SCAMS AND SCHEMES!!

I know you've heard this before but I am saying it anyway:  Earning money online is easy IF you know how to do it.  But if you are a newbie, expect to be discouraged after a few months.  I mean, if you tried signing up on PTC sites like I did, I am sure you earned a little, like 2 to 10 dollars. Some PTC sites pay you two to three times but after that, they just refuse to pay, saying that you have to invest money first before you get paid, as if spending time clicking their ads is not an investment  already. So you rent referrals who are mostly either inactive or just plain lazy to click. And you rented them for a month at $0.22 each.  So what happens is that you are losing instead of earning more because you have rented some lousy referrals.  And before you knew it, it's time for renewal. My advice is,
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The French says je t'aime;  Germans, Ich liebe dich; Italians, ti voglio bene; Filipinos,  iniibig kita, to name just a few of the  different translations of the English sentence I love you. And somewhere, right now, someone is saying that to someone special, the object of his or her affection. Some people though find it so hard to say I love you. Why is that? Well, the reason for one person may vary from yours, but mostly it's one or two of the following:
Firstly, saying I love you needs courage.  Lots of it. Why? Because when you say  "I love you", 
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Dumaluan Beach, Panglao, Bohol

Dumaluan Beach of Panglao Island is one of the most frequented beach resorts in Bohol. It's area is big enough to accommodate hundreds. As you can see in the picture, Dumaluan  has white sand and full of trees like coconuts (lots of it), talisay, and other native trees that usually grow near salty water. They are really a great plus factor as they provide shade from the scorching sun during summer and act also as wind breaker during habagat season (southwest monsoon).
It is best to go there on weekdays because weekends are usually the days for families to have  a picnic but if you really have to, reserve a hut in advance. The good thing about renting a hut is that you can stay for as long as you want. There are huts (about 50) that are open on both sides and also enclosed nipa huts for those who want privacy. The rent for a nipa hut (private) is 1000 pesos  (about 20-22 USD) for one day (24 hours) accommodation. There are bigger rooms available too for those who want to stay longer.  Like most resorts, Dumaluan also have the amenities for scuba diving, island hopping, dolphin watching, kayaking, kite gliding and they also have a boat with glass floor (it's like snorkelling without getting wet).

Unlike those resorts along the Alona strip where the night-life is rather too "lively", at Dumaluan, you'll experience nature and quiet. Although there are times when parties are celebrated, they usually sizzle out at midnight. The favorite pasttime however is beach-combing, hiking or jogging along the beach. So for those who want to relax, Dumaluan is the right place to be.

For reservation, log on to  http://www.dumaluanbeach.com/reservations.php or
email @ resort@dumaluanbeach.com

Landline no.: (+63)038-5029092
Fax no.:(+63)038-5029081
Mobile no. +639178834888

pickpockets galore?

Just this morning, my sister called from the pier, asking me to look inside her bedroom to see if she'd left her wallet there.  It wasn't there... not in her room, not in her daughter's, not in the living room, nowhere inside the house. Although, and I really hope so, there's a chance that she left it inside her wardrobe cabinet (which is locked).  But the thing is, her shoulder bag's zipper was open when she arrived at the pier. And her wallet gone. She was riding on a tricycle with another passenger whom the driver picked up on the way to the pier. Of course, the other passenger's stop changed after he (allegedly) got what he wanted.

Similar stories like this has been told and heard. It's an annoying fact that this crime is rampant and shows no sign of stopping and of being stopped or solved by authorities concerned. It's an annoying fact that we have to exert more effort trying hard not to become a victim of such crime. I mean, there you are, travelling alone, afraid, and defensive. What could be more exhausting than that?

a wild relative of the soursop?

this wild fruit, as shown above, has a similarity to the regular soursop:   skin texture, smell and color.  Both leaves of the regular soursop and the wild version smells the same, only the wild one is a bit slimmer. (The light green oblong beside the fruit is the bud.) The size however, is just about 1/20 of the popular and otherwise the regular sousop below:

 

The flesh is also white and fibrous.  But is it edible? Anyone knows what this wild fruit's name is? We discovered its existence recently when we went to an old friend's small coffee plantation.

                                   It was long way up, but it was worth it.

monday kind of feeling

Monday. First working day of the week.  Rain. My mind is not yet switched on.  I just kept looking outside my window.  Drizzle. Drizzle. Drizzle.  For a few minutes, the sun gets through and then back to how it started. I got this feeling that today, this soft rain will go on until late afternoon.

It's been like this for over two weeks now. I miss sunsets. I mean beautiful sunsets...not the kind we had the last two weeks where you see nothing but a gray mantle of a sky.

Monday kind of feeling, figuratively and literally.

Bohol tarsiers in captivity

TARSIER   genus:  Tarsius; phylum:  Chordata; order:  Primates; species:  T. syrichta 


Above mentioned facts, I got from Wikipedia.  Illustration below, mine.

My interest in tarsiers is not really, by any means, scientific and if someone asks what genus do tarsiers belong, I would have no idea. I only know that these cute and shy animals are a great tourist attraction and because of that, I think their existence is nearing end.  Here's why:

A scenario:

A tourist bus with 10 to 15 Koreans take the Tagbilaran - Baclayon - Loboc - Carmen - Danao route. I mentioned these towns as they are where the bus drivers usually make stops. Baclayon is where you will see the oldest church of the Phillipines. Loboc is where the floating restaurants are. Carmen, the Chocolate Hills and Danao, the ziplines, the plunge, caves, wall and root climbing. You might ask why I am telling you this.  What does the Maumag (local name of tarsier) got to do with it? Well, each of these stops have tarsiers IN CAGES.

Tourists are sightseeing during the day and tarsiers which are nocturnal, sleep at daytime.  So? Well, tourists don't want to see tarsiers sleeping behind the leaves. Afterall, they are paying for it...although you'll see signs on a box that says Donation for the upkeep of those hapless tarsiers, still they are indeed paying.  It's been told that a donation box could easily earn ten thousand pesos a day during peak season.  That's more than the monthly salary of a rank and file employee. So what happens is that, to make the tourist happy and not to feel short-changed, the operator wakes them up. The tarsiers have get out from their sleeping quarters (behind the leaves) so tourists can marvel on their cuteness and take photos. Some would poke them with long sticks or shake the branches hard if they refuse to come out from their hiding places.

Sure, they are allowed to get back to sleep after the tourists are gone but not for long.  The last time I was in one of those places, there was a long queue of tourist buses so I doubt it if those hapless tarsiers did get any sleep at all.

Being nocturnals, this predicament these tarsiers are in,  greatly disorients them and without sleep, they will surely get sick and eventually die. And if they do, the operators buy another set.  Set? Yes, set.  Tarsiers don't live long if caged alone. So with this trend of buying tarsiers>burying dead tarsiers >buying a set again (I am sure of this) >burying and so on, there's no doubt about it:  extinction is inevitable. 

There's a man named Carlito "Lito" Pizarras of Philippine Tarsier Foundation, aka, the Tarsier Man who is very active in taking care of these hapless creatures. He had been ridiculed as a fool for tarsier but now has become a national figure.  Nobody knows about tarsiers more than Lito. 

I met Lito 2 years ago at the foundation. Not that he knows me back but to someone who loves tarsiers knows a thing or two about him.  A soft-spoken man.  I saw him whisper softly to one of his tarsiers and this tarsier looked at him and snuggled at his neck. It was a very touching moment. No wonder his wards (tarsiers) love him so.  But what can a single dedicated man do to stop this massive abuse on tarsiers?

In desparation, I once uttered this question after a discussion about the plight of the tarsiers. Maybe we can clone him, one of my friends jokingly answered.