May 27, 2004
Zigzags
Where to start? If only I’d stuck to a schedule, I’d have posted something last week and not have so much to report now. Regardless, I’ll try to keep it short. I know that whoever you are, you are a busy person. I don’t mean to steal away so much of your time with my lengthy posts.
Despite a self-imposed limit of one scuba diving adventure every two months, I couldn’t help a trip to Apo Island. Oh yes, the diving issue. Diving is significantly cheaper here than in the USA. Still, it’s not nearly cheap enough for most of the locals to afford it. (Although I heard today on the radio that some dive shops are introducing much cheaper local prices.) So I feel a little guilty spending $18-$25 on a 40-70 minute dive. Eighteen bucks can feed a whole lot of people, provide a number of vaccinations, etc, etc. I’m sure I’m not the first Peace Corps volunteer to feel this way, but if this is gonna be my guilty pleasure here, so be it. It sure beats some of the other available vices in this island nation.
Apo established a marine sanctuary at least a dozen years ago, and has begun to reap the benefits, as the fish are able to get older and reproduce. Therefore there are more fish in the sea. And the corals flourish when they are not victims of dynamite blasts and illegal nets.
So there I was again, diving, floating in underwater space, checking out all the fish and marine life I know so little about. (For a more colorful and sometimes technical report, visit www.tommyschultz.com. Tommy captured Apo beautifully in all his underwater camera glory. -- Sorry the link is dead. I seem to be having basic HTML trouble.)
My friend Jason, a British volunteer I met at the deaf camp, joined us, as he is a very experienced diver. I was delighted he and my Peace Corps friends interacted so well, if only using gestures and a pad of yellow legal paper. I hope to dive again with him before he completes his service in August.
Mario is the barangay captain as well as the divemaster. He is very forward thinking and is determined to restore perfect health to Apo and ensure it remains the paradise it deserves to be for all future generations. Right now he is focusing his energy on assuring success in family planning projects and figuring out what to do with the increasing waste on the island.
I got to thinking, wouldn’t it be nice to be a volunteer in Apo. People already understand the issues and are as pro-active as pro-active can be. But then I got to thinking that half the challenge is lost in a site like that. It will be my challenge to get the folks at my site to focus on environmentally friendly, long-term thinking. I am still not at site, due to election issues, but I can’t wait to get started on these challenges. (And I’m sure I can escape to Apo from time to time to brainstorm ideas for my site. They understand that one of their roles as a pro-active island is to encourage and aid others in becoming more like Apo. We’re all one ocean!)
We had to leave Apo during a Signal 1 (low-level) typhoon. The waves were big, but Mario assured us they’d done the crossing with children aboard in much more torrential conditions. So, wearing my life vest, I felt a little nervous, but more so I found it thrilling. The local ladies going to the mainland to buy bread didn’t seem so thrilled. They were hadlok kaayo (very scared.) I’d do it all over again. Nothing like a storm.
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The other day I was on the slow boat from Cebu to Tubigon (2 hours, 80 pesos in 2nd class) and I saw the darnedest thing. An old wrinkly guy, decked out in tattoos was smoking a cigarette down to the butt. His shorts were sagging low, and I noticed he was wearing Hanes Her Way underwear. I went to get my camera, but when I returned, he was gone. So instead I took some pictures of my shipmates fascinated by the lewd new Britney Spears video. (Except for the lady in the purple. She was flirting with one of the rookie seamen.)
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Papa just told me that if he wins the lottery, he will buy many hectares of land to plant mangoes. He has 12 new mango trees growing at the moment, and he claims if you have a hundred, you will become a (peso) millionaire come harvest time. But about the lottery, I invoked the New York State Lottery scripture “You can’t win if you don’t play.”
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I acknowledge, the flow of this post is not so great. If anyone has any comments on how to get my thought process more linear and reader-friendly (or comments about anything else,) just click on the comment link and let me know. Of course, if you know me, you know I think in zigzags.