Makati City, Philippines

[slang]

Thanks for your concern.

It's Saturday morning now and we're in Baguio, about an hour away from Burgos.

We recieved a text message at 4am that our ponds would soon overflow with the heavy rains.

We left Burgos last night at 5pm under heavy rain with the expectation to return after the storm.

At that time our large breeding pond was at about 5% of capacity and the smaller segregating ponds were at about 80%.

My concern at the moment is for the soil to give way around the perimeter of all the ponds. The worst of the storm is scheduled to arrive today and we'll return tomorrow, Sunday.

As for Manila, yes it is truly a mess there. Our old house is under about a foot of water and will surely be rising.

Manila is a very old city with bad drainage in all but the newest most expensive neighborhoods. Imagine 300 years worth of built up cockroaches and rat crap flowing through your front room. That's what I'm expecting in the coming 24 hours at the old house.

I'm looking at the whole situation there at the old house with a certain amount of satisfaction as we left under strained circumstances.

My experiences with these people have changed my entire experience here and not for the good.

Maybe it was the downturn in the economy that changed them into greedy envious people but they changed completely. That's a big disappointment to me personally but better to see their real intent now than later.

I'll be saving my single peso coins to donate to their recovery at the old house.

Life's a bitch. Sometimes even when you lie and cheat to get something nice it turns out be just dogshit. Just what you deserve.

I'll keep you posted.

[xoxoxoBruce]

we left under strained circumstances.

Whoa, that's a strange twist in your journey. That relationship seemed to be pretty stable and generally cool.

Well I'm glad you're OK, anyway... and hope you survive this rain with little damage. Take care.

[Griff]

Good to here from you man. Are the ponds well designed?

[slang]

were both ok but wow what a storm.

I've never seen anything like it. We have a lot of photos coming but it's been more trecharous than expected.

Our fish pond overfowed and I don't know if there are any fish left.

The mudslides have been incredible. They're everywhere and much more dangerous than I had imaged.

6 days of continuous monsoon rain with high winds.

I'm exhausted from hiking around the mudslides to get to naguilian.

More soon.

[wolf]

Welcome to the Jungle.

[Griff]

I'm glad you guys are ok. It sounds rough.

[slang]

I'm numb from the whole experience.

flickr is loading now. More tomorrow.

We are ok.

I need a shower, shave and a proper meal.

[zippyt]

Daym !!! I been looking at some of your Flickr Pics ! Daym !!!!!
Glad to hear that you guys are ok ,
this is just a Bump in the road , there Will be Many !!
Keep on sloggen , and Keep on Posting .

[slang]

Originally Posted by xoxoxoBruce

Whoa, that's a strange twist in your journey. That relationship seemed to be pretty stable and generally cool.

That was a strange twist. We were in pretty good.

The combination of hard times from their US income source ( California ) and a reduction of what was normally 500 or so a month to zero and the death of family members with valuables turned into bad blood with us.

Anyway, we're into a new adventure and location. Those folks are not anywhere near us now and that's good.

[slang]

Originally Posted by Griff

Good to here from you man. Are the ponds well designed?

They are only dug into the ground with no reinforcement. The soil has a claylike consistency that holds a shape wet or dry.

Our problem this time was not having grass growing on the newly created sidewalls of the pond. Without a lot of erosion the damage would be less.

We're not talking about tens of thosands of dollars though, we're talking a few hundred for repairs.

Originally Posted by wolf

Welcome to the Jungle.

During this entire storm my main worry was to meet up with a snake flooded out of its home just wandering around looking for a dry safe place to stay.

Mudslides or BIG snakes? I'll take the mudslides.

Originally Posted by zippyt

I been looking at some of your Flickr Pics

Thanks for the encouragement Zip. The project will continue and I have some more photos on Flickr.

Luzon Typhoon

Maybe now I can get this big solar collector assembled and working.

[xoxoxoBruce]

Picture 100_0838, is that footbridge because the water normally flows over the road there?
This was the first typhoon, wasn't it? How did you make out in the second one?

[glatt]

Wow. Burgos is trashed! How are you able to travel around? Are most of the roads damaged that bad? You must be walking everywhere.

[slang]

Originally Posted by xoxoxoBruce

Picture 100_0838, is that footbridge because the water normally flows over the road there?

This was the first typhoon, wasn't it?

How did you make out in the second one?

There are several other places with water flooding the road, some with more volume but without a footbridge.

For all I know that bridge may connect some native VIP to a nearby source of gin or goat meat.

These are all taken during and after the second storm about Oct 5 or 6.

The first time we tried to get out we were told that passage through the mudslides was impossible at the moment but once the rains stopped someone would make a foot path so that you might walk to the main road but surely not ride.

We stayed one more night and the storm passed, we had some local assistance carrying our gear on the footpaths and we made it out to walk another stretch of road to get to safety.

Originally Posted by glatt

Wow. Burgos is trashed! How are you able to travel around? Are most of the roads damaged that bad? You must be walking everywhere.

These photos are a few days old now. The National Guard ( of sorts ) was shovelling and digging when I left Burgos. We have seen heavy equipment, bucket loaders, graders and the like, traveling toward Burgos. I believe that was the worst area from the storm.

The secondary roads didn't seem to be as bad. Most of the backroads were blocked with mud but not the huge boulders you see in the pics on Nag road.

Walking was a pain in the ass. More so than usual I should say. Where was the mud that you could walk on? Where was the "quicksand"? Yes, it's fine when there's a line of folks coming your direction, you can follow their footsteps.

By the time we arrived out to the road it was a pain in the ass but not really all that dangerous.

Before we made it out to the mainroad, that was dangerous AND a pain in the ass.

[xoxoxoBruce]

You need horses or donkeys for that shit.

[slang]

Originally Posted by xoxoxoBruce

You need horses or donkeys for that shit.

I'll be sure to pack a donkey in my laptop bag the next time I see typhoons on the radar.

Someone with a good boat to transport people a few miles on the river sections where the road was washed out could have made the whole situation better as well.

Fresh out of rescue boats too.

Most people walking in those photos were in pretty good spirits or silent and just concentrating on getting to point B.

There were more than a few small men carrying large medical oxygen bottles, scores of bags of rice, junk foods, people herding goats through the mess and people assisting elderly.

By that time I was wet, sunburned, fatigued, irritatted at the entire effing mess and was in less than good spirits. That seems to be when people ask me dumb questions ( or icebreakers ) and I have to politely say "I've got mud from my feet to my rear...all my gear is muddy,have not shaved-showered-or changed clothes in 3 days and not consumed an adult beverage in two. Meet me in Naguilian and we'll laugh about all this over a 4 x 4."

A 4 x 4 here is a bottle of gin 4cm by 4cm, 750ml