Day 37

Arrived early morning, about 700am, in Cuyo for an 8 hour stop-over in the small sleepy town. The pier juts out from a very pretty beach with tan colored sand where many taxi pump boats park which service travel needs to the other dozens of islands in the area. We searched local eateries for Filipino dishes but none were veg. I got a rude bought two guayabanos and both were rotten throughout even though one looked perfectly good from the outside.

We were amazingly able to get a transfer out of the “air con” area to the main deck with pretty good ventilation, especially when there is a nice breeze. We also got a refund of the difference between the two classes of travel.

While walking around the small town we met a German man who was with his kindergarten age son and Filipino wife shopping in the market. They have lived here 6 years. We discussed our travels so far and the state of local affairs. He mentioned a University of the Philippines study had found that 97% of the local reefs have been destroyed by dynamite and cyanide fishing. Cuyo Island has an airstrip that is used by charter flights to pick up live fish for transport to Manila and Hong Kong where customers like to see their fish live in the tank before eating it. There used to be passenger flights but they were discontinued due to insufficient use.

As I write this Friday evening, on the last leg of the journey, we are starting to get smells from the bathroom. The upstairs toilets are the kind with the large pool of water that is almost impossible to flush without a large bucket since they require so much water, so waste just sits in the toilet. Fortunately, downstairs, the toilets are the kind that use only a small amount of water to flush and they are continuously being flushed by a vigorous water flow, probably sea water. I wonder where the waste ends up! Although the trash was emptied in Cuyo, the boat’s overall cleanliness and maintenance is not excellent. For example, one of the bath sinks is broken and a light is missing. A toddler vomited just outside the toilet and there is really no way to properly clean the floor. Someone just swished the mess over to the wall. So far it is not creating odors.

This has been our first long haul ferry ride. Maitri is opining that maybe we should fly back to Manila instead of taking the overnight ferry from Palawan. It is her least favorite mode of transportation. When there are so many people in such a small space for a long period of time, the environment deteriorates very quickly.

We met Alma Gensito, 76 yr old retired teacher, who grew up in Boracay Island, had her first baby when she was 19 and went on to have 11 more. Her last baby was born when she was 42. She and her husband have 11 boys and 1 girl. Their daughter is one of the twins, their 7th pregnancy. They moved to Palawan when her husband was offered a teaching position in the southern part of Palawan. She and her husband got their degrees in education while raising their children. She is amazed at herself how she did it all. She said in the 4 years it took her to finish her degree, she gave birth to 3 children. She herself has 10 siblings. She has now 36 grand children, including 6 great grandchildren.