Deehan's Pensieve

The consumer Cooperative members in the highlands of Maragusan.

Taken Friday, March 08,2013 at Poblacion, Maragusan,Compostela Valley.

The landmark welcoming us to Maragusan,Compostela Valley.

Lucky trees! The typhoon didn't have much impact in this area.

That's our President and the town Mayor.

Ha ha I just took the photo as this signage was along the national highway. I wish I could have a peek  of what the resort has to offer. oh, I didn't have the luxury of time to do that. ;'C

I'm exhausted beyond words but the more I come to think about it,the more I feel happy about myself. My mortal frame is really screaming of the body pains I had when I went to Mahayahay,Maragusan yesterday. I must reach the place for my data gathering and it was located on top of a mountain.It came as a bolt out of the blue because I wasn't expecting that the road wold be as rocky as hell. Well, what can you expect from a storm-torn place like our province?

They're fixing some parts of the road. The river became so big that it swallowed parts of the road.

The harsh winds last December spared this area.

Way up to the mountain.

The bananas in the Municipality of Maragusan were spared too!

Yeah, thank God my father is an adept motorcycle driver!

No other route except this terrain!

Met a giant truck. It got so dusty after this monster passed us. It was loaded with  stones to be extracted for gold ores.

I think it's refreshingly beautiful.

 The journey caused me several bruises but also allowed me to strike lots of smiles when I eyed the verdant scenery teeming with life. To me, they were all screaming of  a promise, a promise that one day,things will get better and that typhoon just ignited how strong-willed we are. We will reach our lofty dreams even after being wrecked by that typhoon .Yes, we will! Anyway, I feel happy that the storm still spared beautiful spots to flourish and it made my heart overwhelmed and serenaded with the beauty and enigma of life. How wonderful!

Their neighbors are the clouds. This was the place I visited yesterday. This is a community in the highlands of Mahayahay, Maragusan,Compostela Valley Province. It took us 45 minutes of a crazy  motorcycle ride from the Municipality of Maragusan just to reach this place. I nearly fell off the motorcycle several times!

There are only three consumer cooperatives in the province and the two of them are located in the remotest part of the Compostela Valley highlands. I've chosen to study the consumer cooperatives in our province because in Japan consumer Cooperatives are very successful and most of Japanese people are members of consumer coops. Then, the typhoon came last December and my thesis adviser told me I must change the topic of my thesis. It's now about the financial and economic resiliency of the consumer cooperatives after the typhoon. Pretty challenging to devour! I've been saying that this whole thesis writing thing fells like swallowing an erratic Elephant. Yes, I'm serious. Ha ha ha!

People living near Mahayahay,Maragusan are earning in selling vegetables. I remember seeing tomato gardens and  vast Chayote fields.

I saw harvested Chayote ready to be placed in sacks and be transported to Maragusan.

In the upper left part, you can see the Chayote garden. Farmers harvest the Chayote by going underneath  those vines. No snakes? I'm not quite sure! Ha ha ha!

The Chayote Garden that I've seen for the first time. I'm glad we reached the place and finally tried to get things done.The people were amiable. I had no trouble in making them answer my survey questionnaires except of course of the great need to translate English to our native language which I find as not a big trouble. The people here were mainly farmers and most of them didn't finish college. I feel grateful of their being so welcoming. I went home feeling severely exhausted but satisfied. I felt getting much closer to my dreams.I'm muscling my way into that stratosphere!Ha ha ha! -- note: blog written last March 9 and polished then published March 11,2013  .