Thebig fish

Is funny that the time when I’ve seen the most beautiful creature of my life is also when I have lost a bit more of the hope that the world can be better, the time that I’ve felt more ashamed of being a human being. At six in the morning there was like thirty people already waiting to enter the water, plus at least thirty more ex fishermans just sitting waiting to fish tourists. Here is the clearest example I’ve seen of what it means the degradation of the local cultures because of the mass tourism. Yesterday night when I arrived here I just talked with drunk guys, the same that this morning where paddling the boats towards the whale shark. Is a big contradiction, I don’t know if before they used to fish them or not. In Indonesia, the small village of La Malera, they do, since hundreds of years, but they just fished what they needed and they lived exclusively of those five or six whales they fished every year, they used the meat, the skin, the fat everything. This local communities, even if hunters have lived in harmony with the environment for years, as long as the white man didnt put his dirty hands on it, it was ok.

Here they discovered the bussiness just a couple of years ago. THere was a community of whale sharks that started to get closer to the shore, the local fishermens saw them and started to feed them, until one had the great idea. Lets bring the white people to pay to see the big fish. Nowadays around three hundred people come to this little village everyday to see the whale shark. I dont know how much did they use to earn before, but now the coperative of around 150 fishermens gets the sixty per cent of the total benefits, wich makes around four euro per day, so they don’t even get rich and for what it seems all the extra income goes directly to alcohol.

Early in the morning the ex fishermens goes out with the canoes to look for the whale sharks, when they find them, they start feeding them and they bring them to the viewing area, where around five to seven boats full of people take turns every half hour to see the animal. I tried to wait until the moment where the boats of the first turn came back, but it didnt matter, more and more tourists where coming. I was lucky because our boat was the first one to join the third whale shark to join the party so for some time we could see her alone, but after a while a bunch of boats were paddling towards us. Then I jumped into the water and it was like a dream to swim with that animal, but then when I came to the surface I was about to crash my head with one of the boats, then I shoked with people here and there. At least they could have been in silence, respect the magnificient of this animal, but they were laughing and screaming, it was like the apocalipse, the triumph of our human kind over the nature, it was really a degrading show. I wish the whale shark would have started eating them one by one, but there it was the contradiction, I was part of it, I was making it happen with my money, and it was sad. Probably it would have been better to go somewhere where you can see them in the wild, it would have been more dificult but for sure worth it.

Right now I really want to see them again, I just want to go back to the water and maybe spread this message and help to build some concern about this animals. I’ve always tried to keep the hope on the human being and at the same time I have hated us for what we are, but without being a convinced environmentalist. Here in the Philippines, after seeing this and after living on my own skin what climate change means through the consequences of the typhoon and this twenty days of rain and floods I feel that is worth it to fight. Climate change is not really the appropiate term to talk about the planet destruction, is not something that experts and politicians discuss in summits and closed door meetings, is a fact and we see it in our daily lifes and is a matter of time until more natural disasters come and the planet says here I am and we all get scared and then realize that maybe we have a problem.

THe Philippines is maybe one of the clearest examples in the world of how we are destroying the planet and is not something that will come, is already happening. Thousands of deads and displaced people that lost everything just by a whisper of the nature that gave us back what we deserved. It is really a matter of survival, and maybe not just for us, but for those who come before to have the chance to enjoy this life and live on a decent place. We wont restore the planet completely, probably is too late, but at least is worth trying and not to surrender. It is in our hands to fight for this and to be an example for the next generation. What it comes to me, I am on the fight.

Palawan, peleas de gallos y la prisión sin barreras

Es imposible condensar todo lo sucedido desde la noche en que decidimos volar a Manila, tras ver el reportaje de Filipinas en National Geographic hasta hoy. Mas que lo sucedido, lo vivido, el torbellino de emociones que hacía tiempo no sentía. De nuevo viajar es lo que siempre fue. De nuevo la aventura, el descubrimiento, el seguir sorprendiendote con un mundo que con los años te parece poco, mientras te preguntas que será lo proximo que te hará vibrar y sentirte vivo. De algun modo, el ultimo año viajar se convirtió casi en un deber, en una forma de vida sin retorno. Para vivir, para trabajar tenia que viajar, ya no era lo mismo que hace ocho años, cuando cogí la bici para hacer el camino de Santiago, o cuando fui a Cuba, esa curiosidad infantil cuando todo era nuevo y fascinante. Con cada viaje,con cada avión que cogía, en cada lugar que visitaba disminuía ese chute de vida, esa ansiedad por conocer, por vivir, todo aquello se estaba convirtiendo en rutina, hasta en tedio. Llegue a Tailandia con la sensacion de que venía a trabajar y asi fue, no sabía si tomarmelo como algo bueno o malo, pero esa era la realidad. El trabajo para el Greco fue genial, aunque se que es un trabajo, amo tanto jugar con las camaritas que para mi es como si te pagasen por estar de vacaciones. Todo muy comodo, muy facil, muy mediocre también. Un paraiso común, como muchos de los que ya he conocido, gente común, conversaciones que se repiten o se parecen, Tailandia,backpackers, de donde vienes, a donde vas y todo ese bla bla bla. Aun asi todo era casi perfecto, o lo parecía, si no fuese porque aun me preguntaba donde estaba el chaval que empezó a viajar por amor a la vida, porque era el modo perfecto de exprimir la vida hasta la ultima gota. Me preguntaba si ese iba a ser yo a partir de ahora, un tipo que va de resort en resort haciendo fotitos de comida y chicas bebiendo mojitos. El siguiente paso sería ponerme a hacer bodas y bautizos. Vida comoda, vida común, y ahora, una semana mas tarde me doy cuenta que vida de mierda, vida mediocre, vida sin vida. Está claro, hay que hacer de todo, hay que ganar pasta, pero yo no empecé a jugar con las camaras por dinero, lo hice por amor y porque me permitía vivir mas y mas intensamente, acercarme a descifrar el indescifrable misterio de este cotarro que te viene encima al nacer. Y todo eso, si no recuerdo mal, desde Agape, desde hace dos años quedó atrás. Pero todo eso, ese chaval regresó por fin la otra noche, en el bar Katabom.

Tuve la brillante idea de usar Couchsurfing por primera vez en mucho tiempo. Escribí a las primeras personas que aparecian en la lista en Puerto Princesa, no mire fotos ni perfil. Couchsurfing para mi es la quintaesencia de los prodigios de las nuevas tecnologias, nada cambió tanto mi forma de viajar y por tanto de vivir como esa pagina web. Una de las pocas personas en responder fue Nieves, no podia hospedarnos pero quedabamos a las 21.30 para conocernos en Katabom. Allí conocí a la persona que iba a cambiar el rumbo del viaje y entendí porque el eslogan turistico de Filipinas es “It’s more fun in the Philippines”. Nieves es uno de esos super seres humanos que no se tiene la suerte de conocer todos los dias. Bastó media hora de conversación para cambiar, una vez mas todos los planes y embarcarnos en una aventura que jamás podriamos haber imaginado aquella noche en Bangkok. La musica era tan alta que poco podiamos hablar, pero de todos modos ya estaba todo dicho, y la musica para nuestra sorpresa era buena, muy buena. Tato, el novio de Nieves era el cantante de la banda y en su movimiento pelvico, chulesco y latino, en el cachondeo general pude comprender que los filipinos iban a ser la creme de la creme del sudeste asiatico. En aquel bar me sentí una vez mas como en casa, aun en la otra punta del mundo. Pude darme cuenta, que no solo en sus nombres (hay hasta un bar que se llama Morato) y en su idioma perdura la influencia española. En mi opinion Tato no tiene nada que envidiarle a David Bisbal y encima canta Nothing else matters y muchas otras mejor que Dios. Observando a aquella gente, supe porque nos fuimos de Tailandia. Es insostenible viajar en un lugar, por bonito que sea, cuando la gente local no te aporta absolutamente nada. Me di cuenta de lo poco que me gustan los tailandeses aunque no sea su culpa. Tampoco voy a entrar en detalle. Llevan mas de veinte años satisfaciendo las necesidades de estupidos turistas a la busqueda de un paraiso tropical en que pasar sus vacaciones. Sin embargo, no todo el mundo el mundo llega a Filipinas y los que van mas allá de el vuelo directo a Bangkok no son los tipicos mochileros o los barrigones repugnantes en busca de alcohol barato y fiesta en la playa. A cambio de tu interés por conocer su pais los filipinos ofrecen una educacion y una cortesía elegante y sincera, no a cambio de unas monedas. Están vivos, se lo pasan bien, les gusta comer, beber, reirse, bailar apostar y jugar al baloncesto, tienen ganas de comunicar constantemente y al mismo tiempo pasan de ti, no eres un mono blanco de feria ni una cartera con patas, eres simplemente una persona y ellos te tratan simplemente como tal.

La banda seguía a lo suyo, tocando absolutamente todo lo que la gente le pedia escrito en servilletas, el repertorio parecía infinito y además lo hacian muy bien, y asi pasamos horas, cerveza tras cerveza, cancion tras cancion, hablando con unos y con otros en perfecto ingles y bailando como crios y sintiendonos uno mas de aquella mini familia aun siendo los unicos extranjeros del local. Y asi fue como en el Katabom, al son de una banda de rock filipina en una ciudad llamada Puerto Princesa nació la nueva aventura que por fin me lleva a encontrarme con un Carlos que hacía tiempo que no veía.

 

La idea inicial era coger las motos, colocar los treinta kilos de equipaje de algun modo e ir a Sabang, desde donde parte el barco para ver una de las siete maravillas naturales del mundo, el rio subterraneo de Sant Paul. Nos levantamos temprano e iniciamos la odisea logistica que acabó horas mas tarde en el mismo momento en que Nieves me habló por primera vez de la prisión Iwahig. Estabamos comiendo cerdo en salsa en el bar de su amigo y me contó la historia de la famosa prisión sin barreras, de la familia de su novio que vivia alli desde hace veinte años, junto con otros tres mil presos, porque su suegro fue condenado tras matar a tres personas y muchas otras historias que no contaré porque inshalah va a ser el proximo documental/reportaje (aun por decidir) en Enero. En ese momento yo la miraba boquiabierto con cara de estupido y con la mitad del cerebro escuchandola y la otra mitad ya pensando en el titulo del documental, y supe perfectamente que el rio y todo lo demas me importaba un carajo comparado con lo que me estaba contando. Tenia mi proxima historia y en Enero, si los tifones lo permiten empezará a coger forma.

Era imposible que me fuese sin ver aquel lugar. Con las maletas listas y las motos alquiladas decidimos mandarlo todo al carajo y visitar la prisión. En ese momento Tato, el cantante llamó a Nieves y le dijo que si queriamos ir a ver la pelea de gallos. Después de cantante es el segundo negocio de Tato. En Filipinas las peleas de gallos son legales, es un submundo que decidimos visitar antes de la prisión. No voy a hacer un reportaje sobre las peleas de gallos, me lo pasé de la hostia haciendo fotos a aquel berengenal y tan solo diré que estuve como media hora observando y fotografiando a los tipos tatuados con pinta de narcos mexicanos que habia jugando al poker junto al ring, silenciosos y con pinta de mafiosos, mientras la muchedumbre gritaba y apostaba. SObre las peleas, nada que no se sepa, sangre, maltrato animal, apuestas, la brutalidad humana y el sufrimiento de los animalitos, todo eso que seguro otros habrán ya contado de que va mucho mejor que yo.

Llego el momento de la prisión. Welcome to the Iwahig Prison and penal farm, ponia en letrero en la entrada, los guardias de saludan y entras en un submundo rodeado de arrozales que esconde miles de historias esperando ser contadas. Una carcel sin barreras, una carcel-ciudad-granja en la que toda clase de criminales viven con sus familias algunos durante toda una vida, como el padre de Tato, que fumaba tranquilo en la puerta de la casa, mientras Mama Celi, su mujer, se perfilababa como una de las protagonistas indiscutibles de la proxima historia.

Era policia en la prisión, ganadora de carreras de atletismo y concursos de belleza a sus setenta años y con sus quizás cuarenta kilos de peso, madre de seis hijos y submadre de tres nietos de parejas rotas que crió durante los veinte años de internamiento de su marido, la semana pasada se peleó con tres perros que le dejaron un notable mordisco infectado en el brazo y además es masajista, curandera y en definitiva una super heroe. Lo que sentía al escucharla me recordo de nuevo quien era yo, me recordó lo que sentía cada vez que descubres una nueva historia, porque viajaba, porque las camaritas eran la puerta de entrada a otra dimensión y porque los billetes de ida siempre fueron la unica inversion con beneficio directo asegurado.

Freelancing in Asia

I always thought that I paid to do what you like , you first have to do what you like until someone pays for it . That’s what I’ve been doing for years and I’m still wanting to know more people that do the same . I backpack again to set sail to distant lands. It is the only investment that has always worked for me. It was never easy, but worth it . This time I returned to Thailand eager to work . I have not done any video for long time and wanted to take it with a vengeance. After the first night in Bangkok and spend two hours in a taxi by protests we headed to Koh Chang , an island east of Bangkok not yet known . I had no choice so why not . The island was not what I expected , the arrival of night left only see either side of the road clubs , bars restaurants and luxury hotels posters . We hope that lonely beach where we were heading out calmer , but no. Upon arrival met at the hotel where we stopped first owner.

We were tired after seven hours of travel, but even so I suggested as I usually always do, if I needed to pay some photos in spices. The site was fine, a large room with pool and stuff, but the guy was truly a disgusting and cheap Russian antipatico . I was regretting all day after having done the pictures I did, although it was only two panoramic photos of your best room . My way of working is to basically get somewhere , find a hotel who make a contribution to have covered accommodation and food for several days and then move to propose my Services The as paying more to other resorts category. The next day I spoke with the owner of the hotel across the street, and also wanted pictures of food and drinks in exchange for three nights accommodation with full board for two. The type accepted and everyone is happy . The same morning I went to go raiding resorts to see who wanted to do him a video . The second asked where it stopped. El Greco Lounge in Bang Bao pier . Two days after arriving on the island , I had not spent a penny , Ebba either and had already covered almost everything that had cost me the flight to Thailand windfall. El Greco was a Greek hotel and family restaurant you can see in the video that I will post soon. Besides the food was amazing and the taste with which everything was decorated better was the atmosphere . The father, could well be a friend of Zorba the Greek and Kosas , the owner was Rhodes , an island famous for fame seductive men . Kostas already retired , is now with his wife and Wi Odysseus , his son. Gogo Kostas worked for years in the clubs of his father , owner of the two largest clubs Rhodes with capacity for 2000 people each. After they closed and got into the business of jewelry and that is what brought him to Bangkok. Since then, after a night of new year catastrophic Wi met and has since started his adventure so far. Ebba and I spent two days rather rolled , especially took care that everything was ready for the 5 . When you have no other artificial light to look at maximum locations and the exact time at which the light will how and where you want to get the image you want. Ebba was as always a perfect assistant and model and also the sister of Kostas . Your hard work consisted smile , drinking wine, eating stuffed peppers and drinking mojitos. After three days , gave a report of the finished video product more photos and went back to Bangkok to meet again one day before Ebba went . I left over night in a pub to remember what it was that Thailand backpacker scene. Something that has become a fashion almost like going to luxury resorts all inclusive. I catered a few conversations type : where you’ve been , where you are and where you’re going to have bla bla bla my fill of it completely .

 

This is Thailand , stereotypes, all too easy , too … without grace , could continue working with resorts and other but a week was enough for now , if I burn worse . So after a day of madness, at two in the morning, after another grueling journey with demonstrations and protests including in Bangkok, we had just asking us where the fuck we could find somewhere we have not been, where we can work , where there are many tourists and where it does not rain. We looked and looked and did not find it in Thailand . We could go to any of the paradisiacal islands where we’ve been and find work tropical life and tourists and all. But that is not the purpose of this trip. Maybe even clear what I have , but that , no. I went to the store to buy a chocolate shake and I noticed they had the National Geographic magazine , open it , look at the first page and I was there . Philippines , or even the full article that I read but it was the perfect signal . Back to the hotel and started looking for information and deals on facebook I am just a kid of Almería a while ago I met on the bus from Madrid to Almeria and just lives and works in Manila in a while. I write and tell me that I can stay at home a few days . Chris Downs also a director I met at the last festival of short films and which gave me my first class interpretation is in Manila. There was no doubt suddenly within minutes the compass of intuition and adventure aimed at the Philippines , there was no escape. Known, surfing, climbing , diving, the only Spanish colony in Asia … too interesting to say ingredients not , so fuck , Pura Vida and pa Philippines