Tuesday, December 9, 2008

One Day To Go

Day Nine started at 3 am. We were already running late (Filipino time, as I explained to Mateo) and then when we got to the dock, the bankas we ordered were gone with the wind. And then there was a huge ass garbage barge parked exactly where we wanted to film. Argh.

Of course, it all entailed major pakiusap very early in the morning. Armed with our super tanod Mang George, I had to wake up Jerry, the guy in charge of moving the barge. Mateo was a bit stressed because we were under time pressure to catch the sunrise. We thought of renting the tugboat for a couple of hours but the guy in charge of tugboat affairs--some dude named Rudy--was nowhere to be found. Oh well. Dawn eventually found the bankas and they had to travel all the way from Navotas to get to us in Tondo. Apparently they were docked since last night but since the waves were strong, they feared getting smashed on the rocks. Hmm. I can't really argue with that.

I was feeling a bit nauseated this morning after all the banka business, so I took a moment and sat on the dock alone with my Mini Maglite. I tried to imagine what it looked like when it was a small fishing village before all the trash came. I've seen the sunset from there and it's gorgeous. A hundred years ago, there must have been a lovely little beach and clean sea-breezy air.

The sun eventually came up and we got the shot we wanted and it was the start of a beautiful morning.

I thought I could not last the day but here I am fourteen hours later--feeling elated that Day Nine is over and we are done with shooting in Smokey Mountain.

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