Meet Paul. He is the oldest resident in the small village of Salvacion on the lower slopes of the Mayon Volcano in the Bicol Region of the Philippines. He has never married and so has no children and has lived in the house behind us for his entire life. He was born in that house and grew up there, and when his parents passed away long ago, he took it over as his own. He makes his living as a tricycle driver and earns around P150 per day (about $4 or NT$120). His tricycle is currently in the shop having the engine worked on. He says he’ll be back on the road next week. Paul said that everyone in the village was a relative of his in one way or another. They were all cousins, aunts, uncles, brothers, sisters, children, and parents. Paul invited me inside his home to get out of the hot sun, and so we had a chance to chat for a bit. It was a one room affair with a thatch roof and thatch walls and a dirt floor. There were lots of gaps in the roof where the rain would come in, but anything important had been moved out of the way of any possible rain. There was no running water or anything like that, of course. He gets his water from the village pump. I spent a fair amount of time in Salvacion, and really enjoyed that village atmosphere. It truly is a place where everyone knows your name.

Tags: Legazpi, Mayon Volcano, Meet Paul, NT, Philippines Bike Trip 2013