Sari-Sari

I haven’t seen any chain convenience stores in the southern Philippines.  Instead, people tend to visit sari-sari shops, which look like small, dark prison cells that have been filled with snacks and then planted in random locations.  You don’t go into a sari-sari store; rather, you peer through the bars and tell the shopkeeper what you want, kind of like a vending machine with a human inside. 

 

Yesterday my translator and I rode a motorcycle up into the mountains to interview a lender who operated a sari-sari store.  After an hour of interviewing and repeated suggestions from the lender that we break for refreshments I finally relented, holstering my survey notebook and accepting the icy Sprite he offered.  After the drinks he allowed me to play around in his store:

homemade tuba

He also encouraged me to join him in a round of tuba, a mild liquor made from coconut sap.  The jugs looked pretty ominous, dark red in color and foaming at the top, but I took a tiny little sip and was surprised to learn it wasn't poisonous or half bad.        

People call me the cool surveyor