I can explain. They are like a criminal investigator because they can find any exposed area of skin. I have worn long-sleeves and pants pretty much the entire time I have been here. I have put OFF! on all parts of my ankles, wrists and neck. Mosquitoes do an investigation of my body and then they can pinpoint the exact area of where I missed my coverage. Once finding this area, they are like a rabid Pit-bull, relentless and with no-mercy. Catubig may have been the worst of it (although I would be proven wrong on Saturday). I got a mosquito bit on the bottom of my foot! How does this happen?!
Anywho, the mosquito bites are just part of the experience. I get about 5-10 a day, but only a couple really bother me, it’s just okay. Friday, however, was a great day. I realized before we left that this was going to be my last attendance of center meetings, so I was looking forward to taking in the experience even more than before. I have been attentive at every meeting, but was looking forward to these even more.
It is funny what you get out of everything in life, but attending these center meetings finally hit me where I thought they would hit from the get-go. One of the members at the first center meeting was talking about her business (or livelihood) and she had the most sincere look of concern on her face. It was the most genuine and most fearful concern I have ever seen. I thought to myself “this is why this program is here and this is why FGP is such a great thing”. It hit me pretty hard, but gave me a new sense of energy to commit the rest of my trip to helping these people in any way that I can… in whatever capacity that is.
It was later told to me that the two centers we observed in the morning were extremely poor and considered some of the poorest in the country. You would have never guessed it by riding through the towns. While poor in goods and money, everyone had a grin on their face and they were all out and about working and doing various activities. Like I said before, many of these people have a different livelihood than those on the coast. For one, they do not have the coast, so fishing is not one of their livelihoods, so that has to be replaced with rice farming. The Sari-Sari store is still prevalent, but their lives revolve around the farming of rice. One problem the area has had since the 80’s and 90’s is deforestation. The cutting down of trees can cause the ground to become less stable and cause for severe erosion. As such, in heavy rains, the hills of Catubig and Las Navas become unstable and landslides occur often, causing death, destruction and devastation to the region. This can leave the rice farmers out of business for quite some time. This is just one of the many problems the region faces.
The rest of the day consisted of riding back to Catarman on the back of Bimbooy’s bike with Andy sitting behind me… it was a bit tight… and tiring. We got back to the Hina Branch and I was ready to go to bed after a couple of beers… of course. We went to a local hot spot that was called Rancho Gloria. It was quite different than any of the other bars we had been to before. It was all open air (with a few exceptions) and was partially over water and very big. It was quite fun and I was intrusted to take everyone back to their respective houses… this causes me to be the one to take three people on a motorbike back to Catarman. Little did I know it was just preparation for tomorrow.
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