Spend enough time on the endless islands and archipelagos that make up The Philippines, and you will begin to notice an unusual recurrence: makeshift basketball hoops.
You will be strolling along a path through the gently swaying palm trees that cover each island and, as you come to a clearing, it will catch your eye; there, affixed haphazardly to a slender tree trunk, a backboard cobbled together from sticks, a hoop fashioned from scrap metal bars, maybe tilting at a slight angle. The more that you happen across, the more these recreational shrines become symbolic of the Philippines and its relaxed but industrious, chaotic but functional, simple but eclectic existence.
