Water Water Everywhere . . .

Carmen's emergency water source

 . . . but  nary a drop to drink.  When Samuel Taylor Coleridge penned the Rime of the Ancient Mariner, I don't think he had life in the Philippine islands in mind.  But it's interesting to find that there are times when fresh water is a problem here.  I was a little shocked when I found out how much it would cost me to stay in "drinking water" here if I continued to buy bottled water like we get at the convenience stores in the US.  Those 500 ml bottles of water are a mere P20 to 30 each - or $.50 to .75 -- better than in the US, for sure. But I ran into a problem the other day when I realized I was not feeling well because I had allowed myself to become dehydrated. If I consume as much water as I am supposed to, those cheap bottles of water will end up costing me a couple hundred by the end of my stay.  So, I bought one of those 5 gallon size containers - which is refillable for that same P20 to 30 (depending on where you are on the island).  That certainly solved that problem, and my "host" family is always checking to make sure I have enough water to drink.

Cocoa wrapped in bags to keep bugs out as "fruit" matures

That said, I was rather surprised when I was visiting in Carmen that sometimes they run out of water in their wells.  During the dry season, or El Nino, their water wells dry up completely, leaving them without water for cooking, washing, etc.  Even the municipal water sources dry up.  However, there is a cave not far from where I stayed in Carmen that has a natural spring running into it.  It is the only place where there is water, and so it becomes the community resource.  People use it for drinking water, for washing clothes, for bathing  . . . yes, all from the same little pond.  And the town sends a truck in that sucks water out of the cave and hauls it back to town.

I visited that cave with Pastor David last weekend.  Before they had a baptistry there in the church they used the cave for baptisms.  It was a little bit of a walk and there was only a dirt path -- if you didn't know where it was  you'd be hard pressed to find it.  On the way back I noticed some kind of fruit on a tree that was wrapped in plastic bags while still on the tree.  It was cocoa!  In fact I had some fresh cocoa this morning on my breakfast of sticky rice accompanied by a banana or two. Was interesting to see that along the way.  There are so many things that we see only in the store, I feel rather "stupid" when I walk around asking "what's that" and "what's this" and so on.  But it's part of the learning process, and it gives me things to talk about here in my blog and when I return home.

Tomorrow . . . I don't know the topic, but I will be traveling to Tagbilaran on Friday to visit immigration - need to get my visa extended.  It will be my first official encounter with Filipino bureaucracy outside of the airport.