Back in 2008, when I visited my moms tiny island in the Philippines, I took a lot of footage and published my 1st article in a widely distributed travel magazine of that time in Greece, they even featured my photo for the front cover. I provided all the photographs and the story, they did the layout and added a bit of editorial info. I am sharing the article here, the images are actual scans of the magazine, apologies for the medium quality of the scans (didn't have a good scanner back then), the magazine is in Greek but I provide an English translation of my story below (only what I wrote without any added info from the magazine) plus the photos which were used for the article reposted - there are many more nice relevant photos for the story but since this post is about the actual article, the extra photos will be posted in different posts with more information and the full stories. Finally I want to dedicate this post to my grandfather Victorio who passed away in 2016:
Unknown little islands in the Philippines: Molocaboc
After many hours of traveling, my
patience was rewarded when our pump boat reached a small “natural” harbor.
Going up the wooden ladder, placed at the surrounding rocks, at the top under the trees two people were waiting for me. It was grandfather Victorio and
grandmother Othelia. A bit further was their residence which would be my home
for the next two months. I had finally
reached Molocaboc island!
Purple and orange magic during the sunset with a low tide
Located
in the Visayan sea, central Philippines, it belongs to the Negros Occidental
province, the island is a place which will be hard to find without the help of the locals.
Actually it is not one island but three, situated very close to each other, the
Molocaboc Daku (“daku” means big in Tagalog, the official language in the
Philippines), the Molocaboc Diut (“diut” means small) and the tiny Matabas.
All three islands have an estimated population of around 4000 inhabitants and
cover an area of approximately 900 acres. I am staying at Molocaboc Diut with a
population of around 800 people. My residence is at the south rocky shore and I
can walk to the northern shore in less than ten minutes. On the distant horizon
I can see Negros island, it acts as the mainland and the closest port for
supplies. The scenery is green with palm trees and lots of vegetation but not as
dense as a jungle. The frequent sea winds are a pleasant relief from the heat
which is unbearable throughout the day, especially during noon. On many of the big trees, people
have placed a wooden floor and a cover for the sun, the perfect place for an
afternoon nap!
School homework on a tree branch
My
house is one of the few ones with walls made of cement and a proper roof. Even
today, the majority of the houses in the island are constructed in the
traditional way, walls and floor made of bamboo and roof of dry palm leaves.
These houses are called “nipa”, which means a “hut”. They have a
special feature which I witnessed one morning when people were running to wake me up and told me “you have to come and see that!” Fifteen men were carrying by hand
a nipa house after they had lifted it from the ground using big bamboo
poles. The process of moving a nipa by
hand is called “bayanihan” which carries a double meaning , “bayan” means
society and “bayani” means a hero thus bayanihan is a heroic team effort.
A traditional nipa house at the moment of being transported!
Nipa traditional houses - simple life in nature
Ask
anybody in the island what is the most precious thing in Molocaboc and you will always get the same reply. It is
something that people like us who are supposed to be living in the developed world take for granted: the water.
Because there is no source of drinking water and no wells either, the people gather
the rain water from the roofs of their houses with a tube system which ends up
in huge clay jars. They will drink this water when they are thirsty and use it
for cooking and washing themselves. Many times it contains soil and tiny worms
but it seems that the body of the locals has developed immunity on these, but
not my body! I found out being terribly sick for a week and after that I was
drinking only boiled water. The Philippines have just two seasons, the dry
(from November to May) and the rainy season (from June to October). During the
dry season sometimes it might not rain for more than a month. Then the stored
water of most of the houses is depleted and then they need to buy water from
the few who have bigger water supplies.
Electricity
is available only in the bigger island, Molocabok Daku and only for four hours
between 6.00 and 10.00 at night. But even this, for most of the residents is an
unfulfilled dream as very few can afford to pay the monthly electricity bill of
400 pesos (around €7 or $8)… The big wooden polls, which don’t have any cables
yet, reach very close to my house in Molocabok Diut and it is a sign that
electricity will arrive here in the future as well. Some residents who can
afford it have already bought a common diesel electricity generator so they can
enjoy watching television or listening to music for a few hours at night. When
these few generators stop, I always go and sit on the rocks under the starry
sky, listening to the symphonic orchestra of the crickets…
Every sunset in the island is uniquely beautiful
There
are no streets, just small paths with the exception of a rudimentary short
length street in Molocaboc Daku. But what steals the show is the path of around
1.5km which crosses the sea and connects the two islands, Daku and Diut. It is
a quite thin layer of cement placed on a pile of rocks with a few small huts for resting here and there.
During the high tide the whole path disappears under the sea and the sea level
might sometimes reach up to your waist. Then during the low tide the sea will completely vanishes from this area transforming the path into an elevated bridge on sand. It
was constructed 10 years ago and made the life of the commuting people,
especially the students, much easier. In the times before the path, sometimes during high tide people even had to swim back! In Molocaboc Daku
there is a second path through the sea which leads to a small lighthouse watch tower quite far
from the shore. This is the place where the pump boats dock during low tide as
they can’t go any further.
Curious little faces
Students walking home through the path connecting the two islands
Leading to the small lighthouse, like a dream, a path through the sea...
The
path which connects the islands has small mangrove forests on its both sides.
You will see mangrove forests in many of the islands beaches as well. They were
intentionally planted there as these provide the only protection against the
waves when the sea is rough. The mangrove is one of the few trees that can grow
inside the sea, their strong trunk combined with their extensive root system which
goes deep in the seabed can absorb a big part of the waves power. Due to that
they are considered as very useful although they transform the seabed in a kind
of swamp. Many adults proudly recount their time planting the mangroves when
they were still elementary students.
Fishing next to the mangroves
Seafood, fish, squid and shellfish, combined with rice is
the main diet in the island. Even the dogs eat the fish bones without any
problems. The seafood is always fresh and eaten the same day as there are no
fridges. When I asked them if they sometimes eat crab they led me to a family
with crab farms next to their house. The farms which are situated under the sea are not visible
but you can spot them from a long reed sticking out of the sea. We entered
the sea and in one of these places, the father of the family grabbed by hand
five big alive crabs which had their claws tied with a thread. “A present from me
to you” he told me placing them to my hands… Meat is rarely consumed and it is mostly
pork or chicken. They will slaughter a chicken or sometimes a goat during a
wedding, a holiday or in special occasions and such as was my coming to the
island!
Seafood is the main diet in the island
A hungry baby goat using a family tomb to reach its food
The
majority of the men are fishermen and divers at the same time. They fish all
night and come back in the morning, having secured their daily wage and food
for the family. The few rich families have created small fishing fleets which
provide a job to many of the islands residents. Fishing can be done in different
ways as well, for example with the creation of fish traps which are called
“amatong”. They dig a hole in the seabed and place rocks collected from
coral reefs and tree branches tied with ropes. In a few days, moss
and plankton grow attracting many fish. Some of these fish leave during
the high tide but always come back during the low tide, thus creating a
permanent fish shelter. The first “harvest” is usually done after a month and
after that every 2-3 weeks. The fish are being carefully harvested releasing
the young ones and the ones small in size for the preservation of the ecosystem. This kind of fishing started around 25 years ago when the state
established strict fishing controls in order to eliminate the disastrous
fishing with dynamite. Today, in the perimeter of the island there are many of
these fish traps, you recognize them from the numerous bamboo poles on the sea
surface and the small sea house next to them, used for guarding the fish
against thieves.
Fishermen coming back in the early morning
Guarding sea house around amatong fish traps
There
are no shops but only small kiosks which sell all kinds of novelties. For other
goods you will need to visit the houses which supply them, fish in the
fishermen houses, beer at the few houses which transport and store beer from
nearby Negros island. Every morning a guy is going around with his bicycle
selling bread and sweets.
I
visited the only two schools in the island, the elementary school in Molocaboc
Diut and the high school in Molocaboc Daku. Took part in the classes and
noticed that in the elementary school the children are taught practical things
as well like tree planting, farming and the milking of animals. The high school
headmaster told me that the biggest problem in education here is the language. In the Philippines there are around 160 dialects which sometimes are like
completely different languages. Primary
language is always considered the local one, official language is “tagalog” and
English is always taught as the 3rd language.
Some of the school books are printed in all three languages which makes
schooling costly and complicated. Another problem is that in the Philippines
education is not free, even for the elementary school a small amount of tuition
money needs to be paid. Even though this fee is small, it is big enough to
prevent the children of the poor families from going to school.
Students in one of the two schools of the island
Life in
the island is hard but at the same time simple, pleasant and creative. The kids
play with whatever they find in nature like an old tire left back from a boat,
the colorful little crabs that appear during the low tide… People during their
free time practice something familiar in every small community: gossip! The
news spread fast and nothing remains hidden. Most of them are Catholic Christians and they celebrate their saints with holidays (called “fiestas”) which
can even last for three days! During Saint Peters holiday, who is supposed to
be the guardian of the island and the fishermen, everybody will dress up and
gather at the school to have fun, dancing day and night with loud music.
Colorful little crabs take over the seabed during the low tide
This colorful fella was next to my head when I woke up one morning
Everybody
is very superstitious and weird tales come and go often. Like the tiny deserted
island next to Matabas is considered to be cursed, whoever decides to reside there
will be met with some bad luck. The last person who tried to live there died with the rumors saying from some mysterious sickness. Another one is
that you shouldn’t sit on a seat that somebody with a serious illness was
sitting before, as the illness spirit will be transmitted to you. So I have to
be careful!
Exploring
a few areas further around the island I found myself in Jumabo, a tiny paradise
island with a sandy shore, palm trees and a beautiful bungalows complex in
which I was the only visitor. Although, the surprise came much further, past
the central city of Cebu, in the island of Bohol. There I met the Filippino
Tarsier, a tiny creature which can fit in the palm of your hand and looks like
a mix of an alien with a monkey. It is one of the smallest and eldest primates
in the world, a survivor of a 45 million years family! It can turn its head
almost 360 degrees and you will be enchanted by its captivating big eyes. Many
people consider it ugly but I found it extremely cute!
Jumabo island, a paradise on earth
Endless green in the rice plantations of Bohol island
The Chocolate Hills of Bohol island
The Manmade Forest of Bohol island
The Filippino Tarsier in Bohol island, can turn its head almost 360 degrees and fits in your palm!
Typhoon “Frank”
From
the early morning we realized that it was not just a simple storm. Nonstop
heavy rain, strong winds and grey sky were creating a fierce setting. The radio
confirmed our worst thoughts, a typhoon named “Frank” with wind speeds up to
185km/h was devastating the Philippines. Fortunately we were not in the
epicenter but close enough to make the situation dangerous. At night the
weather worsened, the wind was howling and screaming, you could hear the
animals shouting as if they were about to be slaughtered and everywhere things
breaking… there were no shelters to hide and somehow I felt really lucky to be
inside one of the few steadier houses with cement walls. During these cases there is no time
for sleep, you need vigilance and constant inspection of everything and your
surroundings. The house was leaking water from everywhere and every now and
then we had to go to the family pump boat to empty the water in order not to
sink. We tied with rope and bamboo everything that had a chance not to remain
on the ground from the ferocity of the wind. Went out to look for our animals
(dogs, cats, goats, pigs, chicken), the ones we found we sheltered inside the
house. The night passed and the next day in the morning we realized that we had
completely ran out of food. But even through the panic of the typhoon, we managed to
find a solution to our hunger. We gathered all the unripe bananas from the
banana trees which were broken, boiled them in order to become soft and turned them into a sweet mush adding some sugar. This “meal” kept our stomach
full until late that night when the typhoon retreated and I managed to go look
for food in other houses.
Walking
around the next morning I witnessed the scale of destruction. In some places
the scenery looked like a battlefield, broken trees and uprooted plants,
destroyed fences, many of the traditional houses (nipa) without roof and some
of them completely devastated. And the worst of the news came, many fishing
boats shank and a number of fishermen are reported missing…
“At
least we will have plenty of water for a long time”, grandfather Victorio told
me with a smile. Even under these circumstances, the people find the power to
think something positive for consolation and smile…
A prayer for the victims of typhoon Frank
Building a house and
the way to the city
Even
though our house did not sustain serious damage from the typhoon, looking at
the rusty metal sheets which comprised our roof, I proposed for their
replacement. Eventually we took down a big part of the house to
rebuild it from scratch, this time stronger and with new materials. Plus we
built a house extension as well. Thus I experienced what hard work in tropical
climate means.
Work
starts at the first morning hours after sunrise and finishes during the sunset
with a break for lunch. Tools are scarce and digging the ground is performed
with a hammer and a chisel. Young girls gather small rocks to be used in the
foundation. Everything is being created from scratch and the cement bricks which
will be used for the walls are not exception. The “recipe” for the bricks is
more sand, less cement (because it is expensive) and a metal cast which forms
the newly built cement brick. Two people are working exclusively for this and
manage to create around 100 cement bricks per day. You can imagine our surprise
the next morning, realizing that many of the cement bricks have been destroyed
before they had time to set due to the games of the 15 cats of the house!
Building the house foundation, tools are scarce and basic
Bacolod
is the closest big city in the Negros Occidental province and it is the place we
had to go to buy supplies and materials for building the house. From Vito, the closest port in Negros island
which is a mere 20 minute boat ride from Molocaboc, it is a three hours bus
ride until Bacolod city. Negros Occidental province is the main sugarcane
production center in the Philippines. Hundreds of people are working in the
endless plantations, the sugarcane is then piled up in crazily overloaded
tracks which do not follow any safety guidelines. I really wonder what will
happen if the worn out ropes holding the sugarcane on the overloaded trucks
break at the moment that my bus is directly behind them. Clouds of sand dust which reduce the
visibility, combined with the bad road conditions and the excessive bus speed
during our ride give me a sense that I have to pray in order to arrive safe and
sound in my destination. Bacolod is a big noisy city with a lot of pollution
and traffic chaos… we finish our shopping and back to calm Molocaboc as fast as
possible!
Preparing the pump boat to leave Molocaboc towards the port of Vito
Until
the day of my departure the house was not entirely completed. Many people
gathered to greet me farewell and I promised them I will be back so I can stay
at the house that we built. Leaving behind me all these smiley faces I was
troubling myself with thoughts about the course of our modern society which is
seeking more and more material possessions…
But then I smiled because during my two months in the island I realized
that there are still people out there who even though they have very few, they
are happy with it and willing to share everything!
Grandfather Victorio, sadly passed away in 2016
Grandmother Othelia
Recipes
One of the gastronomical delights in the Philippines are the
traditional sweets which are mostly based on rice and are a pleasant break from
seafood.
Traditional Filipino sweets (suman, puto, biko)
Biko (brown color, long, sweet sticky rice)
Ingredients: 2 cups of sticky rice, ¾ cups of black sugar, 3½ cups of diluted coconut milk, 70gr. of butter, 1 egg beaten
For the topping: 1 can of condensed milk, ¾ cup or rich
coconut milk, 2-3 table spoons of flour
Boil the sticky rice together with the coconut milk stirring
constantly to keep from burning. When the rice is done and almost dry, lower
the heat and add the sugar and the butter. Mix well and set aside to cool down,
then add the beaten egg. Spread the mixture in a tray and bake it in the oven
for 20 minutes in 150°C. While
waiting, prepare the topping. Combine all the topping ingredients in a saucepan
and cook over low heat stirring constantly until it gets thick, it will take
around 15 minutes. Spread the topping on the baked mix, increase the heat up to
180°C and bake until the surface becomes brown in color, around 15 minutes.
Your biko is ready to be served!
Puto
(white, round, with a small piece of cheese at the center)
Ingredients:
2 cups of rice flour, 1 cup of white sugar, ½ teaspoon of baking powder, 30gr.
of butter, 1 teaspoon of salt, 1½ cup
of fresh milk, 2 egg whites, cheese cut in stripes, grated coconut
Blend all the ingredients apart of the cheese and the grated
coconut, whisk the mix until it becomes smooth. Use individually muffin pans and fill
2/3 of each with the mixture adding one cheese stripe on top. Cook in a steamer
for 20 minutes and you are ready! Can be served warm or cold depending on your
preference, always adding the grated coconut on top.
Additional information
GPS coordinates for places in this post, click on them to be redirected to the exact point in google maps. Click on the names to be redirected to their official websites (if applicable).
Click below to if you want to read the posts about the Philippines:
The cherry trees line up in both sides of the path creating a fairy tale atmosphere during the cherry blossoms season.
Was really happy to photograph this couple, I smiled to them and they smiled back when I took the photo but I blurred their faces since I didn't ask them if I could post the photo in my blog.
On the north side of the path, people sit down by the water to enjoy the scenery with their snacks and drinks.
A popular sweet to eat at this time is "sakuramochi", sweet pink colored sticky rice (mochi) with red bean paste (anko) inside, wrapped in a pickled cherry blossom leaf, delicious!
Sometimes you might catch a short performance, I loved this guy making everybody laugh at first with his funny faces, dancing with various costumes and masks and fire breathing for the grand finale.
The path which runs from west to east is less than a kilometer long and people usually walk the whole length of it more than one time.
Looking around outside the cherry blossom path you might spot this area on the mountain with the cherry trees resembling a heart.
While north of the path people sit down by the water to enjoy, south of the path you can have a view of peach trees as well, their color is a nice shade of pink while the cherry blossoms on the back are more white, a real eye pleasure.
The cherry blossoms last for around a week. Here is the first stage when some of the flowers have not opened their petals yet.
And finally, the last few days before the end, the white petals are falling... if there is a little bit of wind the air carries these petals around creating a fairy tale scenery.
You could even visit at night when you might still find a few people enjoying the view with a drink.
