Coconut Husk Circle of Protection

Newly cemented area in Dumaguete Fruit Market, protected by a circle of coconut husks and a bunch of camotes.

Fruitmix

Meet fruitmix.

I dwell in the realm of "hot" "coffee-like" beverages, but the summer almost got me consuming the cooling pampalamig (cooling) beverages available to aid in temperature regulation.

Ambulant vendors do well in poorly-insulated and open areas.

Fruitmix is basically chopped up fruit with milk, sugar, and ice. The cooling variety of drinks usually have fruit or jellies in them (think sago't gulaman, Thai iced whatever with weird jelly and fruit). You can find some version of them in all tropical places. Fruitmix is found most especially among fruit vendors, who transform their produce into this ready-to-eat/drink form. This genre of sweet-starchy drinks are somewhere in between a beverage and a snack, a kind of low-commitment merienda. I rejoice when I see such populist, fresh, bordeline-junk-food maintaining popularity despite the ubiquity of commercial drinks and sweets.

Fruitmix-- karatula-official.

Easy Rider

You can catch an "Easy Rider" to Dauin from the Dumaguete Public Market. There is (to my understanding), one terminal on each of the four sides of the market, each going to one or two destination outside the city (I've taken the Sibulan and Dauin one).

Easy Rider to Zamboanguita

 The general nature of operations of an Easy Rider is like that of a jeepney. The name is a mystery to me, as the vehicle is usually a multicab or fiera. It reminds me of the "bus" that used to bring me to school when I was younger. One of my school buses had a Nintendo Family Computer inside, proving that indeed, wonderful things can be done to a fiera.

A defunct route?

Driver documentation at the Dauin terminal, which is one of the busiest.

Repurposed bottle for chalk/marker holder, at the wooden board that keeps track of Easy Rider drivers

Fasten your non-existent "safe belt"

Coco Martin on Cardboard

Found in the Dauin public market, on a hot day while looking for some provisions and drinks.

 

Coco Martin is an actor who is famous for being a handsome young guy who is really nice to his grandmother, as well as capable of speaking in a fairly dignified and non-mangled form of Tagalog. Among other things, I suppose.

Bring The Mountain to Mohammad

Bus to Dumaguete, selling pomelos and snacks.

Many people in small towns take advantage of bus routes by preparing pre-packaged or portioned food that can be bought in a total of 5 seconds (through a window).


Bus to El Nido, girl selling corn.


Bus to Benoni, selling guavas I think?

A Bit of Carinderia Love and History

1875 illustration of a carinderia in El Oriente newspaper.

I love carinderias. Whilst on long-haul buses I have a Pavlovian hunger-related reaction towards food stops. I like eating my way across the varying landscapes. Or, if there are no veggies or I'm oddly full, I poke around at everything-- what their bathroom signs say, what utensils they use, how the places are laid out, what language the people speak.


Wide selection of food in Puerto Princesa-- and this is only on the left side of the door!

These places prove that prepared food does not have to be soul-less like they are in many commercial restaurants. In smaller towns, they are a place for community to gather, like the Western coffee house. There you get free soup and the ability to make your own sawsawan (I prefer vinegar with siling labuyo broken up into it). If you sit in long enough you will also overhear stories about other locals from the patrons and the owners.


Communities can use less firewood if they cook in larger amounts, in this rural Batangas place.


Coming out to say hi.

Carinderias became widespread in rural areas only after increased human mobility, around the late 1800's. Before this, I picture people simply setting up large pots by their windows or in front of their houses, much like in more "isolated" areas today. People come walking over with bowls from their homes and buy a bit to take home.


Jackfruit (langka) with coconut milk sauce (I poured it all on my rice), standard carinderia fare.

Felice Prudente Sta. Maria notes that carinderia is most likely derived from the word cari or kari, a Tamil word for sauce, or a saucy accompaniment to rice. Some theories attribute this connection to the large number of breakaway soldiers from the invading British army, mostly East Indian Bengalis or Tamils, ended up settling in Taytay and Cainta, major tourist routes at the time. Note: I don't buy this theory of word origin.


Good ventilation at a bus stop to El Nido.


Even better ventilation at an outdoor carinderia.

Most memorable of their offerings was spicy cari (it has been posited that our peanut stew kare-kare had evolved from this East Indian-Javanese dish). However, their enterprises, primarily catering to some locals and many tourists from pilgrimages and train journeys, served things from food, tobacco, water, and alcohol. Notable was the serving of betel nut, much like India's paan stalls.


A simple layout in Dumaguete.

Over time, the stalls evolved to serve solely food-- indigenized Chinese dishes, Filipinized Spanish food, and these days some more Western-evolved creations (recently I saw a strange creation-- breaded and deep-fried hotdog wrapped in a pizza). Still mostly saucy and all, to drench your rice with. They still serve the cheapest and most abundant food. That they are moving away from serving regional plants and animals, are an indication that local, unique food is no longer cheap and widely available.


Pinakbet and Chinese-influenced pancit in Camiguin.