My Move to the Philippines

As you probably know from reading this blog that I spend about half my time in Pangasinan and half in Laguna when I’m in the Philippines. It wasn’t until my latest couple of trips to Pangasinan did I actually stray out from Macaleeng Anda where our house is. But the latest trip there I promised to get out and see a little of the area where my wife grew up.

According to wikipedia

“The name Pangasinan means “land of salt” or “place of salt-making”; it is derived from the root word asin, meaning “salt” in thePangasinan language and other related languages. The province is a major producer of salt in the Philippines. ”

Because of this I just had to see what I could find out about the salt industry around the area I stay, and my brother-in-law Dickie Caracas and his friends voluntered to show me the salt making plant near our home. Now when I hear a plant or factory in the States I imagine a bunch of buildings with machinery to build or produce something. This plant was far different with very few buildings and all the work done outside.

From what I understood the process of getting the salt starts early in the morning. Salt water from the ocean is funneled into small areas to contained it. the water is left until late afternoon where it actually evaporates and leaves very little water but much salt at the bottom. The salt is scrapped from the bottom of the area and put into baskets where it is dried and then piled alongside the road where the trucks come along and bag the salt and pay for it while loading. That is the 5 cent version of what I observed and you may get a better idea by visiting my photo album of the trip by clicking on:

Visit to a Salt Factory in Pangasinan

Well 2011 is finally here, actually it’s been here for a week now, but it seems like when I post on this column I’m on Filipino time. And yes, with this New Year there still are Americans living in the Philippines I’m sure of that. I have been getting numerous comments and emails from Filipinos and Americans assuring me that they are either in the Philippines or will be moving to the Philippines soon.

I missed celebrating Christmas and New Years in the Philippines this year because I’m here in the states but I will be there by the end of this month. I am so excited and even though I missed two of the most important holidays I will be returning in time to celebrate Fiesta in Pangasinan. I really love the way Filipinos celebrate important holidays. There are so many good times and time to be with friends and relatives, unlike the commercialism in many other parts of the world.

As I start this year on the blog I’d like to throw a question out there especially for Americans living/moving to the Philippines: Why have you chosen the Philippines to live/move? I’m asking because many people have began asking me this lately and if possible I try to refer them to my very first post when I started this blog/website: “I Shall Return” Although the timing has changed a little bit since I first wrote that, everything else is the same and I believe it is very informative. If you get a chance and haven’t done so, please read this post and the others after it, you will get the reasons. Maybe you can use this post and the blog to answer your own friends/relatives questions.

As many of you know I was born and raised in a place in the U.S. that has the claim of being “Almost Heaven” and that is West Virginia. The nickname I believe comes from the beautiful scenery in the mountains and forests of the state as well as the friendly people.

Growing up in the city in West Virginia I didn’t wake up in the mountains every day where they say you can feel closer to God just by taking in the beautiful picture that is painted with the sunrise and sunset. I only got to experince such things when my family was camping or traveling.

Loyal readers also know that we have two homes in the Philippines one in the city and one in I guess what you could call the equivalent of the mountains and backwoods of West Virginia and that would be in Macaleeng Pangasinan.

What this is all leading up to is a recent video I took of the view from our front yard (beach) in Pangasinan. I can tell you that waking up in the mountains of West Virginia makes you feel closer to God and waking up and experiencing a sunset like the one in the video gives me the same feeling. So I hope you enjoy this short video of a view from our front yard.

Recently while staying at our home in Macaleeng Anda in the province of Pangasinan we were honored to be invited by Governor Espino of Pangasinan  to visit for a day at the Provincial Capital of Lingayen. Lingayen was one of the great historical points during World War II and the birth place of President Fidel V. Ramos. And I learned that Lingayen is also considered as the “most romantic place in the Philippines”.

Our first stop was at the Sison Auditorium which was under construction at that time. The Sison Auditorium formerly known as the “Grand Provincial Auditorium” was built in 1927. It was later renamed in honor of the late Pangasinan Governor Teofilo Sison, the first Pangasinense to become secretary of National Defense. It is very beautiful there and I loved the chandelier that was imported from Italy.

I’ve included a video I took while we were inside below:

Next we visited the capital building. We got to visit many of the offices and meet some of the people working inside. Everyone was so nice and welcomed us and they represented the Philippines and Lingayen very well. I’ve included another short video of our time on the outside of the capital building due to a problem with my video inside. We also had lunch at the Capital Resort Hotel and ate very well while being entertained by our tour guide. She was a very good tour guide as well as singer. Sorry forgot her name but if someone knows her I would like to mention her on this site and in the video.

On the way back home we stopped in Manaoag and visited a beautiful church and did a little shopping. We got some very good deals. We took one more side trip to a resort in Bolinao which I plan on visiting the next time we are in Pangasinan. I’m sure to have more pictures of it to share with you all. In the next couple of days I’ll be setting up a photo sharing album of our day trip to Lingayen and will include the link to it. Until next time Thanks for reading my blog!