Saving Soft-Shell Turtles in Quezon

My childhood friend Zeus Bascon invited me to go to a road trip with his family over the weekend. It was a long and fun drive to Quezon from Sta. Rosa Laguna. The plan was to have a picnic there.

I was already at their place at 7am which isn’t bad since I live 5 minutes away from their house if I were driving a car. His mom said we start by 7am and I hate being late at any event.

When I came over last Friday I took the bike with me instead of the car, my 10 year old cousin gave me a bike since he bought a new one. Now I have a small bicycle altered to accommodate my size.

The handle bar and seat were heightened so I could pedal and maneuver the bike comfortably and it was also painted chrome.

I stuffed the bike in my trunk in case the terrain in Quezon is good enough for biking. Unfortunately I was unable to use it since the place was too rugged and mountainous. There was absolutely no way of enjoying my mini bike in the area, such a shame.

It wasn’t easy to drive to the place especially if you’re carrying 5 other people in my really old car, or my mom’s car, the back seat was packed with 4 people making it very hard to go uphill and I think after the trip I would have to get Ula, the car, checked. I should have told them not to overload the car, I thought there would only be two people at the back.

Since the stereo was busted we resorted to improvising, so the song we all sang to was…

Classic.

I cooked spaghetti with mushroom and tofu, I already know that I can’t eat whatever they’re having since the diet of a vegetarian is typically unheard of in Filipino families. But thankfully they’re starting to realize that I don’t eat meat anymore. Someone cooked fried eggplants, I was grateful.

Tiaong was a mountainous place in Quezon and people there speak in a rather funny accent that is almost similar to the people of Batangas.

There where overwhelming amount of vegetation and trees. There were corn shrubs, a few of them I accidentally run over since there was absolutely no road to follow. I also happen to rear a coconut tree but since the terrain was absolutely incorrigible it was a miracle I was able to park somewhere.

There was also a river at the northern end of the place so all of us have decided to take a look.

Floating plastics, foil wrappers can be found on the side of the creek and on its surface. I have never seen a really clean river in the Philippines so I wasn’t surprised although there were fishes and soft-shell turtles living in the river.

Unfortunately they are in grave danger since the people around the area heartlessly shoot them. We saw a man fishing with a spike like equipment and he didn’t even let a small fish, about 4 inches long, go. He shot the poor creature, as though it would really fill him up when he eats it. I think a boiled sweet potato would have filled his stomach more and he wouldn’t have to bother swimming around, not to mention having to endure the searing sun.

While playing my double-reed harmonica in an upbeat tune which Zeus said sounded like Huckleberry fin-ish but I aptly named the tune “An Ode to Maria Makiling” (A fairy, nymph or deity in Laguna – particularly in Los Baǹos) we marched from a hill to the river banks and started to dip our feet in the shallow part of the river, feeling the strong cool stream.

The sun was too harsh so I retreated under a shade of tree and sat on a boulder, playing continuously with the harmonica just at the side of the river bank.

It wasn’t long when we heard a sort of explosion not too far from the river.

“That’s a gunshot” said Zeus’ sister and later on, her husband came in saying someone was shooting a turtle on the other side of the river. Dismayed by such news I quickly stood up and placed my harmonica at the back pocket of my denim shorts.

I saw Zeus dragging a log near the side of river, saying he could do something with the beautiful log. It seems that he wants to take it home to Laguna and take it to the car. I told him he’s not carrying that 60 kilo log to my car and he should just leave it here and come back for it next time.

“It’ll be gone by then” he reasoned.

“Tie it to a tree” I said.

He asked his brother-in-law to help him carry the log but it proved to be heavy. “There’s someone shooting down turtles at the other side of the river, we need to stop him. Drop the log, it’s already dead but the turtle is alive and we need to save it!” I told him.

“Fine.” He said, dropping the log and the two men followed me uphill to the other side where the shots originated.

Upon reaching the other side of the river, we had to go downhill but it was too steep. I was waiting for Zeus to dash down but it took him a while to figure out how he could go down the bottom unscathed. I followed quickly after, dashing below and not a bit troubled by what would happen.

If I had to shield the turtle with my body – in a heartbeat I would, although my heart does have the tendency to skip beats.

The new ground was near a cliff where there were tall weeds and shrubbery, a little bit of clumsiness and we'll definitely fall on the river. Not knowing what you’re stepping on will increase the possibility of plummeting down the river below.

Another shot came and we were sure it was pretty close.

I looked around and saw the guy, whom Zeus’ father was talking to earlier.

I thought perhaps we can ask him where the guys shooting the turtle down can be found.

As we drew closer to his position, at the edge of the cliff – I saw him raise his arms holding a .45 caliber and fired a few more shots.

“I got it! It’s a big one!” the idiot said.

It was too late, I saw the turtle a bit smaller than a car tire sank at the bottom of the river about less than a 100 meters in distance. We were at the edge of the cliff and below would be the river, about 8 feet below.

“There! Saw that huge green shell sinking?” he said.

“Where?! Where?!” Zeus said

I was offended gravely. “Why did you kill the turtle?” I asked him.

“We eat them.” He said.

“Well, aren’t you going to get your kill?” I asked again.

“That part of the river is very deep. Deeper than the bamboos you see” he said, “I’ll just let it go and let it surface on some shore” he gave a smirk as though he felt he was so awesome.

It seems he has no plans of fetching his kill, he’s not planning to eat the turtle. He just shot it for target practice and he’s old enough to know that what he’s doing is wrong. He’s not retarded not to know, he has no excuse – he’s just an ignoramus who thinks we will be impressed by what he was doing.

Is he trying to tell us in a way that he has a gun?

“Poor creature” Zeus and I said.

We told the ignoramus that these turtles looked like pawikans or sea green turtles and they are endangered species but he said they are soft shell turtles (much to Zeus’ disappointed he won’t be able to get any turtle shells)

The ignoramus guy said “They are endangered in your place, but here it isn’t.”

Oh and that makes it right to shoot them? I thought, only a buffoon would reason that.

“At this rate they will be endangered” I said.

“Look there’s another one” the brother-in-law said, we all looked to the direction and saw a small young turtle about 8 inches in diameter. The soft-shell turtle reared its head on the surface of water to take a few breaths. We can clearly see its body on the water, wiggling its stubby fat legs to float.

The ignoramus guy once again aimed at the turtle and commenced on pulling the trigger.

“No!! Stop!” I was about to grab the gun from him but I halted when he looked at me very surprised and lowered his gun.

“If you’re going to eat them, I’ll give you money so you can buy food at the market. Just don’t kill them.” I said.

Imagine a guy around my age going to shoot an innocent poor creature that emerged from the bottom of the river simply to take amounts of oxygen in order to continue its harmless life but would only be shot down.

“Huh? What?” he said. He was surprised at what I said.

“How do they taste like?” Zeus asked.

“They taste like beef” he said.
Liar, I haven't tasted turtles but I don't think they taste like beef. Soft-shell turtles as what my office-mate told me were the turtles used in soup.

I didn’t have any homicidal thoughts against the man at that time but I do want him to stop, but what chance do I have when he has a gun and I only have a double-reed harmonica?

There was silence and the turtle after taking sufficient amounts of breath retreated back to the bottom of the river. The creature is safe for now, I thought to myself.

We left the guy at the cliff and I told him to not kill them anymore. He didn’t say anything and we left.

Zeus told me about cultural boundaries, that I can’t just tell people to stop what they’re doing if it has become part of their culture. Uh-huh shooting down turtles with a .45 caliber is very cultural, I wonder if they have a “Let’s shoot down soft-shell turtles” festival.

Then again, if it were, I don’t care if I’m crossing cultural boundaries if I could save a turtle’s life.

It is immoral no matter how I look at it.

Zeus said we need to educate these people and I agree, but I wasn’t in the mood to lecture the buffoon with the gun and tell him about global warming, endangered species and that shooting any living creature down is not right – when in fact he ought to know these things. Is that gun even registered?

“He’s not going to eat the turtle, he’s just practicing his aim” said Zeus’ brother in law.
True, how is he going to fetch his kill when it sank more than 10 feet below the surface of water? Would he really take the time to wait for it on the shore when that is so uncertain? How many more turtles has he killed and how many more will die?

No other living creature in this world has the capability to be such monsters than humans, all other animals will only harm a human when provoked or threatened. They would never ever harm anything out of pleasure. 

Hunting in several regions on earth would be acceptable. The English before would shoot down foxes since these animals harm their stocks and farms. They would collect the hunted fox and make use of its hide. But why shoot down a turtle when it’s harmless, it already has a slowed motion, why else shoot it?

A bear would never attack or scratch a human just so he could sharpen his claws.

After a while we went back home. I’m sure that guy has done it a lot of times and I’m not going to stand here thinking about those poor creatures getting shot for mere target-practice.

I will try to contact PAWS or DENR if I had to. Or even PETA, although I don’t really like PETA but the circumstance is asking for it. PETA is too extreme, too intense for my taste.

I don’t want to go marching down holding planks or sign-boards. I may need to consult my friends for help on this one.

There were people who killed animals and made fun of animals that spread all over the news like the kid who hanged a puppy by the ear and the one in UP who stepped on a kitty - those aren't even close to what I've witnessed. I literally saw an adult man gun down an innocent creature who has no chance of fighting back.

Anyway here’s a video for PETA from Bullshit (I love this show)

I have a lot of reasons why I’m vegetarian and when I was in college, torturing animals was the last reason why I was following this diet to heart but it doesn't exactly mean I don't care about animals at all - I just have better reasons in being a vegetarian than just mere compassion towards animals.
Please don't tell me to eat meat, I will eat meat if I want to - thank you.

Do watch the PETA Bullshit show and know more a bit about PETA who wants to shut down Manila Zoo.

On Raw Food Diet: Organic and Fresh

Back in College, I used to dorm in this building that has an atrium in the middle. A bit similar to a condominium that has several studios for students to have a home away from home but at the first few months of my first year I stayed in the west wing of the oldest dormitory in the University I graduated in.

I met a girl in one of my social studies class, we were both irregulars, meaning we don’t have the same folks with each of our dreaded classes. We became friends forever and it turns out she lived in the university condos.

I frequently visited her room and her roommates loved me, countless sleepovers were made followed by weekly dinners with the girls. They had this roommate whom they didn’t really like, I didn’t like her either, she barely slept in the room and to top it all off she preferred to be called ‘Sexy’ when in fact she looks so hideous I couldn’t even begin to remember how she looked like.

Eventually we used voodoo and witchcraft to kick her out of the room to make way for – well, you know who. We used the witchcraft technique found in Bible Black and miraculously it worked!

(If you have the complete copy of Bible Black please message me, we never get to see how it ended and we would be thrilled to watch it)

Moving on, we became roommates forever, at least for the rest of our four year stay in the University. It’s been 2 years since I’ve graduated and we still get to have dinners and see each other.

Every summer I would visit one of my roommate’s home in Olongapo. It was a three-to-four hour travel by bus and I didn’t mind, up to now I still do it. Any minute or hour less than that is a piece of cake, it won’t ever faze me, I wouldn't even begin to call it traveling.

This friend of mine is also vegetarian and last time I visited which was a month or so ago, her mom was vegan, now – she’s a raw foodie. Her mom held a workshop for her fellow yogis when I came there and I joined in the preparation of raw food.

I can eat pretty much eat anything I want, that was before when I wasn’t a vegetarian but now that I have a different eating lifestyle than the rest of the population, picking up what to eat can be quite a challenge. Learning how to cook became a requirement and choosing wisely where to eat out is a necessary skill.

I’ve been a vegetarian since college with a minor lapse after graduation but now I’m back on loving vegetables.

When I visited Olongapo, I was a vegetarian raw foodie for a few days.

A raw food diet is based on the belief that cooking food steals their enzymes and nutrients away while leaving them uncooked retains their natural enzyme and health enhancing attributes.

The benefits one can get from a raw food diet consists of

Increased Energy

Clearer Skin

Weight Loss

Reduced Risk of Disease

Less Trans Fat and Saturated Fat

Low in Sodium and Sugar

Delay the Progress of Aging
And More

It may seem very appealing to some but the thing is, it takes vast intangible amounts of determination and discipline to incorporate that in our daily lives, especially when meat and savory animal meals are plastered on billboards, tarpaulins, at the back of a bus and other forms of advertisement in our urban life.

According to my spiritual university: In heaven, people are vegan raw foodies (or at least vegetarian.)

And in the practice of a strict spiritual life (I try, as much as I can to follow) as a student of Brahma Kumaris, I must turn back to my previous self – the one who lived in heaven and disregard the five senses of my present life in order to transcend into heaven.

 -Just one of the reasons why I don’t eat meat among others.

Everyone wants to be healthy but don’t have the will to start that day for themselves and they are slaves to one of the five senses of the body – taste. That is the reason why a lot of people can’t give up meat, to my opinion, not all meat products and meals taste good. What a waste of a perfectly good animal life.

In the rarest time that I would deviate from my diet and eat meat on my accord I am filled with regret that would last a while. Of course I always forgive myself and easily brush away the feeling, unless I want to beat myself up for it.

Her mom holds raw food workshops regularly and she also has her own blog and so does my friend. My friend studied Broadcast Journalism but has a catering business in Olongapo City, she’s a great cook and I can easily request what I want for breakfast, lunch or dinner when I visit and she does it with a smile too!

If you live near the city you can join one of the workshops and pay a fraction of what you would when you join a raw food workshop here in Metro Manila.

I learned how to extract milk out of nuts and make delectable dishes with a blender! Goodbye George Foreman Griller!!

Talking to a round eggplant and waiting for it to talk back while slipping a chunk of pineapple in my mouth
Dunia making faces with the eggplant

A raw food diet is healthy and is a good alternative if your stove ran out of gas or if you don't have one.

Preparing raw food is very simple and there are thousands of recipes and instructions over the internet.

Enjoying a piece of dehydrated vegan raw nacho

Take a look at their vegetarian/vegan/raw foodie useful food blogs!

http://bendandburp.blogspot.com/

http://greenandraw.blogspot.com/

Sloth

That’s the word…

The sin… (Click the word "sin" for definition)

The emotion that most of my contemporaries are prone to experience and commit, for the rarest time in my life I am under its spell.

Or the animal, which is considered to be the slowest moving mammal in the world.

I don’t remember what happened in the past few weeks but I’ve travelled quite a lot which ironically made me feel so idle. Or I am once again procrastinating?

Although I’ve made a pledge to write more and start some of my projects, once again, my well calculated scrupulous schedule sank down the drain. No surprise there.

Since a friend of mine will leave for Australia for half a year, my friends, terrified of not seeing her for a long time, panicked and have decided to see each other more often.

If once a week wasn’t enough. As the youngest of the group (All of them at least 32 years old) I took it as my duty to schedule our meetings, dates, adventures and even ob-gyne and dental appointments. Emergency meetings also seem to fall under my department…

But recently I’ve abandoned the responsibility so they’ve been trying to organize things by themselves since I’m awfully swamped with other things to do.

Such excellent taste has directed us to visit the Pinto Art Museum in Antipolo City.

I’ve been dying to go to that Museum for weeks, there was also an earlier schedule of me going there with other friends but was tragically cancelled due to laziness, also associated with sloth.

 

After an art and culture filled weekend the next weekend was spent in Olongapo City where I thought I would be able to work on my projects and writing backlogs.

I spent it eating and preparing raw vegan food, which isn’t really a bad compromise but the progress of my work is of course on halt.

Seeing different set of friends is sort of exhausting… I miss myself.

I think I need to be isolated.

Keeping up with the Markarian 739s

Yes, this sort of news interests me so while looking at what the internet has I saw this: Two black holes found in neighboring galaxy Markarain 739, both active.

There MAY be two black holes at the core of a nearby galaxy according to a new study to be published in an upcoming issue of The Astrophysical Journal Letters. (Please take note of the disclaimer)

The Milky Way, another nearby galaxy; has super massive black holes at the center but in this case with Markarian 739, it’s rare to find two black holes so close, approximately 11,000 light years away. 
I'm not exactly sure about their proximity but they might just be too close they might start sucking each other and start massive black hole collisions - putting an end to the Universe and our puny existence.

A study using NASA's Swift satellite and the Chandra X-ray Observatory has found a second supersized black hole at the heart of an unusual nearby galaxy already known to be sporting one.

The galaxy, which is known as Markarian 739 or NGC 3758, lies 425 million light-years away toward the constellation Leo. Only about 11,000 light-years separate the two cores, each of which contains a black hole gorging on infalling gas.

-NASA

It’s very interesting yet, pretty much useless. They said that these two black holes are both active perhaps from a collision of two galaxies.

I’m still thinking about how to apply this sort of knowledge to my daily starving writer lifestyle… 

Cool wet morning

The rainy season is really here, cool nights and cool mornings are always welcome but I don't like carrying an umbrella and walking in the rain. I don't like getting wet especially by the rain.

This song from Copeland, an indie band, was perfect for my morning today.
Choco butternut donut from DuDo, Vegetarian Pancit and Fruit-Veg juice for breakfast.

Rain rain rain on my mind
I've got a secret life
Wipe wipe wipe it away
Nothing can make me dry

Or during these times I would like to listen to something from Ryuichi Sakamoto

Then play it at the same time with this video

Ken Breaks Up With Barbie

Click Photo to go to Ken's Page on FB

You said it Ken! I just received my Greenpeace newsletter and this was the news. It seems that the most famous couple are breaking up because Barbie is annihilating one of the most precious part of the planet – the forest, particularly in Indonesia.

What I like about Greenpeace is that they really target big companies to straighten up their acts with nature. I thought if I quit writing for this company I’m working for, I would apply for Greenpeace Europe, Coral Cay or the Asia and Europe foundation. But alas, I have to stay here since I have to focus on my writing career.

I didn’t bother with volunteering in Greenpeace Philippines because I’ve been to their office and well... I guess what they wanted was financial donations instead of my time. A college student such as I was back then, has only her time to give, it didn’t really seem worth it but a year ago when Zeus Bascon and I were hanging out at Alabang Town center, there was a Greenpeace booth seeking help and for new members (by member, someone who donates monthly or someone who donates, doesn’t matter how many times) the thing is, they don’t accept cash and since I have a sort of disorder that lacks the ability to say NO to anything, I gave out my credit card number that their organization don’t really accept. But they said they were going to see if it would work.

Unfortunately it got declined several times and the penalties that came monthly in my bills were enough to bury me alive.

So I discarded the old one and got a new one. No, I don’t hate Greenpeace PH for that. I just wished I’ve said ‘No’ back then, it would have saved me the trouble. Since it is in the past, I’ve buried it to where it belongs, six feet under the depths of my mind’s forgetfulness.

You too can help out and sign a petition for Mattel to stop destroying forests just to pack Barbie in disposable cardboards. Click here!

Deforestation speeds up Global Warming and makes it worse, not only that but 2012 is coming and the whole world might just explode to pieces, at least if the world ends on 2012 we'd have great forests and a tiny little bit of fresh air.

Don't forget to get your Angry Ken Profile Pic on his Greenpeace FB Page or the Unlike Barbie photo.

I think they are going to get back together and I shall count the days it will take for that to happen.

Dear Photographer,

Marius is looking at you with hypnotizing eyes...

I know you took photographs when I went to Mercato Centrale in Makati. You were there and if you would be so kind enough to share the photos you took especially the ones that had me in it, I would be eternally grateful.

I sent you a message a few weeks before, asking for the photographs and I haven’t heard from you since then. I am reaching out to you again, this time in a public domain, I know for a fact that you read my blog.

If there is anything you want in return, I can cough up coffee, a designer white chocolate mocha perhaps or yogurt? … I can’t think of anything else but if you want something, you can simply ask, hopefully my starving writer lifestyle can afford it.

Wishing you a great day,

Veronica