ON COCONUTER

It was around two years ago or so when I came across one very interesting blog. Honestly, the first thing that attracted me to this blog is the blogger himself who is dead-gorgeous but later on, I realized that he is more than his gorgeous looks.

His name is David Poarch and he called himself the “Coconuter”. He’s been living in the United States for thirteen years, he’s half-pinoy and half-american. He’s a Valedictorian of his class, he attended an Ivy League College (Rice University) in Houston, Texas and he used to work for NASA. He seemed to have everything a guy of his age would want but for him, something is missing. So, he decided to leave everything behind in the United States and decided to back here in the Philippines where he was born and raised as a child with almost nothing but a couple of boxes, which included only the necessary things for him to survive. His family and friends told him that he was making a bad decision but he didn’t care he still went on to his journey.

According to him, his trip “is a leap of independence and an emphasis on self-sufficiency”. He ventured without any financial help from his family and without any extra money.

His journey began on February 21, 2006. He tried to find out how will he end up living in a rural province in the Philippines that is so far away from civilization. He said that, “even though everyone tells me I am wrong, my heart still tells me that my purpose may just be found in this radical free-spirited journey and that I just may find that "perfect (golden) coconut to fall to me from the sky" or promising opportunity, rather, that I have been looking for.”

When he arrived in the Philippines, he settled in his grandmother’s house in Zambales. Well, it was close to being a house. It had unfinished floors, unpainted walls, no ceiling – nothing but a shack with four walls and a roof. For his first few months, he tried to do everything a normal “probinsyano” would do. He went to the market everyday, he planted vegetables in his backyard, he tried to plant rice, he washed his own clothes with his bare hands, and he even raised chickens and ducks. He posted on his blog through an internet café in a nearby town and he was always rushing considering the 30 pesos an hour that he had to pay. He became well-adjusted to the simple life and narrowed down his daily budget to $3 a day.

For two years, he continuously blogged about a lot of things, especially his travels around the remote provinces.

And on October, 2006, ABS-CBN’s “Nagmamahal, Kapamilya” made a story about him. It was very touchy.

As he continued to live his pastoral life as a modern nomad in a place very far from Houston, he encountered and endured a lot of challenges, there was one time, wherein someone broke into his house and stole his clothes and his digital camera, which he uses to document his travels and his life, they even stole his chickens and his ducks. There were also instances wherein he had to eat “Champorado” for four straight days because he couldn’t afford anything. He hit rock bottom (bankrupt) a couple of times, he had to endure several days and nights without electricity because he couldn't afford it. It’s really saddening and at the same time, enlightening.

He also met the love of his life during his stay in the Philippines, they have two kids now, Thurman (born and made in the Philippines) and Thea Ivory born last December 19.

Right now, I just learned that Coconuter, his wife and kids are now living in the United States. I tried to catch up in his blog to know as to why he decided to move back to the States and how he ended his journey but I wasn’t able to find the posts about that.

But I find his entire journey very enlightening and at the same time inspiring. He writes well. There is wisdom in his words. And the fact that he chose to turn his back to everything just to experience how to live in the Philippines is very admirable.

He now blogs at: http://blog.coconuter.org