Monday January 27, 2014

4:40 a.m. Carigara, Leyte, Philippines

Marupoy Hotel, Room 17

Small room about ten feet by ten feet. A single bed, a small picnic table, a locked wardrobe with old magazines on top, a window, a fan, a needlework piece of art on the wall of a seagull flying over a mountain stream and the phrase “There’s a reason for life” at the bottom. Done by someone named JKL in 1974. Not sure how a seagull got into the mountains among pine trees. A bathroom with a sink, toilet, shower, running water. Electricity. Several rooms around a swimming pool. The pool actually works and has clean, fresh water. Videoke resto/bar. Internet café, though it isn’t operational. Just opened last week after repairing damage from the typhoon. 400 pesos per night

I am at the Murupoy Hotel in Carigara. It’s about 60 kilometers from Tacloban and is located right on the ocean. Being in this room with electricity and running water is a big change from my life in Tacloban, and it has been great fun. Having electricity alone makes all the difference in the world. I stayed up later and was much more active. Then I woke up early and could simply flip on the light and have coffee and power up this NEO. Access to running water is almost as wonderful. Plus, there are screens on the windows, so I am in a mosquito-free room. That means I feel tremendously free. I can do whatever I want in this room and relax without being on high alert from mosquitoes all the time. I feel renewed.

There isn’t much to say about my last few days in Tacloban. It rained nearly the entire time, and I spent all my days at the Internet café uploading pictures and working on the blog and putting pictures on Facebook and downloading podcasts. I never did get rid of the viruses on my flash drives, but I figured out that it wasn’t doing any real damage (at least that I could see). It was not the virus that changed all my files to shortcuts. This one simply turned the drive icon into a folder icon and then made it impossible to open the drive by double-clicking on it. After much research and trial and error, I figured out that I couldn’t get rid of the virus. Even formatting the flash drive didn’t work. The virus popped right back up. But there was a way to bypass it. I could simply use “My computer”, switch the view to the “Folders” view and then access the drive that way by simply selecting folders. One technical guy on a website said that it was good policy to always open folders and files this way. He recommended never double-clicking, since that was what launched viruses.

Using the Internet at this café cost 25 pesos per hour, which, I’m told, is over double what it cost before the typhoon. I don’t remember what I used to pay before the typhoon. The family that runs this Internet café is nice. The man is a veterinarian working for the government in his real life. He was a sweet guy and despite being unversed in computers was helpful. They served coffee and tuna sandwiches for 40 pesos, and I had that pretty much every day. I even got him to serve me my coffee in a big mug rather than the little ones they normally use. Two elderly women also work there. One must be his wife, or they are both his sisters. They knew even less about computers and really didn’t care that much one way or the other. They were nice but not very helpful. They also had a photocopier and ran a roaring business in making copies for people. Everyone in Tacloban is trying to rebuild their lives and get jobs and go back to school. To do that, they need copies of documents and letters of reference and ID and resumes. The lineup at the photocopier never died.

I did very little at night. I would have dinner at a simple eatery. My meals generally cost about 100 pesos for a big meal with two meat dishes, a vegetable dish, rice, and soup. It would be about 80 pesos if I had only one meat dish. I might drop by Hayward to say hello and pick up something to eat or drink. I wouldn’t stay for dinner but then went back to the pension house. There, I would lie in the dark listening to podcasts before going to sleep. There was very little going on at the pension house. Leanne stopped coming by to yell at people, which meant that Rene did not come by either. I didn’t see anyone from the owner’s family for a long time, and I ended up leaving Tacloban without saying goodbye to any of them. In all this time, I had never been to any of their houses, so I didn’t know where they lived. And I didn’t have their phone numbers. I felt it was a bit rude to leave that way, but I had little choice. I could have made a big deal about tracking them down, but, in the end, I didn’t think they would really care. Leanne, the main power at the pension house, is 100% self-involved. Besides, no one else ever felt it was necessary to let me know when they were leaving or to discuss their plans. So I just got ready and then left. I saw “Guard!” the night before and said goodbye to him. And I saw Elvis in the morning along with the other guys that have been working at the pension house: Guapo, a big, probably gay guy, and a little character that smiled all the time. Only Elvis spoke any English at all, and I chatted with him and had a proper goodbye, though I suspect he understands little of what I say. He says “Yes” to everything and acts exactly as if he understands, but I’ve learned that he isn’t listening either. I called him on it one day and gave him a hard time, but it made little impression.

I also did not manage to say goodbye to the other people that I sort of got to know in Tacloban. I wrote Dan off a long time ago and didn’t even bother to try to contact him. Seeing the couple from Carigara with their son was a hit-and-miss affair and they didn’t seem to be around lately. I also gave up on Liv and her family. I think they had gone back to Cebu. On my way out of Tacloban yesterday morning, I stopped at Mark’s house. Only the wife of the one son was there in the living room. I think one or two of the sons was upstairs in the house, but she didn’t go to get them. I just chatted with her. I didn’t mind not seeing the sons.I was glad, though, to see the wife. I found her extremely attractive. She was also very bright and cheerful and friendly and engaged in conversation. She actually listened to me, and I felt she was present in a way that few Filipinos are. I could hang around and bask in her vibrant presence for hours.

The only real goodbye that I had was with Manny and Cristina and Yvonne. I saw them the night before I left, and gave them all a goodbye hug. They wanted me to stay for dinner, of course, but I begged off. I had things to do at the pension house, and I just wanted to cook my own dinner and eat in peace. I said that I would come by Hayward in the morning as I rode out of town. I got there quite a bit later than I planned, since getting packed up was much more difficult than I expected. It took a lot longer.

Physically leaving Tacloban was a bit of a challenge. I rode through Pampango and Magallanes and then rejoined the main road intending to follow my regular route to Robinson’s and then on to Ormoc. Unfortunately, the King of Sweden was in town, and the road was blocked by police. At the beginning of the blocked section, a policeman said it was okay for me to ride my bike through. So I rode all the way to the intersection with the Coca-Cola plant. And there, the police wouldn’t let me through. I had to turn around and ride all the way back. That, compounded with some very ominous grey skies, got me anxious and a bit irritable. I then had to make my way out of town along an unfamiliar route and asking for directions everywhere. It added an unwelcome layer of stress to the day. It seemed unfair to be leaving a town that I was very familiar with and then being forced in a direction that I didn’t know. I knew exactly how to get to Ormoc, but I couldn’t follow that route. So I lost the advantage of having been in Tacloban for so long.

The skies were very threatening all day – completely overcast with storm clouds everywhere. In the end, there was no rain at all, but it looked very bad. The ride was quite pleasant since it was cool and breezy. I’d ridden that road twice before, and it was brutal both times with the hot sun. I remember those rides as being very, very hard and unpleasant. But this ride was quite nice. I guess temperature makes a big difference to mood.

I got to see a lot more damage done by the typhoon. It wasn’t nearly as bad as in Tacloban, of course, but there was still a lot of damage. The most dramatic damage was to schools. Some were heavily damaged, and Tzu Chi had built many temporary buildings for them. They were those military style structures. I think they’re called Quonset huts. Many houses had been destroyed and were slapped together with debris. I saw lots of signs still asking for help. I chatted with a few people during the day, and it was clear that Tacloban had reached mythical status. These people had no access to real information, so the rumour mill was in full operation. People called Tacloban a Ghost town. They seemed to think that it was empty except for the dead and that it was still a disaster zone.

The other big news was that the high-end bike shop in Tacloban opened up at the last minute. Not only that, they were doing repairs and were not busy. So I dropped off my bike and a guy there fixed it up completely. He cleaned and regreased the headset, the bottom bracket, and both hubs. He also retensioned and trued both wheels. The whole operation cost only 160 pesos. So far, his repairs have held up. No broken spokes or spoke nipples in the ride from Tacloban to here.

Packing was difficult. I was out of practice and had gathered up even MORE stuff to carry.

1:00 p.m.

The stage: the ferry terminal in Ormoc. The Scene: waiting for the 1:45 ferry to Cebu. I can’t complain about the setting or the timing. I arrived at the ferry terminal at about 12:30 and discovered that there was a SuperCat Fastferry leaving at 1:45. The terminal is fairly spacious and well-organized. I filled out a passenger information slip before I got in the ticket line. The ticket clerk entered the info from my form into a computer and then gave me a computer printout of my ticket. Before this, I was told to just roll my bicycle right inside the ticketing area. From the ticket counter, I went over to the baggage check-in counter. I had to pay 336 pesos for the bicycle. That was on top of 750 pesos for my ticket. Someone asked me if I had any deadly weapons in my luggage, and a friendly dog sniffed over my bags. And that was it. I was inside the terminal and could wheel my bicycle over to a spot near a seat. I got a hot cup of coffee from a snackbar for twenty pesos, washed my hands in the bathroom, put the raincovers on my pannier bags, and now I’m waiting. There are five ferries a day from Ormoc to Cebu. This one is the second-last one. The next one is at 5:00 p.m. That would be too late for me, and I’d probably have tried to spend the night in Ormoc. I had many reasons to be glad about getting this ferry out of Ormoc today. This will give me more time to get my visa extended. It expires on Wednesday. I will now have Tuesday and Wednesday to get that done. If there is a problem on Tuesday, I have Wednesday as a backup. The other reason is that I would probably have trouble finding a place to stay in Ormoc. I hadn’t really given that much thought before, but as I rode into Ormoc, I started to see more and more NGO vehicles and signs. That made me think that the hotels were probably all fully booked by NGO personnel, just like the hotels in Tacloban. So it’s a good thing I’m heading to Cebu, even though I’ll be arriving a bit late in the afternoon and I have no idea where I’ll be staying. I got an email a while back from Chris Pforr, a friend of Scott’s. Chris offered to help me find a place to stay in Cebu – a place within my budget. He said he could meet me down at the docks and then show me around. I just sent him a text message telling him about this ferry. I don’t really care if he meets me. I can probably find a place on my own, and doing so will give me more independence. But having someone to help me might be a nice change. We’ll just have to see how that goes.

I woke up quite early this morning with the idea of getting a headstart on the day. I wanted to get to Ormoc relatively early to give myself a chance of getting an early ferry. It was extremely windy last night and all day today. Plus, it rained heavily at night. I was worried that the weather would be really bad, but it was a great day. The skies cleared up and there was sunshine most of the day. Not too hot and not too cold. The wind was quite strong, but it was mostly at my back. Because of that tailwind, I had a burst of energy and I powered through the long climb up to Lemon and then the long climb after that. I was surprised I had the strength in my legs after that long layoff in Tacloban. And my knees held up very well. I felt a small twinge in my left knee from time to time and that worried me, but they never developed into anything and my knees felt fine all day. Food came naturally, too. I got some bread in Capoocan. Then I stopped for a small breakfast in a little place just before the climb up to Lemon. Then I had a big meal in a town after Lemon. So I wasn’t terribly irritable. I got a bit annoyed at the endless honking and there were some bad moments when I got angry at individual stupid drivers, but nothing out of the ordinary. The stretch from Lemon to Ormoc was actually quite pretty with the long green slope of the mountain range on my left. Early on, I saw a big cloud of white smoke, and I wondered in an off-hand way what kind of fire could produce so much pure white smoke. Then during my lunch, I spotted a man wearing a T-shirt with something about geothermal energy. Then later on, I was talking a picture of a beautiful mountain landscape with the white smoke in the sky, and the penny dropped. I wasn’t looking at wood fires. I was looking at the steam from geothermal vents. It looked to be a beautiful area to explore, but that will have to be for another day. As beautiful as the scenery was, the main thing I’ll remember about the day was the traffic. It makes me reflect again that it isn’t a great idea to cover long distances in a country and do so by the main roads connecting major cities. Better to cycle through the smallest roads you can find. But to do that, you can’t be in a hurry.

Just got a text message from Chris saying that he will meet me at the docks. So that’s interesting.

Also interesting is the crowd here in the boarding area for the ferry. Lots of big white dudes. There’s one older dude sitting at the front, who seems a bit crazy. He’s by himself and he keeps getting up and walking around and doing things with his arms as if he is talking to everyone around him. Then another big dude walked by – really heavyset but strong-looking with a black T-shirt, hoop earrings, and tattoos. Then an older white man – bald, huge fat belly, wearing a white T-shirt and with a Filipina of a similar age. And what looks to be the Filipina’s mother. He’s now busy reading a novel while the two women just sit there.

Reserved seating on this ferry. A gorgeous and very fashionable Filipina just sat in front of me. She’s reading some kind of Sheldon something or other novel in English. I wonder now what I look like to a woman like that. I know I look younger than my 50 years, but with my abysmal fashion sense and hard days of cycling, I look a bit of a mess. I’m not exactly GQ to her Cosmopolitan.

Some hideous karaoke last night, but it only lasted until maybe 10 p.m. Dodged a bullet there. Went for a swim in the hotel’s pool yesterday. It was cold, but very refreshing. Spent the evening marveling at the electric light and running water. Started thinking about better ways to pack the bike – as always. And I had a good idea. Something I should have thought of before. The idea is to use the Dromedary Bag to carry three or four liters of extra water instead of the two big Nalgene bottles I bought. There are at least two advantages. One is that the Dromedary bag packs much smaller in volume than the 2 Nalgene bottles. Plus, when it is empty, it goes flat and takes up no space. The Nalgene bottles, being solid, take up exactly the same amount of space whether they have water in them or not. And I’m currently doubling up on containers having both the Dromedary bag and the Nalgene bottles. No need to double up. If I use the Dromedary Bag, I can put it inside a front pannier bag. Then getting rid of the Nalgene bottles will free up the tall pocket on the rear pannier bag. And I can put my meth alcohol fuel bottle, X2 fuel bottle, Trangia alcohol burner and maybe even the Trangia X2 burner in there. That would free up a lot of volume inside the pannier bags while making my load a little bit lighter. It’s a win-win-win move. But that is assuming that using the Dromedary Bag in a pannier bag pocket will work. I will only know that for sure by testing it out. My worry is that the Dromedary will spring a leak in some way. In the past, I’ve only used it to temporarily hold water – to carry it from the well to my hotel room, for example. I’ve never kept water in it all day long every day. And I don’t know if it would be convenient to get at it when I want it. The Nalgene bottles are at least very convenient.

 

 

Tags: bike, Dromedary Bag, Philippines Bike Trip 2013, Super Typhoon Yolanda, Tacloban, typhoon