Just in time for the Software Freedom Day celebrations (September 20), we’ve just released Process/yon Artists’ Book ad Dialogues II: Free Software for Slave Society? The PDF book (1.2mb) is accessible thru http://korakora.org/proyekto/sfd08
Enjoy!
Nakakatuwa naman at ang dami kong nakitang kambing sa Bohol. 
Merong brown, merong black, merong white, merong black and white, merong brown and white - at lahat sila ay maikli ang buntot. Sa palagay ko ay nalahian ng kambing ang mga aso sa Baclayon kaya maikli ang buntot ng karamihan sa mga aso dito.
Sa huling araw ng aming bakasyon sa Baclayon ay sinubukan kong kunan ng litrato yung mga kambing sa bakuran ng aming mga kapitbahay. Napansin ko kaagad simula pa lang sa unang kinunan ko ng litrato na medyo “anti-social” ang mga kambing. Paglapit ko at pagtutok ng camera ay titigil agad ito sa pagnguya ng damo at aangal ng “meeeeee-meeeeee!”
Hmmm….
Ito ang unang kinunan ko ng litrato, isang katamtamang laki na kambing na nakatira sa tabi ng isang bakeshop. Meron syang kulay asul na collar.
Ito ang isa pang kambing na kinunan ko ng litrato, di kalayuan sa kambing na me asul na collar. Ito naman ay mas malaki, mas malaki rin ang sungay at mayroon din syang tali sa leeg. Karamihan sa mga kambing dito ay nakatali pero meron din akong mga nakitang kambing na malaya, lalo na yung mga may maliit na anak.
Minsan papuntang Maribojoc ay mayroon kaming nakitang ibang lahi ng kambing na tila kumakatok sa gate ng isang bahay. Sya ay isang malaking long-hair na kambing.
Nung bumisita kami sa Antipolo kasama ng nanay ko ay merong dalawa o tatlong pamilya ng mga kambing na malapit sa loteng binisita namin. Tuwang-tuwa ang nanay ko doon sa mga maliliit na kambing. Gusto raw nyang mag-alaga ng maliit na kambing basta’t wag na ito lalaki. Pwede yun, kung ito ay kakatayin at pupulutanin bago pa ito lumaki. 
Masarap pa naman ang kalderetang kambing!
Samantala, nabasa ni Trevor sa BBC news ang isang balita tungkol sa mga kambing sa Democratic Republic of Congo na ikinulong at kinasuhan: “The beasts were due to appear in court, charged with being sold illegally by the roadside.” (From DR Congo frees goats from prison)
It has been raining a lot in Manila. The other day and the day before was a really strong downpour in the afternoon, then yesterday was a really frightening thunderstorm. Today was rain and rain and more rain from morning to afternoon.
Well, it is the rainy season.
But it was different in Bohol, at least in Baclayon where we stayed. The rain is not as violent - sometimes in the early morning, sometimes in the middle of the day, but not like an endless river as here in Manila.
The sound of the rain is also different, because in Baclayon there is more soil and foliage, the rain falls on soft surface and not concretized ground. Many houses are also made of wood or nipa and thus the rain falls on soft roofs rather than galvanized iron sheets. The sound of rain pouring at sea also has its strange comforting sound, a bit frightening in he beginning because the sound seemed to amplify the sound of the wind.
I have learned to love the sound of rain in Manila. I have even learned to love the endless pouring, not of drops, but of buckets and buckets of rain. As a child, I also found it fun and exciting whenever it rained really hard and flooded the house. Luckily, floods didn’t turn life-threatening.
The wind in Baclayon can be quite strong. I remember during my stay in the convento the evening wind would come in from the sea. Our friend Evelyn advises that if you stay in a nipa house to keep the windows open in the event of a typhoon lest the winds carry your house away!
Perhaps next time, Trevor and I should stay in a nipa house.
A walk around the neighborhood we came across all sorts of houses - some of them modern concrete houses, and most of them houses made of wood or a combination of wood and stone. We noticed also that some of the concrete houses were originally nipa huts that have been refurbished. Trevor especially noticed this with Evelyn’s family house, originally made of wood and nipa - it was quite noticeable with regards to the floorplan and size of the spaces in the house, the location of the kitchen and the stairs, and the presence of a space under the house indicating that the original nipa and wood house was a house on stilts.
Anyway, below are some photos that I took of the houses that we passed.
Here is a small wooden house with GI sheet roofing. It appears to have been left unfinished for some time but it looks a very quaint and lovely house with a lounging area in front and layered roofing.
Here is a photo taken of the road that leads directly down to the highway and the sea. The blue sea is actually visible from here (however, because of overexposure, it has been washed out in this photo), quite a surprise whenever I see it as we walk down the road - at first it seems like a huge blue wall and then as if the sea has risen to engulf us!
Anyway, in this photo is a lovely wooden house with nipa roofing and right next to it is one of several modern concrete houses.
Here are two combination wood and concrete houses that use GI sheet roofing. Between the houses is a small nipa hut which we observe t be quite common in the neighborhood - perhaps a communal waiting shed - where we’ve seen people together relaxing, singing, eating.
Also very common is the use of woven walls for the houses - like this one above. Bamboo fences are not uncommon. Other houses have a row of potted plants to serve as a kind of fence.
Here is another lovely house - the foundation of which seem to be concrete. I believe that this house is actually listed by BAHANDI (the Baclayon Ancestral Homeowners group) as a homestay. This house, unlike most others, is also inside a gated fence area.
This is a big ancestral house (late 19th century) that we pass on our way to the market. It is specially lovely at night when all the lights inside it are turned on and all the big windows are open so one can see the beautiful upper interior of the house.
Another ancestral house - this one on stilts. Some parts of this house has broken off. It does seem that a number of ancestral houses are in need of immediate repairs but I can imagine that could be quite expensive.
Wood houses are really beautiful. They are also much cooler. I grew up in a combination wood and concrete house - we had a wooden floor which is more comfortable for walking barefoot than a concrete floor.
There is a tremendous difference between living in a wood house surrounded by earth and foliage and living in a concrete house surrounded by asphalt roads. In a tropical climate, the former is more comfortable and more energy efficient, and when properly built - in particular the foundation posts - can last for centuries.
We met a house builder in Tagbilaran City who said that her husband, an architect, complains that most of his clients (mostly overseas Filipino workers who have saved enough to finally build their dream home) hardly listen to his advise on more ecological and indigenous building materials and design and instead insist on building houses found in American and European catalogs and magazines. This is quite unfortunate because most of such houses are more suited to a different environment (for example temperate climate), and will therefore not respond suitably in local conditions. Either the occupants of the house bear the consequences or install consumptive remedies such as air-conditioning.
Well, anyway, it seems that in our little barangay in Baclayon most people take pride in their wood and nipa houses, and providing long testament to the economy, ecology and aesthetic of the indigenous-built house. There are also the ancestral houses, many are actually functional and occupied. Years ago, the owners of these ancestral homes opposed government plans of demolition to accommodate the widening of the hi-way!
I guess it would be nice to learn more about building wood and nipa houses - and certainly worth trying to live in one when we go back to Baclayon!
Continuing my account of our stay in Baclayon, while memories are still fresh in my mind …
Our homestay, owned by Trini and Dan Dawson, has a beautiful garden. What a surprise when Maylene came into the kitchen with bunches of bananas and a pineapple - all from the garden! Trevor spotted a beetle, a very small one so it was quite difficult to take a photo (above). I must say that it is probably the most colorful beetle I’ve ever seen.
One evening, I managed to take another photo of the tuko (spotted gecko). This one probably measures at least a foot long. Trevor and I happen to like house lizards a lot and we really love the sounds that they make, for example the “tu-tu-tu-tu — tuko, tuko, tuko…” of the tuko and the “tsk-tsk-tsk-tsk-tsk-tsk” of the smaller house lizard, so we don’t really mind having them around.
Here is the Baclayon Municipal Hall which we pass each day when we go to the baluarte. It is quite a lovely little building. Behind it is the health center, a small DSWD (Department of Social Welfare and Development) building, and the municipal hall extension further back. There are also rest houses being constructed in the area. According to our friend Kimo from Pamilacan Island, the rest houses are especially for children from Pamilacan Island who go to the mainland (Baclayon town) school and get stranded on the mainland in the event of typhoon or other causes.
Here is Trevor and Edward trying very hard to scare Liza who works at the Municipal Hall.
Morning of Baclayon Market Day (Wednesday), the quiet market is transformed into a lively atmosphere where all sorts of goods are sold - from vegetables, fish and meat, to clothes, jewelry and shoes. Outside near the creek are people buying and selling piglets and chickens.
I also enjoy eating in the little turo-turo at the back of the market. Vegetables are cheap but meat can be a bit expensive, the dinuguan however (which I happen to like a lot) is less expensive. Trevor took this photo of me eating while two kids play peek-a-boo with us in what seem to be their bed in a covered space in the corner of the turo-turo.
During one of our afternoon strolls along the beach, we found this house still under construction. At the back one can see two completed houses made of a combination of hollow-blocks and cement, and wood and nipa. The wood frame of this house being constructed shows four large posts to support the house and each post has notches maybe about two or so feet above the ground. Perhaps this is going to be a house on stilts. The roof construction also shows a rather high tipped roof which provides excellent ventilation as does the raised flooring.
Here is the homestay’s back kitchen stove for wood fires - Trevor and I really love this. Although we often used the gas stove during our stay and at home we use an electric stove, I’ve always wanted a place where we could cook with firewood and charcoal because it’s more economical in certain types of cooking and it would be really nice to have grilled fish and squid for dinner! In my mom’s house, we are able to cook with firewood and charcoal outside, but many homes in Baclayon have this stove inside the house with a chimney where the smoke goes through. In Burma I saw some houses that have this stove on the floor inside the house which keeps the house warm at the same time in very cold high mountain places.
However, I am yet to learn to cook more sophisticated dishes using this firewood stove. Evelyn’s family has a much bigger stove where they’ve managed to cook a lot of really good food during the fiesta.
Maybe tomorrow I’ll try and get some galunggong (fish) and maybe some tinapa (smoked fish). In Baclayon, Evelyn taught us how to cook galunggong with soy sauce and vinegar and then fried with oil and garlic as the soy-vinegar evaporated. If we had a fire stove it would be fantastic to grill galunggong too. The tinapa I’d like to put in some pasta with pesto and olive oil (which we had today with some green salad but would’ve been much tastier with tinapa rather than with longganisa).
Anyway, I guess another nice thing about our stay in Baclayon is how I saw the galunggong in a different light. I like it a great deal more than before! It would be good to get more used to eating more fish and less pork.
Next time, I’ll try post some of the photos we took of houses around the neighborhood.
We are back in Manila now. We arrived yesterday at the NAIA Terminal 3. Transport wasn’t as bad as we expected (it was quite difficult at the Centennial Terminal unless one uses the airport taxi which is quite expensive). Terminal 3 has metered taxi service that flags down at PhP70.00 (instead of the usual PhP30.00), as well as bus service that go to Pasay-LRT.
Our taxi decided to take the Fort Bonifacio and C5 route because EDSA-Makati was in traffic. We’ve never taken that route before so it was quite interesting to see all the development going on in the area: amidst pockets of urban poverty and sprawl, we saw clusters of high-rise condominiums and office buildings, gated and fenced residential areas, and shopping micro-cities. It felt as if the older developed districts of Singapore have been transplanted into Metro Manila.
I felt the typical awe and wonder of a country bumpkin arriving in Manila for the first time - seeing and being in the new airport terminal instantly exudes a completely different aesthetic from Tagbilaran airport.
Passengers deplaning (as Cebu Pacific often puts it!) at Tagbilaran Airport. It started to rain shortly afterwards, when we started boarding for the flight back to Manila.
Similarly, arriving in Bohol, I felt the (perhaps not so typical) feeling of wonder and awe of a city slicker’s first encounter with a curious papaya tree.
A branched papaya tree along the corner of Bonifacio Street, Poblacion, Baclayon. I have never seen a papaya tree like this before, with branches and with bunches of papaya fruits in each branch.
In Baclayon, we city slickers had to check the calendar for schedules of the tide. In Manila, perhaps one checks the movie schedules or the dates of the next great sale at SM City or Trinoma shopping malls.
Personally, I prefer the tide calendar, to do our shopping along the baywalk (where we got fresh squid for PhP70 perkilo (in Manila squid costs over Php200 per kilo)) and our “window shopping” along the sea’s mangrove-lined coast.
Wednesday morning, market day in Baclayon, the high tide brought plenty of boats to and from Pamilacan Island. The large all-white painted boats are a recent phenomenon brought by projects from the Ayala Foundation. I personally prefer the smaller colored boats.
This fellow (with a tattoo on his back “Mahal Kita Bohol”) and his friend catching fish by hand (aided by a small makeshift “harpoon”) at the baluarte. The “sea meadows” is beautiful and abundant with marine life. At low tide, one could spend hours and hours (but be careful with sunburn!) just exploring the sea coast.
I also finally found the blue starfish near the baluarte - it has attached itself just below, well hidden from human predators. Earlier I saw a kid come up from the waters carrying a blue starfish, and at first I thought that it was a plastic toy!
Apart from the large starfish with black spots (which were the most abundant along the coast), Trevor and I found another variety, such as this below.
These starfish were more difficult to spot because they blended in with the sand and rocks. Starfish can also move surprisingly quickly. I turned one over on the sand and in less than a minute managed to turn itself back over.
I picked up these shells and placed them on the baluarte’s stairs leading to the sea. Shortly, the shells started to dart back into the water - they were all hermit crabs!
Left to right: Trevor, Chicken and Dog. Low-tide along the Baclayon coast. While there are now more houses along the coastline (some are made of concrete but most are made of wood, bamboo and nipa), there are still numerous places where one could pass through to access the sea - whether for fishing (in designated areas) or for swimming (at the baluarte, for example) and for shellfish picking during low tides in the evening.
On the sand and coral stone surface of this part of the sea, there are seaweeds and plenty of cone-shaped pointed snails, colorful crabs, sea anemones. The crabs are especially difficult to photograph - coming out of their holes and rushing back in again at the slightest movement.
A view of the baluarte from the sea during the afternoon low tide (from 0.0 m to -0.1 m around 4:56PM).
A view of the baluarte towards the town. The unfinished building at the back is the new extension building of the Baclayon Municipal Hall. In front of it it is reclaimed land (just the other side of the baluarte) being developed into a playground, basketball court and other events space for large gatherings. We were told that the area was reclaimed in 2004 (the concretized baywalk was built during the administration of Mayor Pacana in 1956-1959). In Google maps, one can see that part of the sea as it used to be, with small fishing boats with outriggers.
At the Bohol Bee Farm Cafe in Island City Mall, Tagbilaran City. Trevor took this photo - while I was stirring my coffee, producing this little “dimple” in the cup. We tried their squash muffins too - both coffee and muffins were excellent.
I will post more photos on this blog later (I managed to get another photo of the tuko too!) In the meantime, I am trying to get back to working in a more relaxed way, that is, “Baclayon style.” Often, I miss our stay in Baclayon, the people and our friends there. Someday, soon, we will be back.