Is This an 'authentic' experience?

 Is This An ‘Authentic’ Experience?  06-06-23

Our street



My host sent a tricycle to transport me from the Puerto Princesa Airport to my digs about a mile away. The roads were narrow, dirt paths interrupted every few minutes by road repairs (with no workers evident) that made navigating a game of chicken for my driver. Like Manila the act of getting from one place to the next requires a war-like attitude. 


My digs are almost luxurious compared with most of my neighbors. The place is open and airy with good wifi and a fan to make sleeping pleasant. The best feature is a hammock on my front porch that I improved with a bungee cord for mobility. Gently swaying with the wind cooling me off is my favorite activity for the day. The kitchen is spartan with just a small electric cooker and a fridge. It’s the first Airbnb I’ve ever been to without a microwave. Water is the big issue. We have a large plastic container of bottled water outside my door so there is no problem with me drinking local agua. Nonetheless I got a mild case of diarrhea Sunday evening. I had brought three doses of antibiotic so I’m now trying to medicate away the bug. It seems impossible to entirely avoid the local germs; rice and veggies get cleaned after all. It will be interesting to see how often I am sick. Can you get acclimated to the local biome in less than a month? Probably not. 

My home for the next 23 days


As I arrived I was greeted by the home caretaker, Roy, who, so far, has sought to satisfy my every need. He lives next door with his wife, three sons and frequent family visitors. He cooked a meal for me the first two nights and puttered around the place doing minor repairs. We spent two enjoyable evenings talking over dinner. His economic position seems slightly more secure than the rest of the community due to his job taking care of this place plus the small convenience store that his wife operates near the air force base. 

Main Street



The surrounding area is a small village bordering on an air force base. The beach is a short job eastward. Alas it is not the white sand paradise I envisioned, instead it is a kind of mango swamp that you can wade into for a refreshing dip but no one’s doing any surfing here. There is a distant barrier reef with a fine beach but it is almost impossible to reach. Roy showed me photos of a better beach 30 minutes (by car) north of us. How I’ll get there I don’t know. I might try to find a rental scooter but there is no where to store it here so that might not be feasible. There are many tricycle taxis up the street in town. They are very slow and I’ll probably be ripped off as a tourist, but that might be my only option for travel. On Sunday he took me along on a tricycle journey to Princesa City (about a mile distant) to get supplies. It’s a bustling place with thousands of folks dashing in and out of barber shops, tire repair places, pharmacies, meat markets, fish markets, variety stores, etc. etc. etc.

A Palawan SUV



I’ll have three weeks or more to detail daily life. You can get a taste of the area by searching Google maps for “The Village House, Palawan, Philippines”.  No one seems to pay much attention to me except the smallest children. I seem to be the only anglo in town but that might be just an illusion. There is a diving center at the beach that seems to cater to tourists but there were no such folks the two times I’ve visited 


The weather has been great so far, warm and humid but not oppressive. A thunderstorm cooled things nicely yesterday (Monday June 5). 

Hartman Beach (a five minute walk from my place)


Dogs are omnipresent and avoiding canine poop requires vigilance. None seem hostile. 

My living room (bedroom upstairs)



Food is still a puzzle to me. I worry about getting sick and my vegetarian ways obviously limit my options greatly. I’ve been fasting the past 30 hours of so but hope to find sustenance sometime today. I noticed on Google that there is a vegetarian restaurant about a half mile away so I may try to venture there this afternoon. 

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