Peanut Emporium in Palengke

Varying levels of roasting, all skinless.

On the left, a price change resolved by making dark circles with the markers on the old numbers.

Peanut vending from a permanent wet market space in Valencia Bukidnon. Peanut butter, freshly milled and sweetened a la Lily's Peanut Butter (put in cheap plastic cups and covered in foil-- a cheap way around a jar, in the tradition of using glasses as jars), skinless, sugarcoated, salted, raw, any way you like it. Get a kilo and it's cheaper, get a "salmon" (a term based on the measuring receptacle they use, an empty salmon tin). and it's a bit steeper.

Improvised Saddles, An Albino Horse

The flat lands before the rivers of Simsimon.

From the bustling center of Valencia, Bukidnon, we took a 3-hour motorcycle ride towards more mountains. We passed many muddy, half-made roads. Until there were no more.

We stopped in front of a small sari-sari store (where people were hanging out and talking, waiting for nothing in particular), made our way across the first river and started walking.

Poly sacks sewn roughly with plastic rope.

At that point, I wasn't thinking at all about horses. I'd seen a few along the way, but thought nothing of them. Later on in the trip (i.e. the next day), 9+ hours of walking under my belt, I was praying that my fanny pack would drop onto the ground, have a supernatural vibration of some sort, and morph into a savior horse, like a scene in some folktale. 

The sack is stuffed with more plastic and old clothes.

Horses are perfect companions in the variable landscape going to Simsimon, where the rivers change course every few months or so, and the mud can consume your slippers just like that. Horses eat wild plants, and create nitrogenous fertilizer as a byproduct. When they die, they compost right into the ground. How's that for "green" transportation?

A fancier saddle, still improvised, for an albino horse. The thing around its neck is part of a plastic water hose.

A closer view of the sack saddle, this one with elaborate machine-sewn padding and a wooden groin nest.

Chicken Feeder Maker

Welcome to a roadside chicken feeder fabrication and retail shop in Bukidnon.

The finished product.

A dude pounding the edges in.

Same dude, pounding the edges in.

Commercial plastic feeders that are probably prototypes for the in-house ones.

Wire-molding machine.

Unmolded wire.

Molded wire.

We Call It A Skylab, Because...

Bobong, our motorcycle dude.

Like a Filipino town name, the etymological origins of the skylab (a motorcycle with a plank to accommodate a life-threatening amount of passengers) are numerous. My sister-in-law, who grew up in Mindanao, says that it is a contraction of "sakay, lab" ("ride, love"), a driver's holler to potential female passengers.

Some rubber strips to secure baggage...

Others say it is named after the Skylab satellite that fell to the earth during the 70s. And so on, and so forth.

... or squish it, as they did our vegetables.

Unfortunately, the most boring explanation is usually true. In this case, the Skylab was a brand of tuk-tuk from northern Thailand. The local incarnation has neither the roof nor the paltry safety features of the Thai version, but is fun. Take a cue: more terrain-versatile, cheap, modifiable (according to load) vehicles are in order.

The ride.

A skylab, not quite fully loaded yet.

Urban Headpack Potential Evidence

Fake LV doormats and whatnot in Paranaque.

Crates of unidentifiable merchandise in Divisoria.

Don't say I didn't tip you off about headpacks. The method is indeed more physically efficient, but still socially awkward-- I carried 12 kilos of coffee on my head last month, and didn't break a sweat (but drew a lot of stares).

Coconut Merienda

A sheath style that seems to be popular in Ilocos.

The sweetest coconut ever.

Entertaining is easy with coconut trees and large knives. Coconut meat for eating, coconut water for drinking.

A Barber's Pangontra

This barber, who cuts hair inside a carwash, was from Samar and used to be a barber at the Hyatt. We got to talking about his rings. He wears them as pangontra or to protect him from evil spirits and kulam (curses).

One ring was crudely cast from bronze and purchased in Quiapo after he fell victim to a jealous neighbor's ill wishes (it's always about a jealous neighbor, I notice).

Apparently, bronze and gold can keep you protected. This was one of the reasons why old folks in Samar would put gold in their teeth.

 

Crate Bench

The physics all work out for this bench made of old fruit crate pallets. I had a little rest on it.

More crate reuse, as a crib and tables.

PS- I'm trying larger photos out.

Worn Armrests

New fabric on the armrests of a swivel chair, parked in Teka Market, Little India, where private space becomes public.

Bottle-Pole Improvisations

A Pop Cola bottle serves as a pole to wind a rope around, for securing an out-of-service rain-cover tarp.