Victoria and Maria:
The most outstanding, true marketer attending out workshops was Maria (Mary) from Victoria Barangay. We knew that she would be a bit late each time, now we know why. Friday was designated the day to make the trip to Victoria. The road is passable in all seasons with care. The road is narrow with short sections concreted (these sections were determined to be the most wet). We were told it would take one half hour. Driving is tedious. One has to take ones time to navigate around washed out areas. Mary would have come each morning by motorcycle taxi. It was amazing what she brought each day! Leaves from the forest, special for making curried fish, large papaya, coconuts (usually three big ones), a pineapple and her hand woven hats and baskets! Too bad we don’t have a picture of her arriving on the motorbike taxi!
She always brought fresh produce for us. One day she brought a papaya and coconut, saying, ‘Papaya and coconut are free, bag will cost you 180 pesos’. Now that is marketing! Her spirit and enthusiasm shone through the workshops. Not surprising, she sold out each time!
Note the hang tag designed during the workshops for Maria's hats.
We were fortunate to travel to Victoria barangay and to visit Mary.
Mary’s home is built from native materials that grow in Victoria.
She cleverly designed her work studio as a loft, two bamboo steps up from the kitchen/living area. Here she is in her loft where she does her weaving holding garlic she has braided. Victoria barangay is locally famous for its braided garlic.
These are the palm fronds used to prepare basket materials.
Her garden is filled with plants that we in Canada cultivate during our short summers or have as green leaf plants indoors year round: cosmos, marigold (she points out that marigold leaves can be boiled to make a tea to treat stomach ache and help to protect gardens from certain insect pests), asters, split leaf philodendron to name a few. She has several pineapple plants and we can see the yellow ginger root growing. Below Mary is holding the tree from which they make fences.
Here is Mary with one of her sons. He brings us fresh, young coconut. The coconut water is much appreciated in the heat of the day.
Maria's water is piped in to her yard. We noted that Victoria barangay has pvc pipes running throughout their barangay.
Just down from Maria's house is an incredible swimming area, part of the river. How refreshing is this in the heat of the day! Clear, pure water from the surrounding mountains.
A visit to Victoria barangay and Maria is a great thing to add to one's bucket list!
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