UPdate #7

Hi Guys,

This one was rushed and will have a second part. I have some pics to follow as well. Love you
b

The night is lit with a collage of lights each calling attention to tents holding their wares. Some selling clothing, others beads, a woman calls out from a tent lit by a string of light bulbs. Still others peer out at potential customers milling by assessing each stand of food and typical tourist garb. I stand on the boulevard my back to the crowd as I peer out into the dark sea occasionally illuminated by a streak of lightning. The crescendo of sound emanates from a string of karaoke stands and as I try to tune out the disorganized collection of songs, I can pick out a tune here and a tune there. One is singing Celine Dion, another Queen and many are just playing tunes with anyone singing. No matter how hard I try, I can’t hear the waves crashing and I am unable to determine how small the swell has become.

Ironically, it is this swell which has swelled the town to double its size; a surf competition to be exact. The only problem hanging ominously is the fact that there may not be waves to hold the event. Surfers from all parts of the Philippines have arrived in Lanuza to compete for the $10,000 grand prize, however at this moment the combination of beer and karaoke has pushed those thoughts out of their minds.

It has been four days since I left Cebu on the overnight ferry and this time I have come back to Lanuza to meet up with an English forestry volunteer. I come bearing gifts and the hope he can help us shoot some footage of the ‘legal’ logging in the region. I met Mathew on my last trip here and he was just beginning to learn surfing and we struck up some good conversation and a friendship. His job is to consult on how to create sustainable logging (although he has his doubts.) He asked me for some software from Cebu and that was my gift.

Software is not known as software in the Philippines since most of the software used is pirated. This fact has created quite a culture of terms and expressions for media. For example, DVDs are known as pirated or authentic and talked about as such. An authentic DVD will raise eyebrows; not the pirated version. Software is not known as such, but as pirated programs. Therefore, when I walked into the mall and asked the guard, “Where can I buy software programs?” He stared at me blankly. Finally, I bit the bullet and quietly asked, “Where can I get pirated programs?” His eyes lit up and he cheerfully informed me that those stores were hosted on the third floor. After browsing hundreds of programs and looking at thousands of dollars of software (had they been authentic), I made a meager selection of Photoshop and MS office and went on my way. I was ready for my trip to Lanuza.

Mathew said that there was an outside chance I could video a TLA. This area is one of the last remaining areas where timber license agreements exist. TLAs are governmental contracts with national and international companies to cut rainforest hardwoods. This agreement can last up to 20 years or more and have been a principal cause of rainforest depletion in the Philippines. In the 1960’s there was still about 30% virgin forests left in the Philippines. Aggressive cutting and population growth has brought the rainforests down to less than 3%. My point is not to give a lecture here but to explain why I wanted to video this practice. TLAs, although legal, have a secrecy policy and getting the permission to shoot (without being shot at) has been difficult. In fact, Mathew told me of entering the office on the TLA site. It took him an hour and a half to enter the perimeter with the mayor’s consent and he told me of a sign he saw in the office. “Our policy is secrecy. Anything seen or talked about must stay here when you leave.”

The beach still lies in darkness and after contemplating a song, I decide against it and wind my way through the barrage of lights and music and make my way to my $3-a-night lodging and sleep. Morning arrives and forgets to bring swell and the swell never really seems to develop and after a few days of surfing and some dead ends on the logging footage I relent and grab a bus back and prepare for another trip.

These trips have really bonded our team and I realize more and more the differences of where we grew up. For example, one of our biologists was telling us how she liked dissecting the frogs. “It is quite neat to see the organs,” she said, “but I really disliked having to kill them after we finished.” I was a bit shocked to find out that each student has to go out and catch their own frog and bring it. When it is time to dissect, each student, much like an assassin, chloroform their frog and then cut it open while it is alive – “to see all heart beating and the lungs in action” she concluded. If they would wake up, they would hit them with another dose of chloroform and only at the end would they stab them to death. Imagine getting to use chloroform in class? I find out a few more shocking differences as she launched into another story. In third year, the students have to dissect a cat. Oh yes, you know where I am heading, but it has humor. You can’t just go out and grab any old cat, it could be somebody’s cat. So, they went to the cat lady. She would give them a cat in a bag – alive. For the most part, you could chloroform it, beat it with a hammer or any other method of choice (just don’t damage the organs). The problem lies in the fact that sometimes they forgot to kill the cat before the day of the dissection, but there was a protocol in place for that. Anyone who had forgotten had to take the long hike to the fifth floor and launch their cat off the fifth floor. Maybe once, could be twice. Did it land on it feet? “It was hard to tell, it was still in the bag.”