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ith regards to roads, a fair statement about the Philippines would be, "Where there's a road, there's a jeepney." Originally fabricated by modifying old U.S. Army jeeps, jeepneys have extended back ends that include two long, flat, inward-facing benches for passengers. These oversized trucks are painted in bright unimaginable color combinations and emblazoned with various saying about the driver ("King of the Road"), loved ones ("Sweet Justine"), or proclamations ("God is Love"). In big cities, jeepneys operate like buses, running regular routes through town. In more rural areas, jeepneys with engines that rival semi trucks are the main mode of transportation between cities for both people and goods.

e were on the Southwest-most island of Palawan, Philippines' "Last Frontier", when we experienced one of our more interesting jeepney rides. We wanted to go from the capital, Puerto Princesa, to a town on the other side of the island, Sabang. Sabang was only 50 miles away and yet only two jeepneys left a day. We were on the afternoon run which left the station (a very liberal use of the word, station), seemingly full and then drove around town for 90 minutes picking up various goods and supplies. There were already 27 people on board, each with their own personal gear, and yet we found room for ten bags of cement, five bags of rice, ten large sheets of corrugated roofing material, a propane cannister, and a ten gallon tank of gasoline. As we all jockeyed for position, we thought we were finally on our way.

rucking down the road, however, we made one grand left-hand turn into an ice factory. Five suitcase-sized blocks of ice were loaded on the roof, along with 13 additional people! We were so packed that the driver drove from the middle position with a passenger next to him by the window. The magnitude of the amount of people and goods on board surpassed any other third-world bus experience we'd had. We were wondering how we were going to haul all this stuff across the island. We found out. VERY SLOWLY! This 50-mile journey took five hours.

he combination of muddy jungle roads and a severely weighted-down vehicle made for slow going. Interestingly enough, at one point our jeepney broke down, a broken axle-spring causing the delay. Being all too familiar with the problem, the driver and a few others had us back on the road in 20 minutes. While we were waiting on this all too familiar to us third-world experience, a local man approached us and asked where we were from. When we told him, "Seattle, Washington", and started to describe the weather, he replied, "I know what the weather is like. I went to the U of O(Oregon) in Eugene." We were surprised to find a graduate from an American university here in the bush. He told us that he studied biology in college, but now was working with his family on their farm. It was down the road at kilometer marker 63. It would be fair to say that the Filipino value of family far surpasses the value of education.