Beyond the Peace Corps and Through the Looking Glass: $55 rent plus water and utilities

Rancho Almonte Duplex

Alta Homes Road

Barangay Santa Monica,

Puerto Princesa City, 5300 Palawan

600 square feet of living space

2BR, kitchen, shower

Php 3,000/month, plus utilities and water

After my host family understood that I really was serious about having my own place we began searching (I threw a fit one day and they finally gave up fighting my moving out). Abodes that any of my U.S. friends would barely consider were far outside of my limits – in the 12,000/month range (about $350). However, the Peace Corps allowance is for Php 3,000/month, or $55. As instructed by my regional manager, I found three alternatives for housing so that when she came to approve one, she would have some options.

I liked one that was far out on an unpaved road, about 100 meters from the mangrove beach in Barangay San Jose – it belonged to the sister of one of the school parents. Although it was in disrepair, it sat on about a hectare of landscaped, but overgrown fruit trees and gardens. They would allow me to stay there for free and put all of the rent into repairing it. I loved the idea, although the folks I work for immediately started talking about having church socials there and using it when visitors came into town…if you are family, what’s yours is ours. So, when the Peace Corps refused it because it was too isolated, I was somewhat relieved.

The second place was a 5 minute walk to another, more accessible mangrove beach and I really liked it (well, I like the idea of it – the owner was going to rebuild it for me). It also sat on a good piece of land, on a paved road, although I would have to take a tricycle to get to the highway for transportation – it was set far back in Barangay San Miguel. One reason I liked it is that I found it and the church didn’t know about it, so I felt free. However, there was major work to be done on it, and again, it was too isolated for safety reasons.

The Peace Corps is always concerned foremost for a volunteer’s safety, and they are under a lot of pressure at the moment in the US – I’ve only seen a couple of the “exposés” that have aired on US television – and they are scary. Being in another country is not a walk in the park, and you have to be aware of the dangers – and they are many…I’m not talking about the bacteria or poisonous animals or malaria or dengue fever or typhoons or earthquakes or volcanoes – I’m talking the humanoids from a totally different culture, who have never seen white people before. It is disconcerting to say the least when groups stare at you – the worst is when babies scream - terrified by my foreign blue eyes – I tried to imagine what they must look like when all you’ve ever seen are brown eyes. Probably like a demon…and there are plenty of legends and beliefs here of bizarre monsters that steal babies and maidens in the dead of night. When you hear college educated young people talk about the Aswan, you really get that you are in a different world – they truly believe it, and I've heard of older couples going out at night to "hunt Aswans". So, if you are not careful in many ways, and even if you are – you are often a target in this country. Countless times children, and adults have asked me for ‘mani’ (which means peanuts in Tagalog), but they aren’t asking for peanuts – they are pronouncing “money” and they clutch at your hand or even pat your pockets, or, as happened to me in Olongapo, trip me by stepping on the back of my sandal - desperate for something. I am pretty trusting, but really have modified all of my actions here and only say no. So, I am grateful that the Peace Corps was looking out for me regarding my housing, and definitely changed my vision after a male Peace Corps manager rejected my first option, saying – “If you were a native – sure, you could live out here….but as a white person, you are a target because everyone thinks that you have money; they don’t understand that you are a volunteer…and, I don’t care how many bars are on the windows – they will get in. And, if you are in the way, they will kill you. Out here, you could scream for hours and there are no neighbors close enough to hear. This place actually gives me the creeps.”

Okay then – he made his point very effectively….and I started looking for places within a family compound – very common here. Generations live together on one piece of land, but in separate housing. In Olongapo, where I trained for 3 months, Tess and I lived in her home – the family home that had been expanded 6 fold. Her son Oliver and his family of 6 lived slightly in front and to the side of Tess in a 2 storey structure and her son Joseph and his family of 3 lived in back of Tess. Her husband’s sister also lived directly in back of her house – all separate, but all entered through one front gate. This is common if the family has lived in the town for generations….not as common if they moved to the area as adults….as my family in Puerto Princesa did. Here, each family has a home, although Mon and Ofel have his sister and mother living with them as well, but not in a compound setting. However, an hour north in Bahile, where the family grew up, there is a family complex.

The place I finally settled on (after looking at really ugly places – one room affairs with the bathroom outside – or a yucky duplex with a shared bathroom and outdoor kitchen, etc..) is in the middle of the family compound of the Almonte family, who has lived here for years. There are uncles and aunties to the back and side of us – and on the other side, lies one of the homes of the former governor (his wife is the current Vice Governor), Governor Joel Reyes (accused, with lots of evidence, that he had Doc Gerry Ortega assassinated because he spoke out on his weekly radio talk show against illegal mineral mining here – and noted that the said Governor embezzled money at the expense of the citizens and environment). Very telling that there is so much evidence, but no prosecution. He has many homes in the Philippines and abroad and is supposedly out of the country. His wife remains as Vice Governor and the newest luxury hotel that just opened in Puerto Princesa is said to be owned by him. As I said, there are many dangers here. I’m hoping that he stays abroad, because I would bet that many people wish him harm – Ortega was beloved and is now a martyr.

I love my landlords – Helen and Noynoy Almonte. They have four grown children, and only one daughter still lives with them and attends college here to follow her mother into midwifery. Good midwifes are badly needed since hospitals are often tens of hours distant, over rough roads on cramped and filthy transportation. The hospitals are also subpar here in the provinces, so midwifes are valued. As most families here, the children and parents truly love each other – so different from America today where teenagers are expected to be difficult and disobey their parents. Mothers and daughters walk arm in arm on the streets, chatting away. Helen told me that she and her daughters talk about everything – especially their love lives. She said that they have always confided their “secrets” to her and that they have always gotten along she thought my question odd. It is fascinating to me to watch the acceptance of daughters here – if a mother says to do something, there is no question – even when it seems a bit much to me – there is absolute respect (no rolling of the eyes and certainly no talking back) and compliance. The closeness of the family is slightly claustrophobic for me here, but the family support is something I admire greatly….and the relationship of the mothers and daughters hurts my heart because that was my biggest intent for my relationship with my girls...a fractured dream for me. I have noticed that as the elders get more elder, they long for some privacy – I’m thankful that the mother of my host family asked the family to build her a separate bahay kubo so she could be alone. It is almost funny for me to watch the faces of the daughters as they grapple with the thought that their mother (78 years young) doesn’t want to be with them all the time and wants to have her own space – they just don’t understand it….but it has made my living alone at least accepted by the family.

Before I moved here, my plan was to get a little puppy for a companion, and I fell in love with a blue eyed puppy across from the Center.

Ah, my silly dreams – I now lock the door against the dogs that live here: Sandy, owned by my duplex neighbors, Eric and Pinay (short for Philippina) and Puppy, owned by Patricia, the daughter of the landlord. Sandy is skittish and won’t come near me (when I asked his owner if Sandy was a boy or girl – she told me a boy…she had had the dog for 3 years…then she double checked – and said, “Oh, I guess it’s a girl”….hmmm). Puppy plays and plays and is a fun dog…but animals here are hard to care for – and get into everything – and everything gets onto them. Some of the animals obviously had mega fleas, because my first night in my place, I received about 100 flea bites, which have lasted over 6 weeks now and some of the bites still have scabs – yuck. No puppy for me!

When I moved in on April 16^th, I questioned my sanity – what was I thinking? The place was dirty, dingy and small. I spoke so little Tagalog as to be useless, and I couldn’t have a puppy to cuddle with. Mario and June moved me in and when they left….it was q u I e t.

So….I went to work on the place. I spent all of my money on paint and cleaning supplies. I worked out a deal with the landlord that I can spend Php 1,000/month on repairs and beautification (although at the rate I’m spending I’ll never recoup it!). But, for the first time – today, I feel pretty good about the place.

I’ve painted the ceiling in the living room – it was really dark inside – now the white ceiling helps brighten it up. The paints here are the perfect color when first applied – and then dry about 2 shades darker. So, my walls are much darker than I’d imagined, but they look clean and fresh and I’m adapting to a pretty intense salmon pink.

The kitchen and CR were the toughest to resurrect – really yucky. My Mother’s Day present from Petra, one of my Peace Corps daughters, was to help me clean up the area and start painting.

I felt guilty, but she really knew how to prep and paint – it was wonderful working with someone instead of doing everything myself.

My landlords purchased heavy bamboo furniture for me – a long and a short ‘couch’,

a bed (I borrowed a 2^nd one from Brenda), a small dining table and 2 of the heaviest chairs I’ve ever lifted (shown above, demonstrating the amazing wall colors), and a little table and two chairs for the patio.

So I need nothing! I bought a framed Chinese jade art at Unitop for Php 320,

and a native Palawan mask today for 200.

Tomorrow I’m going to frame a couple of my pictures – the Sabang sunset is my favorite – and will put those on the walls. I’ll probably buy another rattan shelf for the bedroom and living room – I’m acquiring way too many books! And then I’ll purchase the propane gas and hook up my stove. I’ve been existing on banana shakes and Fila crackers and Ramen and been perfectly happy. But, at some point it will be nice to cook something and shop in the palengke for produce. My refrigerator is still in the living room but I’m trying to find where the kitchen ceiling leaks are so I can move it out – Typhoon Chedren hits tomorrow, so I’ll get my chance to see how badly it floods.

I’m planning to put in a concrete counter and tile the top so I have some space to work in the kitchen. Hopefully the carpenter who took out the nipa palm ceiling (and found a 8” dead rat there) can also do the counter mura (inexpensively).

I’ve already been here 9 months and I’d like to have a comfortable place while I’m here – hence the hurry up part. But, now that the rainy season has begun, I bet I’ll have ample opportunity to hang out and appreciate my life here in The City in A Forest – Puerto Princesa, Palawan.

The Before: The After:

The Kitchen Area