An Island in the Middle of Nowhere

The Philippines is an archipelago made up of 7,107 islands.

I was born in the United States but I spent a good chunk of my adolescence in Cebu, Philippines. During the summers my family would visit the island, Maripipi, where my mom hails from. It’s a tiny island in the middle of nowhere.

When I was a kid, there was no electricity and no running water. During my last visit (after college) they had electricity but only for a short period at night. Today, only a handful of houses have running water using an elaborate water tank and pump system. Electricity is only available for 12 hours from 6 pm to 6 am.

To really put things in perspective, it’s one of the poorest areas in one of the poorest nations in the world. People on the island don’t have much. I went through my Grateful Dead phase in college and had several tie-dyed shirts. I was surprised to see those shirts that I donated several years ago still being worn. Besides clothing, food is at a premium. People live on 100 pesos a day (about $2) which is barely enough to buy rice and fish for an entire family. Despite the harsh reality of life, people don’t carry guns and there aren’t liquor stores on every corner. There is gambling, drinking, smoking, and general mischief but there’s no police. The people police themselves.

In some ways I’m very envious of the life they live. My uncle (my mom’s brother) and my aunt (my mom’s sister) live about three blocks from my mom. She gets to visit them every morning for a cup of coffee. My cousins all live a few blocks from each other. I was only there for 5 days but while I was there, there were two parties where all my relatives got together. The cousins that left the island come back once a year during fiesta (a huge village party). Usually the parties involve karaoke. Everyone sings. I even belted out “Can’t Help Falling In Love” to a much lower score than my more accomplished karaoke singing cousins.

Basketball is huge on the island. Every day there are games that go on at the local court. The last time I was there, I played pick up games every day. This time I abstained from playing mainly because I hurt my foot. Besides my forte is shooting jump shots and it doesn’t go well with the running style they play. They simply don’t place a premium on shooting. Moreover, at the local gym in Denver, at 6 feet, I’m usually one of the shortest players on the court. On the island, I’m the tallest.

After five days on the island, we were happy to visit but also happy to get back to a city. We’re city folk. Waking up to an alarm clock is much better than walking up to a rooster. You can turn off an alarm clock, you can’t turn off a rooster.

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