2nd February - Cultion Town - leper colony

Friday 2^nd February 2015

Culion Town was just wonderful.  It is very steep, with three parallel streets along the contours of the hills, with many adjoining lane ways.

There is lots of evidence of cyclone damage – Yolanda hit very hard here. 

We sat in the Hotel Maya halfway up the hill for a cup of tea in the late morning and there was a ferocious breeze blowing through the windows – very refreshing for us, but if the wind had been in the least bit serious it would have blown us off our perches.

We left the dinghy tethered to an outrigger and found a tricycle driver ready and willing to take us for a tootle along the esplanade. 

Very pleasant it was, too, but we got out and spent the rest of the day on foot, skipping lightly at times, trudging wearily at others.

The first person we spoke to was a diminutive and kindly woman at what seemed to be a child health clinic.  She was not, sadly, Mrs Beautifreda de Asis, which I think it the most wonderful name imaginable.  But she did give us some useful info re exploring the little town.

We found a little market alleyway, where they didn’t sell very much at all, but where we met a lovely baby called Chloe.

Current health issues seem to be a grave concern here.  There were signs everywhere, large and menacing, advertising the whereabouts of the Animal Bites Treatment Centre, and the TB clinic.  

Maybe we need to be wary of both bitey animals and coughy humans as we wander around…

There are, of course, lots of churches.  The Jesuits have the biggest, fanciest one, in the best position

with a view down to 2XS

but there are also minority sects.  I liked this one – the Jesus is Lord Church.  There was a very cheery service going on inside, and what looked like a row of little red Santas lining the front wall.  (Missed them with my camera…)

The streets are very clean, and people have tried very hard to grow flowers.  Not so easy – there is very little topsoil on this steep slope, and at this time of year there is no rain at all, so the potplants require constant vigilance.

I had remarked earlier in the day that, so far, there has been no sign of crafty stuff, in the Philippines.  No weaving, beadwork, jewellery, pottery.  But on Culion Island I found someone who had been very crafty, at the Maya Hotel – they had created some very nifty wastepaper baskets out of those pesky little sachets!  I want one!

The history of the leper colony is really quite recent.  It opened in 1904, and was only closed in the 1970s.

The local authorities have dealt with the site very well, I think.  All around the town are informative blackboards, each sponsored by a different person or business.  They are posted outside each place of interest, and they are all most beautifully written.

I loved this one

A bit blurry...

Not too much information

But just enough to make you want to experience how the stairway “added magnificence to the place.”

It is possible to wander around, absorb the atmosphere, pick up just about enough information about what it was like to be exiled and diseased on this lovely little island without getting (a) exhausted (b) bored (yes this does happen to me…I have a low threshold for boredom when it comes to Too Much Information…)

We went up some other stairs to a large dormitory, which looked quite derelict, but which is still very much inhabited by surviving lepers.  PROTESTANTS ONLY! said Pete’s new friend, Mrs Reena Apulgar de Silvaro, who is very proud to have lived there for quite a few cyclone seasons.

Everyone was friendly and cheery; it was all very interesting and not too distressing, and I would recommend a visit to Culion most highly!