This was a market that was devoted to dried fish. It was amazingly stinky, But very cool to see.

My relatives are always trying to get me to bring this stuff back as pasalubong (gifts) for my mom and dad and other friends/relatives…

And if you could smell it there too you would understand why I always respond:

“I am not a courier. You can hire Fedex or UPS for that.”

Happy Travels…

This was the dock at Sumilon island.
A gorgeous island, 10 minutes (by boat) off of southern Cebu.

Sumilon is a marine sanctuary that is pristine and protected from development . It is a 12 bungalow resort on an island that has no vehicles on it. Is completely quiet and totally nourishing for the soul…

We spent an afternoon relaxing by the infinity pool, on our own sand bar, in the main cabana sipping beers…

Happy Travels…

Carcar is one of Southern Cebu’s most busy small towns. It is a crossroads for major highways and tons of traffic move thru the town. My mom spent her teenage years here , growing up with the extensive family (that are still there). And after years of visiting I still meet relatives I had never met on prior trips…

One of my favorite places to visit when I am in Carcar is the Carcar market. It is disgustingly captivating. Teeming with life. The thing that reminds me that my standard of living is purely relative.

I have a thing for Marketplaces. And this place is one of the first places that I ever visited and got me interested in how places of commerce exist from country to country. In this small, stinky, dirty market are the roots of my adventures; the things that had an influence on my visits to markets in Italy, Japan, Thailand, Amsterdam, Austrailia, Egypt.

My favorite thing that I ate from the market this trip was the “putomaya”. for 5pesos (10 cents) each, I would buy the sticky rice cooked with ginger wrapped in banana leaves and eat it with the most delicious mangoes… mmmm…. disgustingly delicious

Happy Travels…

We were driving around the island of Cebu, when we came upon a fiesta going on in one of the towns. Fiestas are a huge thing in the Philippines. And when the highways go thru the middle of town it can be a huge source of traffic…fortunately we caught it in its beginning stages on a Monday (from my understanding it would continue on for the entire week) but the scene is festive with tons of music blaring, people eating, and wandering up thru the vendor stalls.

As you can see the objective is to get yourself to one- an opportunity to be happy and forget about things for a while…

Happy Travels…

My Friend Noell has spent some time in the Philippines and I thought of her when I caught these shots… Noell always comments on my posts whenever I make it back there and I love the reminiscing quality and tone of her comments. I dont know where she actually traveled to in the Philippines, but I imagine some of it looked like this.

And I’m sure Noell, that you remember the markets- the wet markets that are stinky and dirty but oh so full of life…. Yes, I’ve got some of those shots… and they’ll be posted sometime soon….

Happy Travels…

Met this little guy on the branch of a lush plant. I was a bit apprehensive to move in close out of fear that it would jump toward me, but he was really cooperative and tame for the most part. 

I liked the shiny black of the spider’s outer skin- like patent leather- and the way it never really moved abruptly- it just shimmied around skillfully and demonstrated an oddly strange beauty…

Spiders arent typically my favorite things. But it was cool to get a cose look for a change…

Happy Travels…

It was Sunday, 3 weeks ago. While we were on the pier waiting for the spectacular sunset (see yesterday’s set of photos), I spotted this Father and Daughter combo- hanging out; spending a Sunday evening together waiting for the sun to set too.

I loved seeing one of my favorite Filipino traits in action- and these two demonstrated it vividly: the love of family.

While my cousins and I were snapping up photos, the Father smiled at me. I stayed somewhat close to them; not aiming the camera at them but trying slowly to make a point that the camera was not something to be threatened by…

I could tell that my eye contact with the dad served to be good interaction- and eventually he was ok with letting me snap some shots. His daughter was a little bit more apprehensive.

I love how you can see the Father beam with pride over his sweet daughter; How he gently tried to get her to smile for the camera. I loved how he was taking time out of his day to let her know how important she was. I loved how in spite of these things, she still showed her true bashful self… it was a cool connection to capture and see…

And how appropriate that tonight I had the pleasure of hanging out with my family with the joyful noise of kids (and adults) hollering, laughing and (literally) running around the house chasing each other. Super great way to get the kids (and adults heheh ) to expend that last bit of energy before bed…

Cheers to family and the love that is shared…

Happy Travels…

These two men were at the end of the pier that is 3 blocks away from my aunt’s house in Sibonga, Cebu. My cousins and I were there to hangout and checkout the Sunday evening crowd mill around the pier and catch the sunset.

the sunset here proved to be magnificent.

but the sunset wasn’t the only incredible color in the sky.

Here the entire sky lights up as the sun sets. Clouds high in the opposite end of the sky would light up in bright pinks and oranges and would take on what looked like the tropical version of the northern lights. It was simply an amazing site to see and witness…

Happy Travels…

These kids were riding their bikes thru the park in Naga up and down the sidewalk.

The boy in the Yellow and Orange shirt showed no hesitation and bashfulness with the camera pointed at him but the Taller boy in white did. The boy suggested they include their other friend in the photo and as he pointed the way and I walked up the road behind them they turned around to offer a pose. We didnt exchange much conversation. In fact, I didnt speak a word- it was just an interaction of friendly smiles and non threatening glances and the results are some pretty cool portraits…

Happy Travels…

Another portrait of a kid hanging out at the local seaside park in Naga, Cebu.

He was apprehensive when I approached him with the camera- turned away and I realized it was more that he didnt want to share his snack than anything else. As I started to snap shots and smile as I did it. He seemed to no lnger be threatened and was back to enjoying his afternoon goodness… Ah simple living…

This week I encountered the situation at work that made me think about Band aids. I thought about how often we make “quick and easy” solutions to dilemmas- and how often times, those solutions not only end up making the situation worse, they do nothing to actually address the real problems.

Band aids are used to stop bleeding and to cover up wounds. But the most important thing needed to help a wound is time.

We should take the time to assess the situation and take appropriate action. We should take time to clean the wound and prevent infection; we should take time to heal.

Like an actual scenario needing a band aid- The band aid is not the primary solution. Time, thought, and appropriate action are just as necessary.

Ask yourself if you are taking the necessary time to understand, assess and address life situations. Are you providing a temporary fix to a problem or are you honestly and courageously working with the real issue at hand?

*****

Going thru some photos from my trip and remembered the visit to my uncle’s poultry farm.

He was telling me about how all Poultry farms had suffered recently- that for all farmers, the growth of the poultry just stopped at a certain point. His conclusions centered around the fact that Melamine had recently been added to the feed. This was done as a cost savings function- an alternative that still provided a protein base to the feed, but offset the high escalating cost of fuel (used to pick up the original fish based additives that the melamine replaced).

It was a real interesting conversation and a huge realization of the kind of real life domino effect that exists… Some visuals of that actual visit:

*****

Decided that I will start a small photo series review today. For the next couple of weeks, I’ll post a shot a day, explaining a bit of the sistuation and some of the stories and meaning behind the photo. For me an image can be fixed in my memory because of the meaning (the association) that my mind attaches to it, and this definitely influences things that I notice and attempt to capture.

I caught this photo in the town of Naga, Cebu. We were meeting up with my uncle who was coming in on a bus. While we were waiting we decided to catch teh views of the harbor. Several people were around enjoying the sun and the views. This group of 3 started talking to me in decent broken english trying to get me to buy them a bottle of rum. Entertained I respectfully declined. They were fun though, and were very willing to pose for a shot…

On a practical level I wish that the shot contained the entire full length of the bodies and also that the shade wasn’t as severe. Small things to keep in mind in future shots…