"Fish Alley"

Rick calls this "Fish Alley". This is Damortis, here they have lots of fish drying and also selling fish every day. This lady was happy to pose for the picture. This is at the intersection where we turn left to go to Baguio. The road is lined with street vendors all selling the same things.

Main Street in Mangaldan

This is the main road for travel in Mangaldan. Notice Jolllibee's sign on the right. There are very few cross walks and the vehicles--cars, padyak's or trykes don't necessarily stop at them even if there are people trying to cross.

Here pedestrians have the least amount of right of way. The rule here is the bigger the more power you have on the road. Buses rule and big trucks. Buses don't slow down or move over for ANYONE or ANYTHING period! They also don't have seatbelts and most have no air conditioning in them, if they do they cost more to ride in.

Trykes and padyaks line both sides of the street, this is how a lot of people make their living here. They park their tryke or padyak by a place of business and wait for people to come out and hire them to take them and their purchases home. Many people here don't own a vehicle of any kind or even a tryke. There is a lot of walking done in the Philippines.

It takes some getting use to getting around these passenger carrying vehicles. The bikes and trykes can turn on a dime and will -- right in front of you without any warning. They have a basket attached, we have seen as many as 9 or 10 people riding in or standing on the edge or back of them to get the most for the pesos. Bigger towns won 't allow the padyaks--they are a peddle bike, they go very slow. Baguio doesn't allow trykes (they couldn't make it up the hills in Baguio). Baguio has mainly cars, motorcycles, taxi's and Jeepney's. Taxis in the Philippines are not very expensive, they can't be and stay in business. Baguio is a richer city, a resort for all the Philippines because it is in the mountains and much cooler for vacationing. There are no taxis in Mangaldan. Padyaks are the cheapest means of transportation here because they are the slowest. Trykes (motorcycle with a basket attached for passengers)are faster so they are a little more.

My Plant Collection

Originally I wanted just a few plants so it would look like home and not so temporary--like I really LIVED here. I wanted it to look more lived in. The Patio just felt so bare. So I bought 4 plants. Well...

The plants begin to grow. First our two Filipino ladies, (one is a cousin about 60 or so taking care of an Aunt who is almost 90) have a huge collection of plants and flowers and they decided I needed MORE plants. They brought over about 4 starts from plants they had. Then Fe, our Filipino neighbor across the street--not to be outdone--brought a few of her starts to add to the collection. My plant collection became a small garden in pots.

The pots are pretty cheap here about $1.00 a pot unless it is the bigger or a painted one. My only problem is some days I just don't have time to water them. Not to worry--if our neighbor ladies see I am not watering them, they come over and do it for me. During the rainy season watering is not a problem but it has been very hot here for the last couple of months and some of my plants have gone to plant heaven. My neighbors do their best to help me out but I just don't seem to give them enough water regularly. Plants do make it feel like a permanent home though. Our neighbors really look out for us--we couldn't ask for better neighbors.

Filipino Pesos

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This is the money we use. The bills: 20 pesos is about 40 cents, 100 pesos= $2.00, 500 pesos= $10.00 and 1,000 pesos= $20.00, give or take the rate of exchange. The coins from L-R: 10 pesos= 20 cents, 5 pesos=10 cents, 1 peso=2 cents, 25 centavos=1/2 cent. the tiny one hardly anyone uses. The little one is 5 centavos--it is hardly worth making them. We hardly every get them. When the centavos get close to the next pesos they just keept the change. It usually isn't even worth the bother to carry them around. It took me a while to equate the pesos with dollars but I have it down now.

Danger Up Ahead

This is just one sample of a road danger marker. It isn't so bad during the day but at night it is anything but safe! That is a big hole in the road made by the typhoon last October.

This is one of the better danger markers. They use branches a lot about 20 feet before you get to the danger, at night you can't see it until you are right upon it.

This is another sample of a road danger sign. You have to be very alert at night.

A Kaliglig is Versatile

This is another use for a "kaliglig". I showed a couple in past blogs. It almost looks like a lawn mower handle that they steer with. It is difficult to turn, they have to literally turn the handle far to the left or right when they turn and still keep their hand on the lever that keeps it moving forward! Sometimes they really have to lean to get it turned on the narrow streets. They take the front off from the wagon when they use it in the fields and put a track on it place of the tires.

Dagupan Ponds

I am intrigued by the scenes along the side of a major highway going into Dagupan. We do all of our shopping in Dagupan so we pass by often. I never tire of watching what is taking place on the water. There are many shacks, houses and kubo's (hut looking houses) all along the water. There is always activity of some kind to see. There are several motor boats like those with the canopy on it. The people that live on the other side of the pond have to bring their children across to the road every day to attend school.

Sometimes there are homemade rafts, others are motor boats. People are fishing or traveling from one place to another.

This man is paddling the boat or raft. It seems so carefree. I know it isn't but it makes it seem so serene. I am sure if I had to paddle across that pond or lake, I wouldn't think it was so carefree!

I have never figured out just what all these poles do in the water but everywhere there are ponds they are there in abundance. It is almost like they have staked out their territory. They may attach nets to them for catching fish, I don't know. I know a little farther down there are oyster beds where we see men collecting oysters. There are little stands all along the highway selling fish. clams and oysters. It must be a good business because they are there every day in the heat and depending on the time of day we see lots of people stopping to get fish for their next meal.