Sunday, February 28th;
Last thoughts,
It is our last week at Calibago. There are any number of little things I want to remember.
Our day of history lessons. We drove to Silay to see the Ancestral houses. They are the homes of the sugar barons who brought wealth to Negros. When we arrived we discovered the homes are closed on Mondays! The security person was kind enough to let us see the Victor Fernandez Gaston Ancestral Home or “Balay Negrense”. The first interesting piece of information I found was everyone thinks they were owned by the Spanish but in fact they were French.
[See
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Balay_Negrense for background information]
The home opens to a large salon on the lower floor with offices or day rooms to the sides but that can be considered a “public” area. Those invited by the family would join them in the upstairs salon a room of similar proportions but with bedrooms on the sides, the dining room and kitchen behind.
The dining room had a large central table for the family. Victor had 12 children. There were two smaller tables, one on either side for guests. At one end of the room there was a steep staircase leading to the roof garden. From there the master could see all around his property and the town. Most important he could see the harbour and would know when a ship was coming in. He would send someone down to say he would be taking the ship and it would wait until he was ready.
The rooms were furnished as they had been and the personal pieces in the offices and bedrooms gave a small insight into the lives of the original occupants.
Next we went to the Negros Museum in Bacolod to walk through the history of Negros. We were fortunate to get the assistant curator as tour guide. He brought the exhibitions to life.
The main gallery is on the second floor. The main and permanent display shows a reconstructed batil, a wooden sailing vessel used for passengers and cargo at the turn of the century. The batil contains artifacts and reproductions of the type of goods that were exchanged between Negros and the nearby islands and foreign lands. Surrounding thebatil are displays highlighting sugar production and the role of the ordinary plantation worker, sugar production, the Chinese in Negros, the Church, the scientific aspects of sugar production, the lifestyle of the Negrense plantation owner, the folksongs and tales of the island. In the depiction the plantation owner is the man with the stovepipe hat. Two of the cane workers have bags over their heads. Why? Apparently two people in the group of workers are spies for the owner. Only he and they themselves know their connection. Even the overseer would not know. They report on who is working and who is not or who may be stealing from the estate. Our guide and Riza sang some of the folk songs displayed - not professional but fun to hear their memories of their childhood.
One of the displays is the life style of the turn of the century. There is a lady in her nineties who is still active about town dressing up and going out to tea or shopping at the mall every day. She has given the museum some of her collection of gowns and the details of dressing at that time. There were many layers and what you wore was determined by the time of day and the occasion. The butterfly sleeves or “Filipino Terno” are still traditional for a formal gown. She also described the language of the fan. You could indicate with your fan if someone was welcome, if they need not come near, if you were very angry or, if you were surrounded by chaperones, look for a letter behind the door!
Smaller galleries flank the main hall: the Cinco de Noviembre exhibit highlights the struggle for independence from Spain, the Sports Hall of Fame, and a gallery for changing exhibits. The attic above the main hall has been opened as the Phinma Gallery for temporary and traveling exhibits.
The other major gallery is the Toy Exhibit. It is maintained by a local lady and displays part of her collection of toys collected in her travels around the world.
It was a really interesting afternoon and a good excuse to stay in cool surroundings during the heat of the day!
Another day Hunter brought her kittens out to meet us. Only one followed mom all the way. Two took refuge in the wood pile mid way to the house. Riza named the successful one Trembler because it was so frightened and hid as far into the corner of the gazebo surround as it could get. I thought it should be called Braveheart because it made the journey in spite of its fear. It even challenged momma Hunter and Cuddles for a share of dinner when it came time. Momma cuffed the kitten and Cuddles hissed but the little one went around a flower pot and tried an indirect assault on the dinner plate. It was no more successful. Momma was far more agreeable about feeding the kitten directly. Those kittens still have Cuddles all bent out of shape. She spent a whole day pouting behind the house.
Anna is still cheerfully taking care of our little house and our laundry. She sings as she scrubs on her glass scrub board imported all the way from Canada! Her new house is being built. We went to see it now that the frame is up. It will be a traditional village building. The floor of the main room is raised and the floor of the sleeping room is raised higher still. The floor will be split bamboo and the air will come up through the floor and through the woven bamboo walls to keep it cool inside. She was thrilled to show it to us and to have us tell her how nice it is. Her brother is doing a very good job.
She had paid for the bamboo and it had not been delivered. Her brother was ready to do the construction of the floor and needed the materials. There was nothing to do but cross the river to talk to the man responsible for delivery. I was sitting under the trellis enjoying the coolness of the shade when I saw Anna walk onto the stones of the river. I jokingly said I should go get my camera in case she slipped!. The water seemed to be getting quite deep and Anna is not very tall. All of a sudden she disappeared from view! What should I do??? It seemed to take forever before she came back to the surface and struggled through the deep part of the river to the stones of the far side. Neither Riza nor I know if she can really swim. She kept on going soaking wet and must have managed the negotiations with her dignity intact because the bamboo was delivered the next morning. She still had to make the return journey across the river and I watched until she was safely back. There is a raft that makes the crossing but she would not waste the peso for the fare.
What nerve and determination for a woman to make a change in her way of life for her family. She is managing to send all of her children to school. The oldest, now sixteen, has dropped out of school and chosen the traditional role. She will work in the cane fields. She has brought home a young man to live with who is not employed at all. Life will be difficult and would be impossible if not for the food and shelter Anna and her husband supply.
Anna knows that life will stay the same from generation to generation unless someone is determined to change. She has one more girl and two boys. I hope their mother’s strong stand will encourage at least one of the children to understand her dream and take advantage of the opportunities she is working so hard to give them.
The village people do depend on the cane fields for their livelihood and right now the fields are baking in the heat. It has not rained most of the time we have been here. No one is working in the fields. The cane appears burnt and brown. Will it survive until the rains come? Will there be much of a crop if it does? Frustration and boredom seem to be taking a toll. There are many people with nothing to do with their time. There are some who drink to excess and they are causing problems in the village. One night this week all the plastic chairs in Anna’s church were smashed. That is the second attack.. The congregation had planted a garden of melons. The night before they were to be harvested, all the melons were smashed where they lay. The minister may dismantle the church and pull out.
You see the differences in the homes. Some are tidy with evidence of industry, laundry on the line, well kept gardens, food to help through the tough time and flowers to make the home look nice. Some homes just sit there and the people wander, looking at the world around them. Young men stand around in groups everywhere. You do not see the young women among them. It appears most of the girls have gone to school or to work. Will they come back to marry the unemployed men of the village?
Caesar left a good job in Manila to come back to his village. After twelve years working apart from his family, he felt his son did not know him. Now he is home trying to influence his own children and his nephews.
Time to go and our plane is just arriving from Cebu. It will be a fast turnaround. We have a day in Cebu and then a late flight to Hong Kong and home. I have booked a day room at the Mactan Hilton. That gives us a place to store our luggage, have a nap, shower and change into winter clothes for the trip home. It also allows us use of the facilities, the beach, the pool and includes a buffet lunch and afternoon tea. A much better way to spend the day than at the airport!
That ends the Philippine Blog. It will start again with our road trip toward the end of March. I hope you have enjoyed it so far!
