I Spy Manila

Salcedo Community Market; today

Sat, 03 Mar 2007 07:13:55 GMT

Every Saturday from 9 to 3, the park in front of our building fills up with tents, people, and LOTS of trucks and cars for the Salcedo Community Market. My little sister and I went down to buy some organic cashew nuts and soy milk. I also wanted to teach her how to take pictures. (So which of these pictures do you think were taken by a six year old?)

The Salcedo Community Market, from 20 floors up.

The Salcedo Community Market, from our doorstep.

The guys on this truck were unloading the back, and it was full of pretty flowers and plants.

All kinds of people from all over can be found at the Salcedo market - dressed up Tatler socialites in straw hats, senators and mayors, simple city working people, and people from the farms who come here to sell all kinds of great stuff.

They sell hats...

all sorts of woven things...

bags and boxes...

fruits and vegetables...

flowers...

really amazing sticky confections wrapped in banana leaves...

things that come from far away (mountain rice and the cashews we were looking for)...

chestnuts coming out brown and sticky from sacks...

and all sorts of ready to eat food. We stopped for ice cream on our way out.

Cebu (an exception); November 2006

Mon, 26 Feb 2007 08:40:30 GMT

I know I'm posting an exception so soon, but I've been looking for a perfect outlet to post pictures from my trip to Cebu last year. It was the first time I'd been there, and I was really excited to explore - which is why I twisted my dad's arm to set up a city tour for the entire family, even if they'd already been there before.

Magellan's Cross, said to be the "most famous" landmark in Cebu. Check out the red balloons and the paintings of the conquistador & the Filipinos on the ceiling.

The cross was inside this kind of cage, with black gates all around (and the aforementioned mural on the ceiling).

These ladies make a living by praying for people. In the picture, they are doing a prayer-dance-chant for my mom. It made the hairs on my arms rise. I'm guessing this is yet another example of an ancient Filipino "animist" practice mixed with Catholicism.

La basilica de Santo Niño.

My mom, the ever-ready museum docent, would probably remark on the "Oriental" eyes, in contrast to the otherwise Hispanic features of the saint on the carving. She says it was the only way the Chinese woodcarvers could get back at the Spanish people who discriminated against them AND who ordered the carvings from them.

The painted ceiling of the basilica.

Would you like to buy a plastic-wrapped Santo Niño? The basilica store sold Santo Niños, herbal drinks, wooden bracelets with religious paintings (lovely!), and best of all, human size Santo Niño costumes.

Balloon vendors. My dad told me that when he was growing up, after church on Sunday morning the plaza would be filled with balloon vendors and children tugging on their mothers' skirts. You don't see these in Manila very often anymore.

I don't think they had Power Ranger balloons back in those days.

Rows upon rows of candles.

Here are mine.

We then went to a mountain viewing spot where we could see the entire city.

Cebu City.

The viewing place was empty, since most tourists come for the view and the free-flowing beer at night.

My family and I rang the bell for peace.

We went to the site of the Battle of Mactan, where Lapulapu and his men fought Ferdinand Magellan (aka Fernando Magallanes) and his dudes. Magellan eventually got fatally shot in the leg by an arrow, and his men had to sail back to Spain without him.

Lapulapu.

The Shangri-La Mactan Resort is HEAVEN ON EARTH.

The entire family, with the exception of my then-five year old sister, had spa treatments. This is my brother, in his non-animal-derived faux cashmere robe. The fantastic spa claims to be the biggest in the world.

We felt very peaceful and shanti (Music and Lyrics reference, sorry) afterwards.

I went for a walk on the beach the next morning. It was lovely.

Intramuros; June 2005

Mon, 26 Feb 2007 08:01:48 GMT

I went to Intramuros, the old Spanish Walled City, with two friends. Leng and I were there to take pictures and videos for our P.I. (Philippine Institutions; also fondly known by U.P. students as Putang Ina) 100 report. Pat went along just for fun.

Casa Manila courtyard - We thought this was such a perfect place to shoot a telenovela set in the 18th century.

Still at Casa Manila, and still trying to use the black and white setting for that nineteenth century look.

View into Padre Blanco's garden. I think this was taken from the second floor of the San Agustin church museum.

Baptismal font in the San Agustin church museum. I was particularly interested in this piece because it combined something so characteristically Filipino (marble from Romblon) with some words in the Spanish language - which the much-derided indios weren't really allowed to speak.

Fort Santiago, which is now famous for having been the place where Jose Rizal, the Philippines' national hero, spent his last days and wrote his last poem.

A plush calesa and its driver, who gave us a guided tour of Intramuros.

Leng (in the back) and Pat in the calesa.