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a ghostly place…

Posted on October 22, 2006 @ 11:43 am by massimo | Filed under: bargain,blog,fear,illustration,news,people,philippines,travel,wordpress

ifugao sagada philippines cordillera aynaku illustration adobe

I once visited the ancient burial caves in the village of Sagada located in Northen Luzon’s Central Cordillera.
The area is home of the ancient Ifugao tribe, a former head hunters population who made -2000 thousand years ago- the stunning Banaue’s rice terraces that start from the base of the mountain range and reach up to several hundred meters high. Permeating Central Cordillera there are also Ifugao’s funerary customs peculiar enough to make a traveller an aspiring anthropologist.The formation of the lime stones with their hanging coffins are really spectacular and aw everyone. And everyone has his own theories on how the coffins were placed on seemingly impossible locations! I also learned that the natives of Sagada had a ceremonial burial ritual which involved placing their dead into hollowed-out logs and placing the coffins in caves; so I decided to venture with a native guide inside one of these caves. The place we headed to, was actually nothing more than a big hole hardly holding to people together. I entered the ghostly cave alone and remained for a little while to contemplate those skulls that seemed to glow in the darkness…

Illustration Friday’s topic is: ghost

claustrophobia

Posted on September 24, 2006 @ 4:57 pm by massimo | Filed under: blog,boracay,diving,fear,illustration,island,people,philippines,wordpress

dive claustrophobia decompression sickness aynaku illustration adobe

In clear water at 30 meters, everything is blue-grey; in murky water at the same depth, there maybe no light at all. Here divers consume air rapidly and usually experience nitrogen narcosis that tends to deteriorate mental processes and judgement. The lack of colour and light, may also cause the abnormal fear of confined paces called claustrophobia. Despite the demanding nature of deep dives, they have become a popular activity for a variety of reasons. Basically, the ability to dive deep broadens the realm in which divers enjoy… It happens that Andreas -a skilful German diver master- and I decided to go deep to the little cave located along the underwater cliff that run nearly vertical in Boracay’s  Yapak dive spot. The cave, at a depth of about 35 meters, is supposed to be a good place for fish watching. Due to the strong currents along the cliff and the physical exertion I did, when I got the cave I find out that my air supply had gone almost completely and I had not auxiliary air for decompression! I felt lost and showed quickly my air gauge to Andreas. The man was truly an exceptional diver: as usual he had got such a low air consumption and his cylinder was magically almost full. He rescued me simply by let me breathing trough his regulator all the way back. Moreover – according to his pl an- we rested a while, side by side within that small and claustrophobic hole, enjoying the underwater realm.

Illustration Friday‘s topic is : phobia

carabao

Posted on September 9, 2006 @ 5:08 pm by massimo | Filed under: animals,blog,food,illustration,news,people,philippines,politics,travel,wordpress

carabao genoma ricetch biopiracy aynaku dgital illustration adobe

…plowing the field by the carabao, native water buffalo of the Philippines…
In many regions of the Philippines time is measured by the growth of the rice fields. Each new planting of the rice field marks the passing of calendric time. Filipinos also decide when to plant their crops according to the monsoon rains that occur. Some aspects of religion are also timed according to the cycle of rice. Some people believed that the rice was a manifestation of the gods. There are also rice gods in many upland peoples’ cultures that are often represented as wooden images. In certain areas they decide to harvest the rice whenever the elders decide that it is needed. These decisions are made according to observations of the growing rice and the sun.
Such rituals on rice-growing can be found everywhere in South East Asia: local cultures and traditions are deeply linked with rice. Nevertheless, in 1998 an American company, Ricetec Inc., has obtained a patent in the US for a rice line that mimics the properties of traditional Basmati rice, a product of India and Pakistan. After a legal challenge, the patents were restricted so that they do not cover the pre-existing traditional varieties…

Illustration Friday’s topic is: farm

run

Posted on August 27, 2006 @ 9:18 am by massimo | Filed under: africa,blog,cheap,fashion,fun,illustration,india,indonesia,news,people,philippines,thailand,travel,wordpress

For some reason I was always on the run in my wild, wild years. And I was used to buses and mini-buses, coaches, lorries and trucks to travel around. I travelled on the …

billiards

Posted on August 12, 2006 @ 4:17 pm by massimo | Filed under: blog,boracay,cheap,fashion,fun,illustration,news,people,philippines,wordpress

Nine ball is a contemporary variation of billiards with historical beginnings rooted in USA and traceable to the 1920’s. The game is absolutely popular in the Philippines (a former …

chocolate hills

Posted on July 22, 2006 @ 3:53 pm by massimo | Filed under: another green world,bargain,blog,fun,illustration,news,package tour,philippines,travel,wordpress

Everybody can notice how often a distinction between the “natural” and the “artificial” is drawn: these categories actually face, and in most cases, they turned out to be absolute opposites. Can such a distinction be justified? The action of mankind towards the environment is too often …

an overloaded skyline…

Posted on July 7, 2006 @ 10:03 pm by massimo | Filed under: architecture,bargain,beach,blog,boracay,fashion,fear,illustration,island,news,people,philippines,travel,wordpress

In 1997 I had got an architectural commission in Boracay. I was asked to design a trendy ice cream parlour and it actually was under construction nearby the beach; I liked this …

the rains

Posted on June 25, 2006 @ 2:41 pm by massimo | Filed under: blog,books,boracay,illustration,india,indonesia,island,news,people,philippines,travel,wordpress

Wet Monsoon blows in the Indian Ocean from South West, from April to October. Further East, in the Philippines, the western wind is called Habagat and the rainy season comes with it. The …

dance!

Posted on June 16, 2006 @ 11:22 pm by massimo | Filed under: bargain,beach,blog,boracay,cheap,fashion,fun,holidays,illustration,india,indonesia,island,music,mythology,news,people,philippines,thailand,travel,wordpress

Dance! Once in a lifetime –at least- a beachcomber happens to join full moon parties and happy dances. Sometimes parties are spontaneous: someone strikes up the band, so to …

negritos

Posted on June 3, 2006 @ 11:50 am by massimo | Filed under: another green world,beach,blog,boracay,fun,illustration,island,news,people,philippines,politics,travel,wordpress

Aetas are the black pygmies of the Philippines. They have long inhabited the archipelago and are believed to be the aborigines of the Philippines; Aetas were largely displaced by the invading Austronesian-speaking migrants. …

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