Five Weeks in the Philippines

 

Well, I left the last blog entry with the "nipa" house under construction.  It's nearly finished now and is a nice place to hang out in evenings, plus provides a shady place in mid- to late afternoon.  I am always interested in design and construction projects so I will include a few more photo's.  What impresses me most is that this is not some primitive hut but a rather complicated and labor-intensive project which involves quite a lot carefully-cut joints to hold it all together.

The small "tab" on this piece will be fitted into a slot on an upright piece, then
the two pieces will be "pegged" clear through the larger "c"-shaped tab for a
strong, secure joint.

This detail shows how the "nipa" roof-covering is lashed to the rafters.

The front wall is nearly complete, open with "bars" at the top.  Other walls will
be solid, with "c" shaped sections of bamboo nailed vertically overlapping like
 box-and-strip construction.  As of  today, Dec. 22, the walls are mostly complete.

This gives an idea of the spaciousness of the high-pitched roof, and shows some
of the cross-bracing in place.

Sometime in the next few days I'll run the electric wiring out to the "nipa" as we call it, and we will have it finished.

 

At just over five weeks in the Philippines I've pretty well adapted to conditions here.  I'm fairly comfortable as I sit here, and I just noticed I'd not turned on the electric fan.  The humidity seems to be low today, as I'd usually have the fan going because daytime temps are mid-80s.  Things aren't the same here as they were in Kentucky; it would be pointless to move 12,000 miles and then expect to have everything the same.  So I'm getting used to different transportation, different cuisine (it helps that I already like fish), different ways of doing things, and to having my time pretty much be my own. Almost anything I could want in the areas of food, conveniences, etc., is all available. I occasionally do some "American" or "Tex-Mex-Southwest" style cooking.  I will probably air-condition part of the "new" house we're planning. But I'm mostly satisfied with the way things are, and looking forward to some ongoing projects mostly centered around workshop tinkering,  gardening and small live-stock, with all the possibilities that will open for learning how to make sourdough bread, cheese, and all kinds of other naturally wholesome food.

 

I have ideas for some future postings, but I'm just now getting some of the photo's I'll need to share.  I'll try to post fairly soon about how the Christmas and New Year holidays turned out, and later on about marketing and food, transportation, customs and other topics as I begin to notice them.

 

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year 2013!     Tim and Bernadette