Bataan (Lamao)

Friday, March 16, 2018

I remember the hunger during these times quite well.  Sometimes I would only eat once a day, with the meal being only beans and rice or just some bread/pandesal.  One would think that these were far from being fond memories, because I was lacking a lot of comforts or even necessities, like enough food.  However, the sentiment I have for these times is really not like that.


You see, to truly appreciate what you have, sometimes you have to experience what it is like without it.  Without experiencing true hunger and hardship, it is difficult to realize and appreciate the opposite end of the spectrum.  If from the very beginning you've had a silver spoon in your mouth, had everything fed to you and never had to work for things, then you likely cannot empathize or comprehend what it really means to be poor and desperate.  There is no sense of fulfillment in a life that did not have much lacking.  Only when you've been deprived of an element long enough, let's say sugar, will you realize just how sweet or satisfying even a bland vegetable can be.  And this doesn't only apply to food and money.

Regarding the girl I mention with the disability--I do not believe in such beliefs or reasoning that such was caused by eating certain foods during the mother's pregnancy (and hence the offspring inherited the qualities of the said food).  It was most likely caused by the mother's nutrient deficiency during the pregnancy and/or usage of substances/medicines that do not belong in the body and should not have been taken during the pregnancy.

Original post below:

Thursday, March 23, 2006

I went to Bataan this weekend and have posted some pictures. The beach was very littered but the water didn't seem to have too much trash, just a lot of rocks. I also went out for a brief bangka boat ride. I'm climbing a mango tree in one of the pictures. There are lots of mango trees in the area, and I think I'm on an Indian mango tree in the photo. In this specific village in Bataan there lives about 50 people. They are very close-knit and share pretty much everything. Among the things they share is a single toilet. They also share a fountain, and here they bathe, wash clothes, drink, etc.  The water is free, and it comes from a natural underground reservoir.

I'm trying to convince a friendly old woman to take a picture with me in one of the photos, but she was shy. I came upon a child who was riding a bike near a basketball court, so I asked if I could borrow it for a few minutes. I haven't ridden a bike in quite a long time, and I thought before about disassembling my bike in the US so I could have a faster means of transportation here but decided against it since it just weighs too much and I'd probably get into an accident here.

The girl without a chin is someone who is talked a lot about in the village I visited in Bataan. The story goes that pinaglihi daw siya sa manok, kaya naging kamukhang manok. In English, when her mother was pregnant with her, all she craved for was chicken and so they say that's why she now resembles a chicken. She's friendly and just a very nice person. The food, and sometimes lack thereof, here is starting to affect me. I'm getting thinner. I still exercise, and I'm probably burning more calories than I take in. So I'm just trying to eat more when it's possible. It's hotter in Bataan too (and the Philippines is already very hot as it is), and my skin burns easily.

Oh yes, I also wanted to mention how much I appreciate fire. It's really difficult to keep a fire going when coal is not available, or you can't afford it and you have to use grass and litter as I am doing in the last picture I posted. It's not hard to get companions to tag along during my expeditions. Usually, most everyone's always happy to come along. I tried messing with the manual settings on my camera and took a picture of the ocean and moon from a boardwalk. I decreased the shutter speed to take in as much light as possible, but the photo still turned out poorly. It was a beautiful sight in real life, too bad the picture cannot attest to it.

I really like the internet cafe I am currently at. The connection is very fast so I am able to post the pictures quickly. The only problem is that it's very far and a bit expensive.