Bohol 2024 and Provincial Life in General
I visit once every 3 - 5 years for a month or 2. I think I can see changes more easily than someone living there.
Not much has changed. Not much at all.
Panglao certainly has more development and you really feel it as you leave the airport and go to your hotel / beach resort. However, as you ride around and remember the same side streets and small businesses, you see that yes, there are 20 new resorts and restaurants, but everything else is still pretty much the same. This really becomes apparent as you take off on a plane and see how much empty land there is, even very close to the airport / Alona tip of Panglao. So most of that development is just a couple kilometers of the main strip.
Waking up at 5am and walking Alona with just a few local families enjoying it with their kids, bathing and whatnot, it felt very familiar. And they stopped boats from docking on all but 1 end. Nice improvement.
Still European tourists in that area, but in June it was 90% asian. Korean, Chinese, and others I am not sure about.
There was a little inflation with resorts I have visited for the past 15 years, but not much. 15% or so. Ie a room with 2 beds (4 people), air con, hot shower, and outside stove (10 min walk to alona) was 2500 per night. Used to be 2200. 1 month has a discount. Like $750 US. Not meant to be a long term living place.
Still no condos. Just a couple taller buildings (7 stories). Just hotel rooms.
The rest of Panglao (everything other than a few kilometers near Alona) looks very similar. Yes, a couple new resorts and restos. Everything else feels very familiar.
Tagbilaran: At 8AM: Fairly empty. Very familiar. Park right in front of the mall. Wait for it to open. Extremely hot and humid. Come 11AM, full traffic, a busy place. No parking at the malls (which only have 100 spots or so). I find the air difficult to breathe.
The downtown mall area has BQ mall, Altruas, City Square, and Unitop. All near each other.
Dentist: First went to one near the airport that we went to last time. 2 hour lunch break, then answered the phone like “why are you calling?” Then called back like “wait, why did you call us?” Found another dentist in a building near the BQ mall. Wanted 900 for a cleaning. 9AM. 5 assistants sitting. They said they would call when the dentist decided to come in. Found another dentist inside the actual mall. Wanted 800 and had no wait. Called the other dentist to cancel and they had 0 ambition to keep our business. Mall dentist said cleaning was 10 minutes?! And it was?! With a power drill?! I felt like she did some areas 2 - 3 times and about half my mouth was missed. No xray. No polish. No exam or discussion. Drill strictly went in between teeth, never along the gum line.
Standing on Soapbox: This is the same case as apartments. It is not really cheaper. It is 10x smaller and 10x less quality, therefore it is 10x less money. The cleaning was 10x less effective, possibly caused damage, it was an 800 peso cleaning.
With that said I haven’t been to a dentist in 5 years and my teeth are perfect. Didn’t really need a cleaning. I saw lots of other dentists in the malls and on main street in many towns. Small and run down, but I hope I can find a good one out there if I eventually try them all.
Ambition to work: My biggest gripe is still (what I see as) the lack of motivation to work or earn a living. I see hustle in the tuktuk drivers and feel drawn to them because I can’t understand everyone else.
I rented a Nissan Livina. 7 seater. 1.5 engine. AT with 4 gears. Handled passes on 800m elevation change highway well. I was impressed. Lots of red lining. It was fun to drive. $750 for the month. Another 6000 pesos in gas driving 1000km, mostly mountain roads. Only gripe was the limo tint on the front windshield. Couldn’t see at night. Like, blurry shadows only. Could see a little with high beams but the headlights sucked. But man, that car was cool, even midday in full sun.
Gas was 60 - 70 pesos per liter. Not bad. $4.50 per gallon? Somehow every morning the gas went down 1 notch on the gauge. Does it evaporate more easily?
Traffic outside of the mall area in Tag or Island City Mall mid day was fine. Just don’t drive much the first 3 days when you are still jet lagged. I was worried so many people would have cars now and the roads would be crowded. No. Same as always.
Cash is still king. I saw near 0 other options anywhere. The car rental, resort, Air BnB, boat tickets, everything that I could have bought online with CC, was like 30+% more money. Glad I still went with cash and called and haggled whenever I could.
I feel like the markets were a little less active. Maybe because more towns now have a grocery store. Or several were having their market remodeled. You would think if 2 towns in a row have their markets remodeled and all those shops are displaced, that the neighboring towns' markets would be twice as busy because those people would shop there. But no.
Farming > inlaws are rice and veg farmers at about 400m elevation. They are not growing much of anything. Said the 2 months of no rain combined with high fertilizer prices made it “not worth the effort.” While good rice from Ubay is about 55 - 60 pesos per kilo (less than half the price of US Jasmine rice), vegetables and meat seem to be a bit closer to the US prices. There were fewer stalls selling and less people buying. Prices in the markets, in supermarkets, and at eateries were a little higher than my last visit, but not much. 10 - 20%. But eggs are the same price as US. 11 pesos for a single or 8 - 9 pesos each in a tray of 30. I love how easily a hard boiled egg peels there. Because it still has the membrane. No ref. And my wife says the pork tastes better. Fish are certainly fresher. 300 per kilo for larger fish ($2.80 per pound). But 100 per kilo for baby squid. Gotta buy it before they pull it out of the cooler. Too many flies! But if no flies, that means it is not fresh!
Haggling: I noticed resort workers were not likely to haggle at all. They had rates and rules and if you wanted something for a little less, it was like “well that is not what we offer.” Other products were the same. No haggle. Price is the price.
Grocery stores: I am not a fan. Skinny aisles, boxes of product on the floors, and slow cashiers make the store seem busy. Could be a lot more efficient. More employees than shoppers and most look lost in space and block aisles.
Alcohol and cigs > Apparently there is no age for alcohol or cigs. If you can go to the store with money, you can buy it. Mojito bottles @ 140 pesos are still king. That and red horse or san miguel beers. I tried some kind of wine coolers in a box at a fiesta. Not sure where they were purchased, but they were pretty good. And some lemon flavor beer. Pretty good. Mostly tastes like air…
Looking for land to build on > 400M where the family is is still hot. Tried going up to 800M several times. Can be above the cloud line. Can be cooler, especially when raining. But it is a lot of stress on the car and hours of driving to get up there. And it is only a degree or 2 cooler (F). End conclusion: Probably not worth the stress on the car, me, and the extra cost to build a house up there. Hence why there appear to be 0 other foreigners up there.
Land in general > Tried to get a few different people who supposedly work in real estate to discuss lands available or just land buying in general. Or available house and lot. 0 interest. Tried to talk you out of buying. Where is the motivation to make $?!
Provincial life: I still see so many people who don’t work with 1 or 2 people in a house that do. And no, 100%, they are not treated like kings or queens or royalty when they come home. They are most likely the ones to keep up with other house work! Out of all the downfalls of modern American life, the clothes washer, stove, and dish washer are pretty amazing. They spend half the day either washing or hanging clothes, getting wood to burn to cook food, starting fire to cook food, getting food (from farm or store), prepping and cooking food, eating, or washing dishes. And the other half doing nothing, which nowadays is spent staring at a phone when not gossipping or sleeping. Just like in the US, couldn’t get anyone to sit down and watch TV together. So is life.
In all honesty, I don’t know if I can handle it. If all the working age adults in that house worked a simple job (cashier at the mall), they would have more than enough money to pay for appliances, electricity to run them, college for kids, a small car or a couple decent motor bikes, and have pensions later in life. But no. 0 motivation. I don’t get it. Or hustle in the tourism industry. They come with me to resorts sometimes. They see other people working. I can’t comprehend being an adult and not working. Blows my mind. But I hear some of the US is like that now, too. And the poverty parts have been like that a long time. I figured it was because of welfare, but I see it there with no welfare!?
I think the 1 family member that is a cashier makes something like 10000 pesos per month take home. Another family member is a teacher. Teacher pay scales are online and increase with years, but I think they are at least 60,000 per month. And then they get 1 month bonus pay for Christmas (cashier, too?). She might make more than me when I retire. Which would be awesome!
Another family member is building a house. Was quoted $20,000 USD before covid, when working with architect. Now looking at $30,000 and freaking out because doesn’t have the money. Like most home builds there, it ends up taking years. But US home building often increases by 50%, even without inflation. I think their house will be about 1500 sq ft, including an upstairs. Not including tiles for flooring or windows. I think they said they pay 600 pesos per day for an unskilled laborer and 800 pesos per day for skilled. They have to provide them with lunch. Most days it is just those 2 people working. Or waiting long times for concrete to dry (no workers). Lots of fist size holes in the concrete. Not sure why I see that everywhere.
Anda beach: Finally got to try it. Far drive. Small town feel, because it is a small town. 500 pesos to rent a large cottage for the day. I think I saw a sign for 800 pesos for a bungalow for the night. Super cheap there. I was the only foreigner.
Camiguin Island via Jagna port: 800 pesos per person each way. 4 hours on the boat. Used to be 400, but they renovated the boat to be all beds. No chairs. Kind of cool. Camiguin has not changed. I never realized even their main town doesn’t have a proper market. They do have a single grocery supermarket, but no outdoor market. They have lots of smaller ones in side areas, but no large central one. Smaller population than I thought. Prices increased with inflation, but not bad. Family of 12, 4 nights, 3 days touring, $1000 USD including boat fare, food, tour guide, attractions, and a huge Air BnB ocean front house.
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