Castillejos

The town that the burns/cleft lip/palate clinic is in is Castillejos, in the province of Zambales. It is a poor town. Incredibly poor. The clinic is, for Western standards, not what it should be, but in Castillejos, it is one of the nicest houses in town. I shall now describe the town.

     Roads: There is one main road in Castillejos, with lots of little dirt sidepaths. The road is covered with little businesses, from cornerstores to barbershops to a gunstore to little food stalls. Sad to say, many of the residents of Castillejos don't have much business sense, meaning that the moment they have money to rent the land to open a store, they do. And many of the shops fail as soon as they open.

     Vehicles: Most of the vehicles on the road are either jeepneys, long hollowed-out, no doors or windows, 23-person carriers that operate much like public transportation, trikes, which are motorcycles with a passenger side-car that can hold two people, and a third behind the driver, or motorcycles, often with two or more people. Val, the owner of the clinic, owns a stainless steel jeep with two seats in the front, and cargo space in the back. It is as barebones as a car can get. The clutch is between the two front seats, just on the floor of the car, the wires in the dash are just hanging out, the A/C is two fans and slideable windows, the doors work with small hook latches, most of the -meters in the dash don't really work, any lights in the front are just little lightbulbs, and you can open the hood with a latch on either side of the engine compartment.

     Supermarkets: Imagine a conventional supermarket, full of fresh fruits, vegetables, fish and meats, with some frozen prepared meals, breakfast cereal, etc. Mostly full of things that are good for you. Not in the Philippines. Here, a supermarket is a glorified gas station store. Everything in the store is packaged. Everything. Chips, crackers, insta-ramen, candy, soda, you name it, and it's there in 17 flavors and varieties. The only place for people to get fresh fruits and vegetables is the palenque, or the market. It's a big open-air market with dozens, maybe hundreds, of vendors. There is an area for clothes, for produce, for rice, for meat, for fish, for prepared foods, etc. The vegetable stands had shredded banana heart, which is actually a banana tree seedling. It's hard to describe but you can cook it like a starch. We went to a stand owned by one of the aboriginal peoples, and the owner was 19 and a mother of 4. Val had helped her child medically, and she insisted that Val take a banana heart. The stands also had a sort of medley of cabbage, green bean, eggplant, and what looked to be butternut squash.

     People: Families in Zambales are very large. Couples get married between 16-19, generally, and have lots and lots of children. Mona came from a squatter family, and she was the 10th child. They are now on their 14th child.Granted, that's probably an extreme, but here is another example. A former patient of Val's came in yesterday because she heard that Val was looking for a maid. She wasn't. Anyway, the patient is almost 17, and her parents just had another child. She quit her job at the water station because her mom needed help with the children, and now she needs to get one to support the family. Another common sight is an ex-pat marrying a young Filipina. There is generally a 10-15+ year age difference.

     Food: Val is an extraordinary cook. So far, for dinner I have had roast chicken, steak and fries, tacos with homemade flour tortillas, and fried chicken. All made at home. Fresh meat is fairly available. The meat shop chain "Fresh Options" is overseen by a former veterinary surgeon, so the meat is of good quality. Val's assistant is also a good cook and baker, although I have yet to taste any of her food. There are plenty of street stalls with food of their own, although I probably won't be having it on account of foreign germs and whatnot. At the palenque, we did stop for "banana-que" which is essentially caramelized bananas on a stick. They also sold fried squash balls, which were mild and pleasant. One of Val's friends sells organic salted eggs, and she is looking into safe balut, so I can have the complete Filipino experience.

     More will be on the way!