Kaisa, Siargao Island, Philippines
”Enjoy life as it is!”
Meet Kaisa, 44, “a crazy dog lady”, originally from Finland, now living on Siargao Island, Philippines. Her family consists of, as Kaisa says: “a wonderful husband Lee and five dogs: Eero, Pasi, Papi, Tiikerikakku and Lumi. All the dogs are more or less rescue dogs and askals (ie. asong kalye meaning Philippine street dogs).”
In 2014 Kaisa and Lee were backpacking around Southern America, Europe and Asia for a year and a bit by chance, a bit because of surfing, they came to Siargao Island. They planned to stay only for a moment, but they are still there! While travelling the world they had talked about how their dream holiday accommodation would be: small, simple, stylish houses by the sea, in a peaceful place, but not too far from the services and surf spots, but without astronomical room prices. And to cut a long story short: they bought some land, built simple, stylish bungalows by the sea and so today they are owners of an accommodation business called Surfing Carabao Beach Houses.
Kaisa is not only an accommodation entrepreneur but she works also as a professional tour leader in different countries around the world, but today much more seldom than before.
Kaisa and Tiina both studied Italian language and culture as major at Turku University and later met and worked together in Garda Lake, Italy: at that time Tiina was responsible for a tour operator’s hotel contracts and Kaisa worked in local DMC which customer that tour operator was. It was quite a surprise to meet for the first time in years in a hotel lobby in North-Italy as none of them knew beforehand who the counterpart was!
Italy is Kaisa’s second home: it’s not said that one day she wouldn’t be back to Italy, living in the Northern mountains. But not yet: today in Siargao she is enjoying life as it is, living it fully, taking it day by day. Could be the most instagrammable in this instagrammable world: flip flops, sun and sand. But it is not Kaisa’s cup of tea: she does not want to waste her time in social media, but rather spends that time with her husband and dogs!
STORY OF PAPI AND PASI
“When we started to build Surfing Carabao, our resort here in Siargao island, there was a pregnant stray dog hanging out with our construction workers. She didn’t like me or my husband and when we tried to approach her, she either ran away or even showed her teeth. But she was always there, laying in the top of the pile of sand. And she was very friendly with the construction guys, especially with two of them called LikLik and Tata.
On day I arrived at the site and when I sat down on a rock, the dog came to me and wagged her tail and even let me pet her. In the evening one of the workers shouted to my husband: “Sir, you are very lucky!”. And when we went to see what was happening, we saw that the dog had had two puppies under one of the bungalows.
At the time I had been very stressed about many things and felt a bit depressed. When the dog came to me and accepted me, I saw it as a sign, that we were accepted on the island. I think she realized, that if she would be our friend, we would take care of the puppies.
One of puppies dies but the other one looks exactly like the dog I had as a child. We called him Pasi.
The mama dog got very sick after giving birth. She was having milk fever: it’s a lack of calcium and can kill a dog very fast. We sent her to the vet on the other island by boat as there was no veterinary on the island at that time. We had to take care of the newborn puppy and luckily, he survived. Also mama came back after two weeks and they are both with us now. The mama was named Papi, because as here people don’t necessarily name their dogs, the construction workers always called her: “puppy, puppy!”. This was a start of the process that led Kaisa to find a non-profit organization Puppy Paddle Siargao with her friend Alex.
EVERYDAY LIFE
In a normal Tuesday, Kaisa wakes up early around 5:30 am. During the day she walks on the beach with doggies, participates on streets mission feeding or medicating dogs, talks with the guests in Surfing Carabao, drives around in a motorbike doing purchases and visiting different offices for Surfing Carabao related issues. She goes to bed early around 20:30.
Three things that Kaisa mentions when asked about the best in everyday life are hanging out with dogs, being able to spend a lot of time with her husband and seeing the beautiful nature around all the time.
Find out more about Kaisa’s hidden gems: Hills of Salvacion near them or Cordillera areas in Luzon, largest and the most important island of the Philippines.
The worst in everyday life would be seeing a lot of animal suffering, feeling powerless in dealing with poverty, seeing a lot of inequity, going crazy with bureaucracy. “Sometimes it’s frustrating to try to accomplish just one single thing in whole day without making it!”, Kaisa continues. She also finds stressful trying to deal with trash in somewhat sustainable way.
What then gives energy and how Kaisa takes care of herself? She says: “my dogs, sports and being in the ocean.” Her favorite hobbies are surf, windsurf, reading, skiing and snowboarding, dancing salsa when possible. When need for a treat, she goes on a boat trip, walks on the hills or goes to her superb Japanese hairdresser Keiko. All in all it is not only being kind and gentle to creations around us, but: ”getting older, I just try to be more gentle also with myself”, adds Kaisa.
DREAMS & FEARS, PAST & FUTURE
What are your dreams?
“Building a big dog shelter in Siargao with a clinic where would be done free or low cost spay and neuter for dogs and cats. And moving back to Italy someday.”
What is your worst fear?
“Tsunami and rabies. That something bad happens to my loved ones”
Where would you donate your time/money to?
“I am running a charity organization called Puppy Puddle Siargao with my friend, so this is easy: street animals in need.”
Has the position of girls/women changed during your lifetime?
“In many countries for sure. In too many others not yet.”
If you could, what advice would you give to your 20-year-old self?
“Don’t try to be something just to please others if you feel it is not you.”
Where will you be in 10 years?
“It is a complete surprise! Hopefully in the mountains in Northern Italy!”
What would you say to a woman of your age who lives across the world?
“Please, I want to hear your story! I am more interested in listening!”
And what about Christmas? Kaisa dreams of spending a nice, traditional Finnish Christmas in Finland with her family. In Siargao Kaisa and Lee have very few Christmas traditions as they always work during the holiday season, but someday they would love to have “a real” Christmas back in Finland.
QUICK ONES
Drink: good wine
Favorite food: insalata caprese
Delicacy: Parmiggiano Reggiano
Restaurant: Pompa Magna in Asti (www.enotecapompamagna.it) , Casa Luciana (Kaisa’s ”Italian mamma”) in Reggio Emilia
Spice: cinnamon
Feeling: saudade
Scent: sauna in summer evening in Finland
Travel destination: Italy
Book: too many
Movie: Il Postino
Favorite public holiday: Christmas
Artist/band: Juice Leskinen, Leonard Cohen
Song: La Cura by Franco Battiato
Plant: birch tree
Evening routine: hugging the dogs before going to bed
Favorite piece of clothing: flip flops
Animal: dog (edit. “who would have known!”)
Scenery: Dolomites
Sport: Hiking, dancing salsa, windsurf
Motto: “I don’t really have. If not a phrase of Paris Geller in Gilmore Girls: I want to live my life so that I’ll be able to read in depth a biography about myself in later years and not puke” :O