The place was used to be a playground, a volleyball court, a basketball court, and there were even pine trees. Bu an overwhelming amount of rain – in 2004 inundated Artex with a flood; since then floodwater never left. The neighborhood already sits in one of the lowest-lying portions of Metro Manila, the Philippines’ sprawling capital, so flooding was already perennial. But a number of other factors combined to make Artex float. Residents stand on a boat and row to the village port to go anywhere and do just about everything, including ironically, collecting something as basic as clean water.
