- Moving and Building

Moving

After living in a studio condo high above Uptown Cagayan de Oro for a couple of months, we packed up all our stuff and headed four or five hours away to the province of Bukidnon in Central Mindanao. 

Bukidnon is a rather small (in population) province of about 1.5 million people. The name "Bukidnon" means "mountain dweller", and mountains are very prevalent here. Four of the ten tallest mountains in the Philippines are in Bukidnon. The provincial capital is Malaybalay, a city of about 190,000 people. Thirty-five kilometers south of Malaybalay on the Sayre Highway is the largest (and only other) city in the province, Valencia City, with about 216,000 people. 

We are currently living in the town of Don Carlos which is about thirty kilometers south of Valencia.

Flower bushes for sale in Malabalay

 

Fruit trees for sale. Bukidnon is considered the

Food Basket of Mindanao

 

               

 

Our property is between Maramag (108,000 pop.) in the north and Don Carlos  (70,000 pop.) in the south,
technically in Maramag. The name "Maramag" comes from an old tribal phrase that means "Let us eat our breakfast here."

Clearing the property on Christmas Day

Jumping the fire

Starting to Build Our House

When we started to build our house in Camp One, Maramag, we didn’t hire an architect. We just hired an experienced foreman, Gortio, who had built a number of houses, and he followed the plans I had drawn up on online software for the house. We hired seven full or part-time workers to assist him including Lyn’s two brothers, Lorenzo and Along, and our next door neighbor, Tatay, who sometimes works when he isn’t drunk.

 

I found out recently that brother Along reminds Gortio almost every day that he needs to do an excellent job on the house because Kuya Joseph’s son Stephen is an engineer, and he is coming over from America to make sure the house is built right. I’m sure we told Along that Stephen is a PhD university professor, but I guess he forgot. Anyway Gortio was so impressed with what Along said and with my drawing (which I had done on Floorplanner) that he believed I was an architect and Stephen is an engineer. Along says that Gortio goes back after work every night and re-measures everything.

 

Martin, a neighbor boy who goes to the property every day and helps a little, calls Gortio "Daddy Gorch." We've started calling him that too sometimes.

Anyway, the builders are making good progress in building our house.

The construction crew

Lyn's brother Lorenzo, the foreman Gortio, assistant foreman John,

Lyn's brother Along, Wendie's boyfriend Jaster, and John's son Christopher