A photographers dream as I hire a tricycle and head around the coast of Bantayan Island where I travel throguh native villages and cross a mangrove estuary brimming with birdlife. I tell the tricycle driver there is no hurry and if I see something interesting or unusual we will stop and I will take a photo!
The first subjects were a threesome of goats feeding among the coconut trees. Then we stopped to photo some bright red wild flowers and continued along the coast where we entered several small villages. Each of these small villages offers a photograhic paradise as the small children scamper around trying to get into the photo.
This foreigner causes quite a scene as people offer to pose as fisherman, bring small live sharks, and point to the huge pig sunbathing and snoozing the day away! Nothing has changed for hundreds of years except a few people have small motor scooters to go to town and cell phones in order to communicate.
They live for the moment and their daily existence consists of the men catching some small fish ..which then go to the drying racks, the women collecting firewood and coconut husks, a few chickens and pigs and that is that. Oh yea they have great sweet potatoes and all kinds of veggies we have never seen before.
Most of the native villagers do not actually earn any money and therefore do not use money….they live off of the land.
On this photo journey the first area of interest is the Barangay Baigad Wharf which connects to several small islands and has pristine sand beaches with hundreds of coconut trees swaying in the breeze.
As your mind takes in the quaint fishing boats and native huts you can’t help but wonder how this little island still maintains its native appeal and has not been contaminated very much by commericialism.
The tricycle driver stops on my request to photo a local cow and we arrive at Durok Danggit with a welcome sign very near a delightful pink church hidden in the cool coconut trees. There is a decorative native bamboo kiosk amongst the coconut trees, which is also the political headquarters of this small village and as your eye takes in the native huts and sights… you can see several small stores displaying coco cola red signs.
The next area of interest is a rather new looking two story white building with the inscription in gold letters called: Sillion Barangay Hall with several deorative flags. A touch of royalty among the coconut trees!
The next area of interest displays the Secodemco Store with bright red coca cola advertising which serves the local village for rice, soft drinks and local specialties. You then come upon a gated pink mansion complete with many tropical flowers and a white picket fence overlooking the fish drying fields of the local fisherman. Every turn offers more pristine beaches, native villages and fishing boats bobbing in the sea. You can see children gathering seaweed and men working on their fishing boats and you have just remembered you left the modern world in the dust for a few fleeting hours.
Heading toward Madridejos on a dirt road you can’t help but wonder how a lifestlye is carved out among the coconut trees. You see children scampering everywhere some with clothes on and others in the natural. Taking the route from Santa Fe along the coast is a great way to discover the island either by motorscooter, bicycle, or walking and don’t forget to take your camera as you will see many photo opportunities.
So there you have it a native place very much the same as hundreds of years ago… with very strong family ties and they share everything they harvest among families! Could you live off the land or are you just another spoiled tourist who finds this interesting but why! There’s not even a electric socket to plug in my laptop!
You could watch the sunset and let the world go by but you will not be connected as we know it in the electronic age…but the connection you may receive may be much richer than you can imagine.
QUOTE: The good man should not tire of his good deeds. Till their fruit ripens, he may have to suffer bad times. But once the good deeds ripen, his life is suffused with happiness.
THINGS I MAY NOT KNOW: Your pet isn’t the only one in the house with a shedding problem. Humans shed about 600,000 particles of skin every hour. That works out to about 1.5 pounds each year, so the average person will lose around 105 pounds of skin by age 70.
THINGS I MAY WANT TO SAVE: My own skin it’s a rare commidty and a nice thing to have while you are an earthling!
ZENTRAVELER SAYS: Take more photos we are in the digital age. If you take a lousy photo…. so much the better who is to judge. Your subconsconcious brain image file is getting cluttered… so a perfect excuse to let the digital age come into its own.
From here to Infinity is a relatively short ride! The next leg takes eons and eons as you fly through the Barycentric Dynamical Time Zone! …and on and on and on.
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