Listen to that… the sound of roosters crowing, chickens clucking, motorcycles backfiring, tricycles driving by and loud music from houses. This is the sound of Pontevedra, rural Philippines.
For about half of my time in the Philippines I stayed in Pontevedra which is just outside of Roxas City. This is my fiancés family home. It is a small town in Capiz, just outside of Roxas City and consists of about 50,000 people. Staying here, you really get the rural Philippines vibe. There are rice farms everywhere and everyone knows each other.
I got to know the neighbors, the extended family and the farmers. Word and “chismis” (gossip) travels fast in small cities in the Philippines.
Chismis video - https://youtube.com/shorts/497KZiGoAQw?si=1UtaDMC1a30ga-ur
After venturing into town a few times on my own, it became apparent that I was one of the only “Kanos” (white guy) who was around. I don’t like to sit around and I get restless easy, so I had it in my mind that I’d learn to flag down a tricycle (sort of like a local taxi) and go into town on my own. Tricycles and motorcycles are the main mode of transportation in Pontevedra and many other small towns in the Philippines, and I was determined to ride in one and on the back of one too.
The first time however, I went with the neighbor, James, a nice young kid who I ended up hanging out with for much of my stay there and even helped him practice his limited English. He helped flag down a tricycle and we walked around the market on a Friday, Market Days. There is always a local market with lots of cool and unique items, but on Market Days (Mondays and Fridays) there are extra vendors out with many different goods to purchase. We got some snacks and walked around then headed back home.
After that, I was hooked on going into town. I got a few weird looks while filming and exploring, but the vast majority of people were friendly with many waving to and greeting me. I headed down to Dapog Native Classic Brewing coffee shop on numerous occasions, mingling with the owner eating a great breakfast and drinking some freshly brewed native coffee. On my first visit there, I showed up before the shop was open and ended up looking around. After knocking on the door, I was let in. The owner informed me that he received a text to see if I was there. And when I arrived home, I returned home to the news that someone in town called my father in-law and asked him if the kano wandering around town was his son-in law and they wanted to make sure I wasn’t lost. Like I said… small town experience and everyone knows everyone.
I also headed for lunch a few times, trying a number of fast food options. In Pontevedra and many small cities, there aren’t a lot of big restaurants, but fast food is plentiful and there are many fast food chains to choose from. My favorite was Andok’s for spicy fried chicken and Angels Burgers for extremely cheap but tasty burgers and hot dogs.
One day while exploring I went to the market on the side of the river. I noticed a crowd of people around a few vendors only to realize there were fun games to partake in. The locals welcomed me over and it turned out this was called Piryahan, which is a form of street carnival games that you can gamble on. I think I won a bit of money, although it was confusing and I lost track of what I was betting, although it was all in small amounts and had a lot of fun. When passing through other small towns in the Philippines, I saw that this wasn’t unique to Pontevedra.
Piryahan video - https://youtube.com/shorts/kIpQQCqbSkA?si=91luxY2uicDIk1MT
Another day I went into town for a haircut at Jacob’s Barber shop, where I was welcomed in with open arms and got a good haircut for 60 pesos ($1.50 CAD), I gave him 100 and headed off to explore more. Shortly after I ended up going on a boat ride, in a classic southeast Asian boat down the river.
In addition to my excursions into town, there is a lot of hanging out with friends, family and neighbors. While doing so I got to witness how the feast is prepared, including the killing of the pig for New Years. I also got to witness coconut harvesting and a bit of rice farming. It was a really neat and authentic experience.
In addition to Pontevedra, we had numerous stops in many other small towns on many of our road trips and we even checked out small cities like Kalibo. We also spent time in Roxas City (the bigger city in Capiz) and Iloilo. The cities were fun but the small rural town vibe in the Philippines with the locals and the family in Pontevedra was a unique and fun experience.
Local experience VLOG - https://youtu.be/EUL99S7WChE?si=GS7ADV2GpQwOpTTi
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What a great read!!