That's all, folks! ;)

I often have a nagging voice in my head, that keeps questioning whether what I've done or achieved is good enough, and whether it's time quite yet to rest. Port Barton in that sense is a really good place: The town has a certain atmosphere to it, which seems to say "Just do nothing. It's ok!" It's hard to describe, but I could understand why people would want to come back to it.

On my last day, we took these pics with everyone from Singapore and the staff.

I left the resort on the 14th of September. In Singapore I stayed for a night in the Crowne Plaza at the Airport. Might be the best hotel ever for me. I had floor-to-ceiling windows and perfect views of the runway!

Then onwards to Bali on the 15th. Just to fall sick. Had fever all the way through until today (20th), the day on which I'm travelling back to Germany. Kinda feel deprived of my Bali and Singapore experience to which I was looking forward to so much. Anyway, such is life, I guess!

The entrepreneur Paul Hawken recently said in a graduation speech: "When asked if I am pessimistic or optimistic about the future, my answer is always the same: If you look at the science about what is happening on earth and aren’t pessimistic, you don’t understand data. But if you meet the people who are working to restore this earth and the lives of the poor, and you aren’t optimistic, you haven’t got a pulse." In many ways, this is also a good summary for my time in the Philippines starting this social enterprise. To learn about some of the wrongdoings in society and damages done to nature was painful. At the same time I had incredibly uplifting experiences talking to people who have the passion and capabilities to work against destructive forces.

By now, my "replacement" has taken over. We had 3 very intensive days of handover (i felt sorry, her head must have been spinning!). She seemed to have a great start. In her very few days, she achieved a lot of things already. Which kinda makes me think whether I made most efficient use of my time there. Oh, there's the nagging voice again...

Hitler's Nutrition

So, we're trying to be a social enterprise. I think most would agree that taking part in corruption is not compatible with that. Seems intuitive. So far, so good. As a business in the Philippines, we have to pay taxes on our income. However, in this town there seems to be an established way to do this: You pay the tax collector a small bribe and then you report whatever income you want. Still, it seems like there is a "standard" of how much "underestimation" you do. For resorts, reporting somewhere between 10% and 30% of actual income is silently agreed upon. What does that mean for a social enterprise? If we pay the bribe, that would be illegal, so not good. If we report real income, we'll disrupt the current balance in town, because then it will look funny at the tax authorities why some resorts make so much more money than others. That would certainly not help us in gathering support for the projects we would like to implement. It would actually hurt the very community that we are trying to support. Hm, tricky....

It's encouraging to see, though, that there are many other initiatives that are also trying to involve the community or try to protect the environment. Like Pasyar Developmental Tourism, a travel agency that specializes on experiences that are community organized (like a Mangrove Paddling tour close to Puerto Princesa). And the resort next door, who gives shelter to turtles until they are grown up so that they don't get eaten by other animals.
Also, they launched a fish farm (which is basically a collection of cages that are put into the sea) here in Port Barton. That means that the locals can work on that instead of taking the fish out of the ocean. Having these cages in the bay might not be the greatest thing from a tourism perspective, but if it keeps the fishermen from pouring cyanide into the ocean, I'm happy. Cyanide, by the way, was Hitler's choice for ending his presence on earth. So another reason why it is a really stupid way of catching fish that are meant for human consumption.

Pictures only...

Really slow day today. I wanted to go a resort on one of the Islands (http://www.coconutgarden.palawan.net/) to discuss the reserve zone in the ocean with the owner. But then the same ocean wasn't very cooperative with waves too high. So I stayed on the mainland.

Hence, just two more pics of the surroundings.

Fleck-Weck, your trusted laundry shop

Here is one for my German friends. A local laundry place in Puerto called "Fleck Weck". Translated literally from German into English (with slightly different spelling) it means "stain removed". I'm sure this isn't a coincidence, but still wonder how this piece of German language made it into the name of this random laundry shop.

This is the jeepney I took today back from Puerto to Port Barton.

And this is the view I had for some three hours.

Language DJs; How (not) to make friends in a supermarket

It seems like most countries which use English as one of their languages (or where English has a strong influence on the local language), a term for a mix between the local language and English exists. It usually ends on “glish”. So that would be “Denglish” in Germany, “Singlish” in Singapore, for example. With English and Tagalug (Filipino) as official languages, the Philippines seem like a natural location for such a term. But I have to say I was a bit surprised by the choice of languages that I was given at an ATM today. See yourself:

In my very first few days in the Philippines, some teenagers in Puerto Princesa started talking to me. Really seemed like normal young people to me, maybe like 14 years or so of age. Then one guy was asking for my number. I thought that was awkward, but then it seemed rude to me to say no, so I told him. Later that day, I left my cell phone unattended for an hour, came back an had like 12 missed calls. Soon another call from the same number. It was the teenager, asking me to meet him. Then I was annoyed, replied I’m busy and hung up. Two more similar calls. Then I started to get text messages along the lines of “Baby, I really need you tonight”. Funny. So that was a learning right there. Yesterday, I went shopping. When you go from one level to the other, you have to leave your bags at the security.
At the hotel room, I found this note in one of my bags.

As much as I would like to believe that the security guard would like to be my friend because of my character, style, and because he whole heartedly agrees with my views about how to protect the environment in this country, I somehow don’t think that’s the case. Probably more some joke like the one I experienced earlier. Or he’s trying to get money. Of which foreigners, as we all know, have endless supplies.

I spent the day at the Underground River today, 2 hours north of Puerto Princesa. It’s a long river that goes through the caves in a mountain. You paddle through it in a boat and explore all the stone formations and countless bats with a flash light. It was really impressive, especially the larger caves, like a dome with natural statues in it and water constantly dripping from the ceiling. If you ignore the boats in front of you and behind you, it was really like Indiana Jones exploring the world. If you take them into account, it was like Haunted Mansion in Disneyworld. ;)

Anyway, so the Underground River is trying hard to win a place in a semi-official worldwide chase for the “New 7 wonders of nature”. (http://www.new7wonders.com/) So arriving at the entrance you’re led to the registration desk, at which you basically had to put your name and signature into two lists. Fairly easy, so of course nobody asks what this is for. The second list said “New 7 Wonders Visitors List”. So, somehow I became suspicious and was asking what that list is for. I was explained that they submit that list (easily hundreds of names per day) as votes for the underground river to the contest. How cheap is that? I don’t like being fooled, so I wasn’t happy. Knowing that it is really not a thing to do to get angry in public in an Asian country, I didn’t say much. But it’s really stupid. Not only were people fooled in signing some petition, but also they supposedly “voted” for the underground river before they have even seen it. Precisely a few minutes before they have seen it. I was assured that usually I should have been explained that this was a vote. Yeah, right, how stupid do you think I am?

Hey, now a live guitarists starts playing really good music at this place! How cool! I’m sitting in a coffee shop in Puerto.

After the underground river I went to tour the mangroves in that area on another paddle boat (just for the record, there were always people who did the paddling _for_ me ;) I enjoyed seeing some hard wood trees, i.e., tall trees that in most other parts of Palawan were cut by the loggers. So and around these trees, you do get “real” rainforest. Very cool. They tour was organized by the community locally. Since we also would like to do some community led activities in our resort in Port Barton (the no-take zone also would need to be co-managed by the locals), I was interested in how it works. Before I was even introducing myself with that intention, the boatmen told me that this is a community-based thing, and that he is a volunteer in this. I guess every visitor now would think “man, these people are actually giving up their time to paddle me around their nature, which they want to preserve." At least I was thinking that. And was comparing that to the locals that I have in Port Barton, who happily put poison into the ocean to catch fish for a few Euros, destroying nature for years by doing so. So, I asked more, wanting to understand how they could do this for free. They have to feed their family after all. Turns out, they get 80% of the revenues. Grrrrrrrrrrr! I think the idea of them getting paid makes perfect sense. But why did they have to say they are volunteers? If they get 80% of revenues, I’d say they are the best paid volunteers in the region.

Tarzan and city boy

Do you take a hot shwower and electricity for granted? Well, I did. Until I started living in the jungle. To be precise, at a resort where people come and pay to spend their vacation, but still the no-hot-water and no-24h-electricity thing kinda makes you appreciate these amenities after a while. So now I escaped the jungle for a few days. I am in Puerto Princesa, the main (and by some standards only) city in Palawan for some meetings and to buy items you don't get in Port Barton (like a laminating machine). My much anticipated hot shower still wasn't meant to be though, because for some reason the warm water in my room doesn't work. I'm not sure if they understand why I was so disappointed. (Oh, yes, I am spoiled. :)

Had a meeting last night with some people about the no-take zone. I sent them a power point presentation with my thoughts about it in advance. A page for example would look something like this.

They were getting pretty excited about it. It's encouraging to see somebody be excited about a powerpoint presentation (well, and/or the content..). Really can't recall having seen that degree of excitement in my 2 years professional experience that taught me how to make these documents.

A sound you will never hear in a Muslim country....

Today I talked to another resort owner about the no-take marine reserve. Everyone seems quite supportive. I know it's not that easy, because there have been attempts before which failed in execution. Still, it's nice to see people get excited about the concept we are proposing. Hopefully when (if) I come back in a year or so, the zone is actually established!

When you walk around rural areas in the Philippines, you often see that people have a pig on their premise. Soon I had to learn that they do not keep it because they think it is such a nice pet to have, but rather see it as a source of nutrition. So at some point in time, it has to be slaughtered. This morning was one of those "point in times". I know, because you can hear the pig at any place in the village, no matter where it is being killed...

Much in contrast to that, here are some more views of the beautiful Palawan sunsets we get to witness on most evenings.

Bookworm

You know how there's this idiom "Bookworm", i.e., a person who reads a lot? So, here at the resort we have a table with books for guests to read. It is mainly made up of books that guests have left here at the resort. Since I wanted to have a place to put up the new computer for guest use, I decided to clean up that table and use half of it for the computer. So I went through the books to see which ones could be thrown away (half of them were written before I was born, I think) and was thrilled to see that worms were actually eating some of the books. So, are these now called "bookworm" as well? Probably not... Anyway, so we threw the books and also the table away (the table got attacked as well), because I wasn't sure if these are modern bookworms that are also into IT these days.

Tonight I am spending most of my time teaching the staff how to use a computer. For some of them it is literally the first time using a keyboard. Fun stuff! :)

Underwater Vision

Nothing too exciting today... I went out to one of the potential sites for the no take zone with the dive operator lady. She was offering me to snorkel. After I was snorkeling for teh first time in my life in El-Nido recently and was pretty excited about it, I would have liked to. But, stupid me, I brought about 45kg of luggage with me from Germany (no joke) but failed to include enough contact lenses. I thought like, eh, ten should be enough... anyway, that whole snorkeling thing doesn't work with glasses, so I spent an hour on a rocking boat waiting for them to come back. Yeehaa! But it was good to see the site and get a feeling for how large we would have to set the no-take zone. Also saw that there was a resort on an island nearby, so maybe the resort owner could become a partner in supervising the enforcement of the whole thing.

Ok, electricity is gonna shut down soon. So I better stop. Just one more thing: Currently watching a movie called "Vicky Christina Barcelona". It's the third-or-so woody allen movie that I really like. I like the narrator it has, simply telling the story and then the actors "only" have the job of bringing the story to life.

Smokin'!!

There was no internet yesterday (Saturday)... so this is yesterday's post..

Played ping-pong today with one of the tourists today and won! After the guy told me that I could "win back my honor" after having "lost my pants" when I played against another tourist earlier. I let that guy win, seriously. Didn't know he would walk around and tell the every tourist in town. Not that that is much of an effort: I think right now there are about 6 guests in town. Low season. And everybody knows everybody. Quite particular. :)

I went and talk to the lady who is operating a dive center in town. I wanted to find out what sites would be good to set up a "No take marine zone" (a zone in which no fishing is allowed, so that the corals and other marine life can regenerate). She told me a couple of spots where there are still some corals and some marine life left, hence would be worth protecting. In case you're interested: http://ambio.allenpress.com/perlserv/?request=res-loc&uri=urn%3Aap%3Apdf%3Adoi%3A10.1579%2F05-A-054R1.1
Anyway, her husband had a stroke recently. So now he is feeling a bit better and came out and sat with us while we talked. He was bones and skin only, really. His thighs were about has thick as my wrists, maybe not even that. So he sat with us, and his sick, weak body got to smoke one cigarette after another. It was disturbing to watch...

Effects of "greed and corruption"

Hm, so more than half of my volunteering experience is over, and since the first day I kept wondering whether I should write a blog about it. So, along the lines of better late than never, let me try to write a few a lines a day. If I'd try to summarize everything that happened so far, I think I'd never get started, so let me just jump right into daily business instead. I hope whoever reads this enjoys doing so! :)

Yesterday I had to sit down again and talk to the hotel staff (7 in total) about the ongoing changes, i.e., the new management company taking over. Which I am representing these days. I realized how bad I am at addressing a group of people about their immediate future. If I were in their shoes, I'd be somewhere between falling asleep and wondering what in the world that guy is trying to tell me... given that I might have to address people I am responsible for again in the future, I somehow have to get better at this. Less blabla, more things that actually matter to my audience, I guess. Anyway, so I told them I'd like to invite them to go out for lunch (it's low season, almost no guests, so we can leave the hotel with one person only for an hour, I figured). Today we want to the restaurant next door. They chose from their menu in the morning. They could have just chosen from our menu, because all the restaurants in this town seem to have the same menu of about 120 items such as chicken schnitzel, fish curry, spaghetti carbonara, and the like. Anyway, lunch went ok, the whole language issue didn't help though. So it was quiet at times. Sigh. I don't see myself speaking Tagaluk anytime soon. Apart from the fact that they don't speak english as well as i hoped, I'm really blessed with the staff here. They have no reason to make life easy for me here, but they really try hard.

We're trying to get a frenchman living on one of the neighbouring islands on board to help us with the redesign of the hotel. He currently fights his own fight against the tourism development, has the local government and corporations try to evict him from the island to build large scale hotels. There are a million reasons why that is not a good idea (like some species only exists there) and a handful of laws that actually prohibit any development there. But still the process moves along happily. In an email today he described the philippines as "a country where greed and corruption are not part of the system, but are the system." Somehow that seems to fit some of the stuff I am observing.

Environmental issues are pressing. I saw a recent coffee table book describing Palawan. It mentioned "vast areas of virgin forest" on the island. As far as I understand, all the forests here are about as virgin as a rape victim. Thanks, loggers. (Btw: The owner of the logging company is the same who wants to develop tourism now on the island of the frenchman above). But I guess coffee table books are not to bother with something as disturbing as reality.

Another area where the depletion is big is the underwater life. Dynamite fishing in the last decade, now cyanide fishing. I would like to work with the local community and tourism businesses to set up a "no-take marine reserve", i.e., a zone where any form of fishing is not allowed and, better yet, access is controlled. This would reserve some space for corals and marine life to exist, which would benefit tourism and the fishermen alike (so called spill over effects). I'll try to talk to a dive operator (the last one in town, all the others are gone because the diving sites have been destroyed) tomorrow. She has tried this effort before, but hopefully with another hotel saying that we need a no-take zone, plus educational efforts in the community, we might be successful in a year or so.

On a similar note: As i gradutated recently, I still remember the grad speech, given by the ceo of Heineken (yes, that beer company). The speech was ok, but also not great, I have to say. I don't really remember much apart from "reach out to your network". If you wanna be entertained by a really good one, I liked this here: http://www.up.edu/commencement/default.aspx?cid=9456

Phew, this has gotten rather lengthy and a bit gloomy.. really, I'm enjoying my job here, it's just that some of the stuff I get to learn is a bit painful in the end. It is great to see how little things are improving here. We have a compost system started. No trash is burned. No TV running in the public area. Guest information folder in every room. IT system for staff and guest use installed. This kind of "actually doing things" that you don't see in a consultanting role... So, enough for today!