Annie and I went up to Baclayan twice this week. I love it more and more each time I go up. The view is absolutely gorgeous. You can see the mountains as well as the ocean and the coves. Stairway just finished building one of the cubos (huts) up there, so Annie and I have been enjoying our merienda (snack) and sometimes lunch on the balcony.
On Wednesday when we went up, we presented Ate Susan, a basket weaver and the owner of the sari sari store up there, with the idea to do a photostory on the women and basket weaving process in Baclayan, in the hopes of eventually using it to market their products outside of Puerto Galera. She seems very open and excited to work with us. Hopefully we can get their products into the cultural and fare trade stores in Manila!
On Friday we met with her and a few other women from the community and completed a few assessments of the community, including an annual calendar and a community map. These will give us an idea of when exactly the women create and sell their baskets, as well as information about resources and the women's perception of their community.
We are pretty stoked about this new project and can’t wait to learn and document the process of weaving the baskets from start to finish, as well as learn better both the resources and needs of the community. We will start next week after Annie and I return from our trip to the mountains! Banaue, Batad and Sagada, here we come!
