One Man's Junk Is Another Man's Treasure

Have you seen a bote bakal collector?

Bote Bakal Collector In The Philippines.

For sure, if you live in the Philippines, you often see a lot of them on the streets riding on their pedicab while shouting the words "BOTE(bottle)" and "Bakal(Steel)" over and over. These guys collect recyclable garbage from households like empty bottles, cartons, newspapers, plastic wares, nails, electrical wires, and steel of any form. Right after they've collected sufficient quantity, they deliver it to junk-shops who, in turn, pay them according to the value of the garbage they brought in.

When I was a kid, I've had a lot of friends who worked as bote bakal collectors during summer time for fun. Seeing from the look of their faces, I can say that they had a great time doing it and not even bothering the heat of the sun. Adding to that, they did not only enjoy biking around the town but also made some money out of it at the same time. I even remembered one of my friends treating us with snacks after being paid by the junk-shop owner with 200 pesos (way back then, 200 pesos was already a big amount) when he brought 5 kilos of electrical wires. Later did I know that it was because of the copper found inside the wires.

Bad Times Don't Last Forever

Pouring rain. Photo Credits

Are you familiar with the saying "when it rains, it pours"?
It basically means that when things go wrong, a lot of things go wrong at the same time.
Something like you got fired, your girlfriend broke up you, and you lost your wallet, all in the same week.
You'd feel very heavy as if you are carrying the whole world on your back.
And that's exactly what I felt when our fishing boat docked for three consecutive times without a positive income.