Living in the boondocks

My 11-year-old son declared over dinner that if he ever won in the lottery, he would use the money to clean up Metro Manila. The city, he complained, has just become too polluted and dirty. His sister sagely commented that no matter how much money he spent, he would never succeed in his task unless he cleaned up people’s minds first. Well in that case, my boy concluded, he will spend his winnings by having the entire city’s population treated by a psychiatrist instead!

 There are some who think, however, that it is I who need to have my head examined for moving my family away from the city and into the so-called boondocks. The term is the Americanized version of the Tagalog word bundok, meaning mountain. After the US colonized the Philippines at the start of the 20th century, American soldiers reportedly used the word not just to describe remote mountainous areas but also to express the sense of “bewilderment and confusion” that they felt when they ventured into Filipino guerrilla territory. Nowadays, the word is commonly used as a colloquialism to refer to the countryside or any isolated rural area. But while I admit that I can count the number of residents in our area with one hand, we have by no means actually moved into the wilderness like insurgent rebels or modern-day hermits. The place that we now call home is a township/eco-sanctuary in the mountains of San Mateo, Rizal. Located atop a mountain about 30 minutes away from the Quezon Memorial Circle in Quezon City, it’s surprisingly close to “civilization.” Nevertheless, some of my friends and family argue that it’s still “too far.” Besides, they wonder, why give up the excitement and convenience of living in the city? Their objections made me feel like John Travolta in the movie The Boy in the Plastic Bubble that I started constantly humming the movie’s theme song, “What will they say if we up and ran away? … Would they leave us alone, we live in the country/Leave us alone, we’d make it just fine/Happy in a one-room shack and we’d not look back, now would we?”

 I think that most Filipinos prefer the city and to really live in the middle of all the action. This is probably why condominiums are sprouting all over the city like trees. On the other hand, many residents in other countries would rather live in the suburbs and just drive or commute to the cities for work or recreation. Unlike most of the “burbs” of Metro Manila which are actually just gated enclaves within the city itself, their communities are located outside the metropolis. The intent is not to be within a stone’s throw away from the bright neon lights but to provide families with a more quiet and natural environment to live in. Small to medium-sized community schools, especially from kindergarten to high school, are also located nearby. I read that suburbs started to appear near many of the world’s cities in the early 1800s. They did so primarily to provide weary urbanites a chance to escape their increasingly crowded and untidy surroundings and to offer bigger and more affordable housing to families. In fact, it seems that even people who lived during the ancient times already longed for suburbia. One letter written in cuneiform and on a clay tablet that dates back to 593 BC boasts how the writer’s property “… seems to me to be the most beautiful in the world.” He explains that while it is close enough to Babylon, he can still go home every day to a place that is away from “all the noise and dust.” 

 I’ve been a city slicker for my entire life and so I frankly wasn’t really sure myself how relocating to the boondocks would turn out. To my pleasant surprise, it has so far been like being on a permanent vacation. How I wish government would create the necessary transportation and other supporting infrastructures that will give people the choice of living outside the city. How I also wish that families would proactively choose to live closer to nature. Instead of the constant hum of the city, I wake up each morning now to the gentle chirping of birds. The air is so cool and fresh that my own sweat actually feels cleaner. Rather than seeing steel buildings and concrete highways the whole day, my senses feast on rolling hills, forested valleys, and the majestic beauty of Mother Earth. My children were right on the money. I’ve been having my head, heart, and soul cleaned.

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