning/observation that should have made the list: ANTS obviously originated in the Philippines and migrated to other places from there. I know because (1) ants literally rule the places we were – they were everywhere in gross mobs, and (2) they were easily the world’s most mature ants: We were never bit, stung, or anything else – they would, however, get into any food, drink, or snack they could work their way into.
Just when we thought it couldn’t possibly find any more frontiers of weird to push back, we found out the name of the area Islamic Radicals group: the Moro Islamic Liberation Front. Right: The local Muslim Militia is the MILF. If that acronym doesn’t ring any bells, you probably haven’t seen any of the American Pie series of movies. Any self-respecting group of Islamic radicals should chose an acronym that doesn’t cause teenage boys to collapse into giggling hysterics. Just sayin’, y’know.
The light/dark times of day did throw us off, though: by 5 am it was very bright outside – no sunrise yet, but plenty bright to walk around. By 6 pm it was completely dark outside. So, we tended to go to bed earlier and get up earlier when we were there. It was one of those close-to-the-equator things, I think.
Relationships are somewhat different, as well. In the Philippines, it is considered mandatory for the children to care for their parents as they age. Anyone who does not is looked down on. In the US, older people strive for their independence; sometimes that’s not realistic due to physical or financial problems, but independence is usually a goal for our senior citizens here in the US. The idea of an adult moving back in with parents – to be sheltered and fed by the parents – is unthinkable in the Filipino culture. What do you call your spouse’s parents? In the US, most call their mother/father-in-law by their first name. With Filipinos, it’s simple: they are “Dad” and “Mom.”
One more learning/observation that should have made the list: ANTS obviously originated in the Philippines and migrated to other places from there. I know because (1) ants literally rule the places we were – they were everywhere in gross mobs, and (2) they were easily the world’s most mature ants: We were never bit, stung, or anything else – they would, however, get into any food, drink, or snack they could work their way into.
Just when we thought it couldn’t possibly find any more frontiers of weird to push back, we found out the name of the area Islamic Radicals group: the Moro Islamic Liberation Front. Right: The local Muslim Militia is the MILF. If that acronym doesn’t ring any bells, you probably haven’t seen any of the American Pie series of movies. Any self-respecting group of Islamic radicals should chose an acronym that doesn’t cause teenage boys to collapse into giggling hysterics. Just sayin’, y’know.
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Here we're driving in a more urban area, along with us passing a Philippine Police Paddy Wagon. When you get arrested in the Philippines, you are taken to the station handcuffed to a bench in the open bed of a pickup truck, for all the world to see. Sort of like the "perp walk" that cops here use to humiliate a celebrity or other well-known figure if they get arrested -- notify the media and lead 'em out in handcuffs. You can also hear Carol point out a Shell station we were passing, and hear Chris asking Dearlee if the concrete apron on the right side is a lane -- or is it a shoulder? Our question was answered a little farther down the road: Some places it is a shoulder, and some places it is a lane -- whatever works for you, I guess
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