I am up early this morning for a three to four month doctors appointment.
I have been listening to the news on the cable, and ordering free books
off the internet. My level of free books is now at well over 3000 and I am thinking of getting a new computer.
I am on the computer a great deal. I fear I may be addicted to the computer, but it is not an addiction that l am not willing to run off and obtain a twelve step treat plan to res\lve I usually purchase several used lap tops each year and give the lap tops to my seminary students. I have not purchased a new lap top in quite a few years. I think I will save my pennies and get a superfast new computer in the next month or so. I think I will pay the price. I enjoy the computer, so what …. Anyway ,on with the post.
I remember the many days I was up early, made brewed coffee and spent the early morning on the computer, waiting for the local people to wake up, on the months I spent in Marinduque. I waited for, breakfast to be cooked and life to once again start to unwind. I often would go to the gate and purchase pandesal. I enjoyed the pandesal with the local version of butter, or a substitute butter called Dairy Cream, and with imported or local jam. If it were all the same I would rather have jam than jelly. Jam seems to have more flavor, texture and is a bit less sweet. I prefer mango for local reserves and raspberry or blackberry along the imported avenue of bread toppings.
I would get the fresh, warm pandesal, my nephew would start a rice cooker of rice. My asawa would choose from various meat in the freezer,sliced ham or bacon often being the choice she put to the fire. Sometimes she would add fish to the larder. On occasion we would have something like pancit left over from the evening before.
School kids would be heading to school. I would hear some and also see that the local traffic had picked up. My wife would make an omlet for me most of the time, and scrambled eggs for the baby and her self. My nephew is not too receptive to eating eggs.
My coffee maker would only make four cups, small cups at that. I often made a second pot after using the first four cups and treating one of the boys who stayed around the house, a cup of java. He liked my coffee, brewed coffee is not that common in our area. The local version of 3 and 1 seems to be popular and Robert, [Believe it, Robert, not Bob or Bobby, or even Roberto], loved my brewed coffee over the local island version.
I would set on my veranda and slice away at my mounds of email. The birds would be coming to life. The roosters were crowing and the small sparrow type birds would assume flight. Local pigeons would draw into and out of the small ventilation and light openings in the wall my neighbors warehouse.
The sea breeze in the morning was often light…but enough to cut through the tropical heat. The morning was cool, but the crispness was leaving and I could tell the tropical heat was not too far from coming on. I relished the cripsness in the mornings while it was available. I put up with the tropical heat when if finally forced its ugly head into my otherwise beautiful day.
We were about a 10 minute walk from the ocean front, maybe less if I was in a hurry and walking alone. If the baby was in toe, the travel time could be increased to almost double that., Most often my asawa would drive to the coast rather than walk. One look at the ocean surface told me what the weather would be like for the next few hours.
The coast is the area of busy people many mornings. If the weather was good, fishermen would be coming in from the nights catch or going out to try their luck in the morning. There were some people there trying to haggle for fish early in the morning. The sea was busy if it was calm. Rough seas ment the weather may not be so nice, and there may not be as many fishermen heading out for a catch. Rough seas also ment that the price of fish would be higher as less fish were caught. Less fishermen heading to sea, less fish being caught, higher prices for seafood in the market. Why did it take me so long to figute that our. It seems to be an age olk theory.
There were also some local men with throw nets along the coast line. Some of these men had been casting their nets for years to get their daily protein eeds. A few casts and many were lucky enough to have breafsast lunch and dinner and they would head home. The beauty of a simple life.
Some folks would dig for clams. Some would check for oysters. Some of the more couragious people would head to sea with age old bamboo crab traps loaded with old bait. Anything with a smell seemed to be used to bait the crabs into getting caught in the traps. 0ld plastic bottles tied to the crab traps bobbed on the ocean surface to tell each crabber where his traps laid on the ocean floor. Each crabber seemed to know his own secret spot to catch crabs and a few people took on this adventure in order to feed their families. It was quite a site to see these old banka boats, loaded to full capasity, heading out to sea. The captains of the various vessels seemed to pilot their craft with skill. Most had paddled those same waters in the same manners as their grandfathers had done for generations in the past. Almost all of the crabbers had paddled their boats to sea, several times a week, since they were boys.
Not far from our home and along the national highway were located a few decent resorts. Here foreign visitors, and some of the richer domestic visitors from the mainland, were busy having breakfast and also starting their days. They would fuss at waitresses to get the same pandesal and jam as I had procured at my outside gate. The blessings of being at home on a tropical island.
The local traffic would be increasing as breakfast finished for most of the local people.. The local housewives would head to town for their daily larder. My asawa and houseboy would often be in that group. My asawa often had an agreement with her suki for the biggest prawns. She had a few prize fish saved for her, often 18 inch tuna, or better in some cases. Even Charlie would be proud of the good taste.
Where many areas have condos along the coast line, our island is not so blessed. The local populace has a problem putting food on the table day afrer day. so putting down money for a luxuary condo is simplyly out of their financial grip. Most of the coastal structures were simple nipa huts, often without any power or fresh water being supplied to the nipa hut. On occasion there may be a simple bamboo pole and a meter supplying power to a single few electric bulbs and perhaps a small radio. In the days gone bye, the coastal areas were left for the very poor. Now most of the very poor have moved inland and the rich have built substancial homes along the coast line. Homes, but still no condos.
There are a few rental homes still available for rental, but most of them are just rented short term to travelers who are looking for a place to stay for a month or two. Rents are expensive by local standards, By international standards, a few hundred bucks is considered quite cheap by most international travelers. Most of the costal rental homes were two and three bedrooms. None were what would be called palacial.
Regardless of where we find ourselves, the pace of life is slow. Businesses are usually small and many have been living hand to mouth for years. Few of the local peoiple seem to have much more thant the basics for life. The local businesses are not overstocked with goods and often the stock is quite low. The local businesses are those that offer goods and services to the local populace. Few of the businesses in our area are dependent to any degree to international or foreign travelers. We do have a few new businesses in town. One business is owned by a returning American expat. The owner imports stateside products to our humble island. She had worked as a nurse in America and had wanted to return to her home in the islands capitol town almost as soon as she had left decades ago. Upon the death of her husband, she made her return move to our town. She seemed to enjoy business and was making enough to keep the lights on. She also put me out of an excuse for having to send as many BBSs for our return trips to the island.
Watching the world go by the fishermen head to sea, and the housewives head to the local market is quite a site. At the local market, meat and seafood is passed from hand to hand. Meat is chopped and weighted. fish is passed along the same way. Vegetables are thumped and inspected and the buyers head home, sackes in their hands. For me it was an adventure. for many it was survival. I enjoyed watching some haggle. My wife knew most of the prices early on and considered most of the prices on many items to be fixed. I on the other hand tried to bargain on almost everything Mama often left me home for that reason. Plenty of supply ment lower prices. Seasonal starts and finishes ment higher costs for various fruit. Still, my asawa seemed to understand the meaning of fixed price.
The vibe is low-key; the pace is slow. The businesses are small and locally-owned, with many lining the town square, [not much more that an basket ball court in one case],, are the hub of the community. Local women often wear a t-shirt and a tattered ragged skirt or a pair of patched shorts. The t-shirts often reflect people who have run in past elections The skirts or shorts indicate years of wear and tear, and some stiching to patch holes. Men usually wear a t-shirt about the same as their female counterparts. The men wear shorts but usually with less holes. Both genders wear flip flops, the usual footwear. The people in the islands seem to be far younger than the people in the west. There seem to be far more children in the local market, most under school age, than I would expect to see. The islands of paradise is a young and vibrand country.
I think back at the birds along the ocean coast line. The birds follow the boats at they go to and fro, hither and yon. The birds love to dispost of fish parts as the local fisherfolks clean the fish on the way in to shore. Those that do not stay out to sea at night, head out to sea early in the morning. People in the small barangays depend on the sea. Some depend on the sea for an income, some depend on the sea for their larder. Some go to the coast for a swim, some walk along the coastline and collect bright colored glass that has washed it way up from out at sea, turning smooth with the resolve of water for the months the glass was submerged. Some people collect sea shells. Some make hallow blocks a short distandce beyond the high tide line. For many reasons, the sea is important to the locals on our island, it is also what makes then islanders.
I think back on my time on the lsland of Marinduque. I smile and think of this post starting with the thought of a brewed cup of coffee. My you all have a blessed day and many wonderful memories of what will happen as your day start.
I dream of my fall return.
JJ++
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