Living in a Third World Country... Part III

Even though my parents and siblings had work and school during the day, they were able to take some time and show me around like a regular tourist.

It was during these trips that the Philippine way of life became real and known to me.

Traveling with my parents to their teaching sessions (their ministry was to offer support to the teachers of the diocese) I experienced the insanity that is the "law of the road" in the provinces. There is a hierarchy. And if a bus wants to pass, everyone makes room. So a two lane road suddenly becomes a three or four lane highway! Jeepneys (open smaller buses) get the right of way over tricycles (small motorcycles with a sidecar) and bicyclists, though they also travel the roads, need to constantly pull to the side to let the other vehicles roar past. Allowing a bicycle to go first, and remaining behind it at a crawling pace will only get you honked at... as I learned while navigating the roads myself.

Another interesting sight in driving the country roads near the farms, is the inevitability that there will be huge patches of roadway covered with rice. The farmers need to dry out the rice pods before shelling them, and since the ground is marshy wetland, the obvious solution is to rake the rice right out onto the road. When possible, it is preferred that you navigate around these patches of rice, but given the hierarchy of vehicles, that is not always possible. I was horrified the first time we plowed over some poor farmer's swath of rice, but soon realized it was that or suffer a collision.. either head on, or from behind. And so we just drove on.

I think the scariest ride was the one we took to Baguio, in the province of Benguet. It was a three hour drive, through the most beautiful and rugged landscape. The city itself sits in the Cordillera Central Mountain Range, and therefore boasts more mild temperatures. I was eager to experience some cold air again! The last part of the drive, though, almost made me regret our trip. Since Baguio City is on a mountain, we were driving switchbacks on a road that really seemed to be meant as a one lane only. Now picture our little jeep sharing the road with buses and jeepneys, and yes, the occasional bicyclist? Yes, I kept my eyes closed a lot.

This is what I was fearing, and what actually happened during a typhoon last year:















(photo credit)

This is the very road we took.

As you will come to realize throughout the rest of my posts, one comes to the reality of "letting go" of the insulated fears of the west. It's hard to explain... but bouncing along in a tricycle on rocky, muddy roads, or holding on for dear life at the front of a fisherman's boat as you speed through an inlet on your way to an island in the South China Sea, you truly realize that your life is not your own. You are at the mercy of the elements, simply because you are too poor to keep the elements at bay. And you have a choice.

You can choose to live in constant fear of the next wave, the next bend in the road, or the next typhoon. Or you can simply accept what God has in store, relying on His grace and wisdom and love to see you through. Either way, you cannot have the final say. So you may as well smile a lot, (the Filippinos are always smiling) hold on tight, and enjoy the ride.