4 weeks of travels, 5 islands traversed & 9 boats of seas sailed across, I’m finally coming to a typhoon-eye’s pause, back in Bantayan Island, Philippines. Recollecting the journey…
First stop, in Bogo City, Cebu island: LUYO SPACE is a collective co-founded by artist Ronyel Compra, grounded in alternative arts education & permaculture. Formed during the pandemic to help artist community in northern Cebu, LUYO started a free seed library, bike repair shop & arts workshops for the youth, with support from Tropical Futures Institute.
We visited the art studios of Felix Catarata, Jovencio Catarata, and Esther Compra, who runs EASTstar, a Youtube channel dedicated to organic farming & lifestyle. We even got to learn how to make tuba, traditional coconut ‘wine’! Awesome to connect with local creative community rooting artistic practice in native ecologies.
From Bogo, Cebu, I took a boat to Leyte, where I met up with Roberth Fuentes, a dancer filmmaker with roots from Bantayan & currently residing in Biliran island. Since moving back to Biliran, Roberth’s filmed at many power spots on the island, mapping out the coming ‘post-covid’ tourism boom in the Philippines, and aiming root it with reverence to nature spirits.
What a gift to remember these moments in embodied prayer to the mountains, water, rain, fall…
Check out the latest Islayoga video on ~ Waves/Balud ~
In Cebu City. I completed a weekend training of Filipino Martial Arts (kali/arnis/eskrima) at Doce Pares Headquarters. A documentary about the eskrimadors of Cebu, who formed the original alliance and dissolved into different schools, tells the story behind Doce Pares. In divine timing, I also attended Palm Grass: The Cebu Heritage Hotel lecture & cosplay on “Women Warriors of Visayas.” Honoring the Visayan islander lineage of brave women warriors!
My next stop fulfilled a lifelong dream to return to Siquijor. Siquijor island is well-known for its ‘magic, mysticism & sorcery.’ However, this point of view projects a mythical narrative of “witchcraft” on its mga mananambal (folk healers), who simply preserve the traditional knowledge of plant medicine & spiritual healing (from my instapost).
Ever year, in the seven Fridays leading up to Holy Week, groups of mangangalap (plant medicine harvesters) collect over 200+ plants, minerals & bones throughout the island, which go into a communally shared brewed potion & burning. This ritual is what inspired Siquijor’s now infamous Holy Week “Healing Festival.”
Amazing to follow Maestro Manong Noel Torremocha under the Virgo Full Moon, as he methodically scanned the jungle with an encyclopedic knowledge of every living plant. Humbling to meet the herbalists of the infamous ‘gayuma’ love potion, Manang Juanita Torremocha. Conversations with Junel Tomaroy (a healer, artist & cultural worker) revealed that although healers play an important role in the island’s tourism, they rarely get the respect they deserve.
Read about these healers in GRID Magazine’s “Strange Brew”
In the last weekend of March, I went up to Danjugan, a protected island sanctuary for environmental conservation off southwest Negros. I joined their first in-person Marine Wildlife & Sustainability Camp in two years! CAMP educates visitors on the coral, fish & bird species of the island, along with sustainability practices, to enrich the experential immersion of its diverse ecosystem. I’m still giddy with joy from our adventures!
Check out Eco Explorations for upcoming educational excursions, & read about Danjugan from Dave Albao, the current director.
After a brief stop in Bacolod, I returned to Bantayan Island on April 2’s New Moon, attending the BIEF: Bantayan Island Environmental Forum webinar. We advocate for updated studies on current sustainability of our one & only watershed. We ask for collective action to pause the passage of House Bill 4951, which intends to remove the wilderness status of Bantayan without proper assessment of the island’s water lens.
Alas, what’s supposed to be start of a rainless tropical ‘summer’ (peaked for Easter Holy Week) is now the start of eerily early typhoon season *sigh: Climate Change.* Under this wet & windy density, a satellite signal to even send this newsletter out is hard to catch. I’m staying safely warm off-grid, about a 40-minute walk off the main road, watching a swampland swallowed by a week of pounding rain & wandering goats finding shelter under my nipa hut, with rising waters beneath.
If you enjoyed joining my journey, want to support my rest & recovery from travels & typhoons, kindly Venmo @kalamispiritarts & PayPal khokhoi@humanoid.net.
It’s been years of funding my own & collaborative creative projects, shared as storytellings, herbal medicines, ceremonial gatherings, handcraft arts & eco/cultural media/art commissions. I know I’ve inspired & connected with diverse communities across diaspora and the islands. I aim to continue creating a communal foundation for livelihood & sustainability of Kalami Spirit Arts. Please support if you can!