The Subic Expat, #1- Life in Barrio Barretto, “The Old Guys Heaven”

By the Professor



That’s me the picture. I look pretty happy don’t I? And why not, surrounded by these lovelies? And this at age 72! My buddies here call me the Professor because that is what I was in another life. After retirement I lived in different cities, different states, looking for something or someone to ease the ache of growing old, alone, without a profession to keep me occupied. But I was always an old retired guy, divorced, kids grown, surviving male friends becoming fewer each passing year, and younger women not even aware I was occupying the same space,
An old friend living in Manila kept urging me; “Come to the Philippines, try the Subic Bay Area, you’ll like it”. How right he was. Life has begun again for me. I now have a number of buddies close to my age, lots of casual friends, and a steady girl friend.
The young ladies pictured with me are the staff of “The Generals Command Post Bar”. The Generals is like an old fashioned neighborhood bar. The girls don’t wear skimpy clothes, and they don’t barfine. They are there to serve drinks and make conversation, period! This small, popular bar makes the claim; “The coldest bar and the coldest beer in town”. It is owned by Don West, a retired Chief Petty Officer. Most days you will find him on the first barstool by the door, happily presiding over his own slice of heaven.
It is about 4 hours by car from Manila to Subic Bay. Barrio Barretto is a small beachfront town a twenty minute drive north of the city of Olongapo. Barretto is laid out along the National Highway between Subic Bay on the west, and the mountains on the east. The west side of the highway has numerous businesses, many of them bars, intermingled with resort hotels offering a beach, a bar, and a restaurant. This town is very laid back in comparison with the city of Olongapo.
About a kilometer north is the road going to Baloy Long Beach, a rectangle of land occupied on both sides of the road by bars, restaurants, and resorts. They range from very nice to extremely simple in their accommodations. The ambiance on Baloy is even more relaxed.
Both Baretto and Baloy have many excellent restaurants serving American, Australian, Thai, and Chinese food, as well as Philippine specialties. Three of the very popular drinking and dining places have their own very informative websites: Mangos: (http://www.mangossubic.com/); and Blue Rock Resort (www.bluerocksubic.com)and another Baloy resort, Harleys has a good web site (www.harleyspub.com)
SubicBay is on the west coast of Luzon in Zambales Province. It was a Base for the US Navy and Marines for about 90 years. The town of Olongapo, situated right next to the base, was the “fun city” for generations of servicemen until closure of the base in the 1990s. They walked across a bridge spanning the “shit river” into the bars of Olongapo. Many still remember these girls, their bars, and wonder what has become of them. Lots of girls realized their dream and married a GI. The “Brides School” run by the Base processed several thousand young women each year. There is an excellent website hosted by Sgt. H. James Holub, USMC Ret. (www.subicbaypi.com) with great photos from the Base and the Subic Bay area, and links to many Subic memories from former servicemen. Another very good site hosted by Bob Lingerfelt, explains the life of the young men and women who inhabited the bars of Olongapo and is very sympathetic to the girls who worked in the bars (www.philipinawives.com/memorial.html) This is part of his website for learning about marriage to Philippine women (also called Filipina or Philipina). Another well written piece depicting the life of bar girls in the Philippines is written by Clarence Henderson and is called “Eva from Cebu” (www.apmforum/columns/orientseas5.htm). His Orient Seas column has many perceptive articles about the Philippines
Olongapo today is just a very crowded, busy, town next to the former base, which has become a free port and is now called the Subic Bay Management Authority. Many locals work there in the shops, factories, hotels, and bars, and restaurants. The former Naval airfield at Cubi Point is used by Federal Express and other commercial airlines. Many expats shop at the old base exchange, now a department store/grocery called the Royal.
There are several hundred expats living in Barrio Barretto and to the northwest, the nearby towns of Subic City (Clapandayan), Castelejos, San Marcelino, and San Antonio. A few live on houses or apartments on the Base. They are mostly American, and Australian, with a lesser number of German, Swiss, Swedish, and Dutch. We like it here because living is cheap. The exchange rate hovers right now at about 50 pesos to the dollar. The climate allows one to wear sandals, shorts, and tank-tops the year around. Barretto is full of young women from the provinces who work as salesgirls, maids, waitresses, bartenders, and those who work as a G.R.O. (Guest Relations Officer) in some of the bars. When I was young we used to call the latter B-girls. Their job consists of talking sweetly to us and getting us to buy them drinks. They get to keep a portion of the drink price. Since the average wage here amounts to about 2 dollars per day or less, the spending abilities of foreigners make us very attractive. Plus the Base is gone, and the 20-year old sailors and marines are gone. That leaves we old guys as desirable partners.
The Philippines is a paradise for many older foreign men. Because the girls are so poor and the visitors are relatively rich, the guys are desirable partners for a night, a week, or as a steady. Most girls are working to support themselves and their families. Many have a child or two living in the province with grandma. Even a few days with a foreigner can mean more money than she sees in a month. The only chance most of them have in life is to find a kind and generous boyfriend. And, the impossible dream, marriage and lifetime support. Nearly all foreigners here all have a young girlfriend, early twenties to early thirties; for a few days, a week, or a long time.
No matter how old, fat, plain, or lame the foreigner is, they all have a slender brown girlfriend with long hair and hip-hugger jeans or shorts. For old men, it is the fountain of youth, at least for a time. After years of young women not even noticing they occupy the same space as them, the old guys can once again flirt, be romantic, walk hand in hand on the beach, hold a young slender woman at night, and feel as they did when they were young. All men hate the aging process and the loss of vigor and virility. This paradise of young women is a way to forget the angst of growing old. Viagra and Cialis are sold in most bars.
The exchange rate is very favorable for a foreigner and one can live here very well on $ 2000 per month. Even on a stipend of $1000 per month one can live on a much higher scale than in the U.S. The downside is living in a third-world country with dreadful poverty, pollution of the air and water, an extremely noisy environment due to many motor vehicles with loud exhausts, and great inefficiency in all administrative functions. Corruption at every level of government is rampant. It is a lot like living in Mexico, something I did when younger. I attended college in Mexico City on the G.I. Bill in the 1950s.
There are some younger men here in their 20s, 30,s, and 40s. They usually are short time visitors here for the excellent scuba diving on shipwrecks and reefs, the beaches, the bars, and the girls. All the ingredients for a memorable vacation! The majority of them are Australians and they spend much of their time on Baloy Beach where there are several bars and resorts owned and managed by Australians.
.Philippine women spoil their boyfriends. They wait on them, wash them in the shower, clip their toenails, and treat them with great affection. Some speak passable to very good English, and some have little English.. Old Asian hands pronounce Philippine women as the nicest and sweetest women in Asia.
The woman may be in it only for the money initially but their romantic nature allows them to love and nurture their aging partners if the guy is kind and generous. Many of the younger guys, in their 40s and 50s will be so enraptured by their new virility that they marry the girl and have families. So you see guys in their 50s, 60s, and 70s with kids in grade school and high school.





Look at these pictures of the Bay in the Morning and the evening. How can you resist? Visit Barrio Barretto on Subic Bay. You will be glad you did!