I spy with my little eye.....

There are so many potential blog posts that I want to write.  Ideas I have to capture life here and share with all of you.  But putting many of those ideas into reality depends upon me taking pictures, which just takes time and the right opportunity.  So while I am slowly collecting pictures to fill up those blog posts, I thought it might be fun to write a post about my five senses and what I experience through my senses living here in the Philippines.  Sight, touch, smell, sound and taste.  Let’s start with sight.

I spy with my little eye….

A hammock swinging in bed of a tow truck.  One end tied to the cab and the other end tied to the toe hook, while it peacefully swings back and forth and a man naps to pass time while stuck in traffic.

A small family of 3 (dad, mom and baby) traveling on a motorcycle, baby nestled in the middle while daddy drives and mommy sits in back holding an umbrella over all of their heads to block the sun on a sunny day.

A car “counter flowing”, driving towards oncoming traffic, in order to avoid gridlock and be able to make his left hand turn two blocks early.  Not a single car honks or gets impatient with him. Somedays this maneuver saves him 30 minutes of sitting in traffic.

Eight men piled on a trash truck, five of them nonchantantly sitting on top of the trash (which is easily 2 stories high), while 3 of them hold on to the back of the truck carelessly passing the time.

10 people (8 adults, 1 kid and 1 baby) riding a tricycle, a motorcycle with a sidecar used for public transportation, when it stalls trying to make it up a hill.  They pile out like clowns from a circus car and I am amazed at how many fit inside.

Vendors schlepping through gridlock selling water, snacks, newspapers and cigarettes like a peanut vendor at a Dodger’s game…not a the hint of worry for physically safety but faithfully working hard everyday under the hot sun.  To help break the heat they tie simple white hand towels on their head.

Workers sweeping up grass clippings, dirt and trash on the sidewalks and gutters of the street, wearing straw hats where they creatively extended the brim of their hats by adding on the windshield foil sun blocker (the type you use in your car) to the brim.

Personal security guards, employed by individual roadside stores, wearing starched and well pressed uniforms bolding walking into traffic with nothing but the palm of their hand and a whistle to stop traffic so a customer can more easily back out onto the main road during heavy traffic.

Crowds of kids with matching blue and white school uniforms talking and laughing, while following another batch of kids in red and yellow school uniforms, as they all accidently stop traffic together (just due to the sheer number of their crowd, not because of their cunning car safety skills) to cross the road and catch a jeepney.

Houses built from concrete hollow blocks, where the grey concrete has turned dark and charcoal in color over time due to the humidity, heat and constant rains.

Neighborhoods the color of the rainbow.  One house painted red with matching red roof.  The next painted lime green with matching green roof.  A third painted blue with matching blue roof.  The colors continue and I spot a yellow and orange house too.

A large well kept house painted in magenta with turquoise trim and shiny gold highlights.  We pass it everyday on the way to the boys’ school when they happily declare that it is clearly the most beautiful house in the entire neighborhood.

Condensed and compact neighborhoods with one house after another sharing walls, built one after another with no break between properties, and with streets just wide enough for a single car to fit through (if you pull the side mirrors in and drive slowly).

Laundry hung out to dry on a sunny day.  It seems every house is eager to take advantage of the rays and hang clean laundry all over their property, anywhere and everywhere the warm sun might reach in hopes that the sun will beat out the humidity today and dry the clothes before the afternoon rain rolls in.

The right two lanes of traffic completely void of cars during rush hour simply because they are occupied with crowded pedestrians, boldly stepping into traffic together as a crowd, in hopes of catching a jeepney or FX for their ride home.

Random cars stopped right in the middle of the road because the place they need to get to (the bank, roadside produce stand, small roasted chicken vendor, or what have you) does not have a parking lot and the only place to stop is right in the middle of traffic.  But no one is bothered or even honks at them, but simply drives around them.

McDonald’s, Jollibee, Shell Oil, 7Eleven, MiniStop, Mercury Drug Store, Papa John’s, Pizza Hut and many more variety of stores lining the streets and advertising for business.

Random fruit trees growing all over the place in the most unusual places bearing much fruit and providing wonderful shade….being taken for granted because of the lush tropical climate that easily produces a variety of fruits and vegetables.  It makes me wonderful if the Garden of Eden was a humid place.

Empty lots overgrown with so much green vegetation it is hard to tell one plant from other, except for the large leafy banana plants which are a distinct landmark throughout the country.

A coconut vendors on every third corner, with just a simple stand to provide shade and a place to chop the coconuts.  Next to the stand is a pile of green coconuts as tall as my 6 year old.

A taho vendors (a tofu drink/snack) with a single long bamboo sticks stretched out over their shoulders to help bear the weight of the two large metal buckets tied to either end, walking the streets and looking for customers.

A mom taking her kids to school, pedals a pedicab (bicycles with a side cart) while her two young children dressed in their school uniforms sitting obediently in the side cart.

Dark clouds quickly forming in the sky as heavy rain pours out of them and flood the streets in a matter of seconds.  Minutes later the water level is as high as half a tire.
Suddenly everything is transformed.  All pedestrians open umbrellas.  All the motorcyclists wear plastic ponchos.  All the tricycles have clear plastic draped in front of their motorcycle creating a make-shift windshield.  The busy-ness continues and no one scatters, flees or flinches by the downpour.

Packs of stray dogs too many to count, lean and skinny from scavenging , wander the streets unafraid of people or cars. Their lack of fear is equal with their lack of aggression.

Stray cats mean, fierce, and with missing patches of fur, crouch ready to pounce on the mice running through the gutters.

Ice cream vendors pushing their wheelbarrow style cart full of local “dirty” ice cream ready to serve in cup, cone or hamburger bun.

Beaches with sand the color of cream with crystal clear water washing over it’s shore.  Beaches that run into oceans the color of turquoise, teal and cobalt continuing endlessly into the horizon.

Coconut trees (much shorter than I expected after growing up in Los Angeles), sway gently in the breezes and almost go unnoticed as they blend into their surroundings.

Small huts, “bahay kubo”, made out of bamboo and various parts of the coconut tree lack windows (well at least the space where Westerns would install a window), rather it is open inviting the breeze to pass through.

Filipinos. Beautiful dark brown eyes, round and alert full of life.  Black hair so dark and shiny it has glimmers of blue under the sunlight.  Skin flawless and without a drop of sweat even under the warm sun.  Feet and hips that spring and sway to music.  Mouths that open and release laughter.  Bodies dressed in vibrant coordinated colors revealing which group they belong to and what activity they have planned that day.

Oh where do I stop?  So many things I see here that my words are inadequate to capture. And so many things I am leaving out or forgetting.  In the end, words just don’t equate for sight.  And because of that you will just have to come here and see for yourself.

Now it’s your turn…. what do you spy with your little eye?