Risks of Working in the Third World

I must share this with you.  It is truly shocking and gives a valuable insight into the terrible damage and impact corruption can have on just your average person.

Alfred Lehnert - English Language from FAC Philippines on Vimeo.

This problem is compounded by the fact that almost all Filipinos believe that westerners are fabulously wealthy and that finding US$250,000 to be released from jail is just small change.

Corruption doesn't just happen at a high level with big business.  It impacts everyone.

Dog Day Afternoon

The problem of the yelping dogs just won't go away.  They were excelling themselves one Saturday afternoon and I quite liked the idea of sitting outside in peace and quiet.  But no.  Yap, yap, yap.  Yelp, yelp, yelp.  Non stop.

So, in a measure of desperation brought about by the ineffective police to enforce the local by-laws (this isn't just a whim or a wish on my part, barking/nuisance dogs are not permitted by the Subic Bay Metopolitan Authority), and assuming the dogs were not being attended to (otherwise, surely, someone would attempt to shut them up) I grabbed a handful of gravel and lobbed it at the cage.  It was a good shot for such a small cage (small even to hold two very small dogs.  The effect was instant, if not lasting, and it shocked the dogs into silence.

Fifteen minutes later they were at it again so I repeated the process and they seemed to shut up for good.

Thirty minutes later the door bell went.  I opened and there was a police officer stood there and he said that they'd received a complaint that I'd been throwing stones at the neighbours dogs.  Me?  Why would I do that?  After all, I explained, I'd complained about the dogs several times, as had the neighbours on the opposite side, and knowing that the SBMA police wouldn't tolerate persistent infringement of the rules, the barking would have ceased and I'd have no need to throw stones at the neighbour's dogs.  My neighbour must be mistaken, I told him, it can't possibly have been me.

This threw him sideways a bit.  He told me that sometimes the dogs bark when a cat walks in front of them.  I said by that reasoning the cats must be doing an Irish jig in front of the dogs and then pull up a deck chair to read War & Peace.  This totally flummoxed him and off he wandered.

That night, three shots were let off from a gun from what sounded to be from under my bedroom window it was so loud.  Probably a sinister warning from my neighbour to back-off.  Apparently, it's a usual tactic here in the Philippines I've been told.

In the morning we reported the incident to the SBMA police.  They said they were going to investigate the matter.  Did they investigate it?  Did they (inset expletive here).

Having a Whale of a Time - Final Day (or so we thought)

Day 3 was another day of whale shark spotting.  

At breakfast we noted an old chap that was seated at the breakfast bar and who had been there every day for breakfast.  Obviously he was someone of some influence judging by the reverence he was treated with by the resort staff.  When he stood up to leave we noticed (you couldn't miss it) that he had what looked like a chrome plated 44 magnum of Dirty Harry fame ("Go ahead punk, make my day") strapped to a holster on his belt.  We found out later that this was the mayor of Donsol and his sister owned the resort (of course she did). I think this speaks volumes about the Philippines that the mayor feels it necessary to wander around with such a large and conspicuous weapon openly on display.  It doesn't do much to inspire or comfort the foreign tourists, I think.

I know what you're thinking. "Did he fire six shots or only five?"

We were sharing the boat this time with a Scandinavian couple, which was better then sharing with the loud-mouth chavs that were on one of the other boats.  It was touch and go on the boat because at this point in time Luis had developed a severe case of diahorea and was in danger leaving his own brown slick in the water.

All aboard

Same as before we spotted plenty of whale sharks.  It's always easier when you know the form and what to expect. My only regret is that I didn't buy a waterproof case for my digital camera that has HD video.

The whale shark spotting was over just after lunch so we spent the rest of the afternoon taking it easy, with me drinking beer in the bar and looking for some photo inspiration, whilst Luis went to the beach to practice his tupperwareah (whatever that is? Some Brazilian physical jerks, I think).

That evening we thought we'd venture into Donsol town to what entertainment it had to offer and to this end rented a trike and driver the for evening.  The first place we went to, a bamboo shack over a stinking river bed, was meant to have a live band but could only offer deafening karaoke.  I hate karaoke.

The next place we went to was even worse.  Much worse.  We managed to hang it out for a couple of drinks but no more and so headed back to the resort.

Earlier in the day I'd asked the tour reps in the dive shop if it was possible to head back to Legazpi very early the next day so that we could spend some time exploring Mt. Mayon.  They said they'd check it out and get back to me to let me know if it would be possible but they never did, and so we worked on the basis that we'd be leaving at a regular time.  

Early morning on the day of our flight out of Legaspi the driver was already at the resort waiting for us.  He'd been there since 4:00am for the early start that we hadn't been told about. Nevertheless, we were able to get away earlier than expected and hoped to visit the church ruins at Cagsawa.

We'd had a fantastic time in Donsol and the Vitton Beach Resort.  Easy going and wonderful staff that were always happy and cheerful, despite having to work from 5:00am to 10:00pm seven days a week for really not very much money.  When asked why they did it, invariably the response was a resigned "What else is there to do?"

So if you ever find yourself heading to Donsol to watch the whale sharks I can thoroughly recommend the tour company that made all the arrangements on my behalf and who made a excellent job of it: Donsol Eco Tour

Back in Legazpi we had enough time to visit Cagsawa.  Mt. Mayon was hiding behind cloud so there wasn't much of a photo opportunity and besides, it's a photo taken a million times by others of the buried church with just its steeple showing and the smoking gun of the volcano responsible for burying it in the background.  It was sweltering hot too.

What's left of the church

We left Cagsawa and headed to the airport.  We were one of the first there and checked in and settled down to wait for the flight.  The departure hall soon became packed beyond capacity and was heaving with humanity and was so hot it was like hell's waiting room.  Our plane came.  Parked on the tarmac in front of the terminal, sitting there so tantalisingly close and offering the respite we all craved from the heat.  But our allotted time came and went.  Clearly there was something wrong.  After a couple of hours (God only knows why it took so long for it to be announced) we were told the flight has been cancelled.  Something to do with a missing dust cap on a tyre or something like that.  I mean, the flight had made it in to Legazpi no problem and hadn't landed with its engines on fire, so clearly the problem wasn't that bad.

Unlike everyone else, and despite the heat, I took it all in my stride.  All I wanted to know was what was going to happen, then we could just clear off and do something different and infinitely more interesting. However, it wasn't going to be that easy: it seems that Filipinos do like to make a drama out of minor event, so there was plenty of indignant shouting and arm waving.  We were told, eventually, that we could either take a bus (for bus read tiny mini-van) for the 8 hour journey to Manila or stay overnight in a hotel.  Luis wasn't going to be able to sit on a bus for 8 hours, unless it was fitted with a commode.  And I wasn't exactly enamoured with the idea of sitting with zero leg room for 8 hours on a bus being driven at high speed with a sleepy driver.

So we opted for the hotel.  But no one could tell us where it was or when it would be available and as we'd been sweating it out for close on 6 hours by now we made our own arrangements and headed off back to the Vista Al Mayon for a comfortable evening, rather than risk being sent to some cockroach, mosquito hell hole.

Every cloud has a silver lining and ours was that the following morning Mt. Mayon was cloaked in a wonderful cloud formation, which kind of made all the hassle of the previous day worth it.

Back at the airport we turned up at the allotted time, checked in and were packed like sardines onto a tiny propeller plane and flew back to Manila.

Bye, bye Mayon

Having a Whale of a Time - Day 2

The following day we were up early for a dive trip to what is called the manta ray cleaning station.  We were on a boat with a French girl, who was travelling on her own, and a two Filipinos.

Our dive master for the day was Bobby and there were a number of dives planned.  To begin with we were asked what dive experience we had as the area we were diving in has strong currents.  When I told them about my weedy experience, the dive master looked concerned but when we told him about Luis' even weedier experience he looked distinctly worried.  He should worry: I wasn't exactly looking forward to jumping into the open ocean off of Luzon and being picked out of the sea 3 days later, having been found floating face down off the beaches of Mindanao.

Our first dive was on a reef that Bobby claimed to be his own discovery and hence was known as Bobby's Reef (original, eh?).

We headed out from Donsal into open seas and around 90 minutes later we were mooring up just off an idylic beach between a tiny limestone island called San Miguel and its neighbouring island, located at the north end of Ticao Island, in the sea between the southern tip of Luzon and the island of Masbate.  The island of San Miguel had steep cliffs and caves all along its flank and this is where Bobby's Reef is located.

Beach between islands

Once we were moored up it was into the rubber outfits and were soon in the water, swimming along admiring the corals.  There seemed to be a distinct lack of fish to look at though.

Limestone caves

After this dive was completed, we were off to the manta cleaning station (Longitude 123.750  Latitude 12.661 in case you're interested). Here, apart from the manta rays, we were told we could hope to see hammer head sharks and black tip reef sharks.  Once at the venue a plastic tub on a rope was thrown overboard to assess the current speed before taking the plunge.  In the water the pull of the current was immediately noticeable and being 3½ miles from the shoreline did nothing to assuage my fears.

Visibility was good, which was a shame because we didn't see anything. To begin with we spent some time sitting, or rather clinging to the sea bed trying no to get swept away, waiting for something to come along and after a while, when nothing did we swam off in search of something to see.  But didn't really see anything.  And then we had to surface because the biggest bloke in the group, you know, the one with the biggest lungs, the biggest heart (in more ways than one) and the biggest bulk (hence more drag in the current and so had to swim harder, had run out of air.  Of course, I didn't get any understanding from anyone else in the group and was made to feel like I'd spoilt the dive on the supposed premise that if we'd stayed down for another 10 minutes we'd have seen every aquatic animal known to man.

Head into the current looking for mantas

Back on the boat we headed to Tico Island Resort for a very pleasant lunch and for Luis to catch up on his sleep - ZZzzzzzzzz.

Then we headed back out to the same location for more of the same. But alas, still no mantas and no sharks either. After which we headed back to the shore and the hotel.

The crew take it easy

Despite not seeing any big game it was a wonderful day, being on and in the water and messing around on boats.