Transportation

Check out the new video with my host family: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0lehB1-9Rnc

My latest video, “Mag-Adventure Ako,” demonstrates the various modes of transportation here in the Philippines. Unique to the Philippines is the “jeepney.” After WWII, the American military left a number of jeeps here in the Philippines. Filipinos have customized these vehicles, extending and covering the bed, to create a vehicle similar to a Latin American bus with its own Filipino flair. Jeepney owners often compete for the flashiest vehicle, thus the outside of a jeepney is typically adorned with fluorescent artwork and multiple stainless steel hood ornaments. Passengers sit on long benches running the length of the vehicle and facing each other. Inside a jeepney, “there is always room for one more!” Passengers are frequently squished together and may even find a place on a small stool in the center aisle. Filipinos are always amused by the spectacle of some of our 6ft or taller volunteers who must crouch to fit inside these vehicles and often hit their heads on the ceiling bars. Nevertheless, Jeepneys are the primary mode of transportation between cities and towns. And momentarily I will be boarding a jeepney for the hour long ride back to my current host family’s house in Sabang from the huge mall in Olongapo where I am currently using Starbucks internet.