Thursday, September 18, 2008

The Streets of Manila

Picture of Quiapo from Light Rial Transit (LRT) Station

The city of Manila has a population of twelve to fifteen million depending on who you ask and their definition of Manila. The city is believed to have obtained its name from the Tagalog phrase "may nila" meaning there are flowering mangroves. May means to have and nila is the word for a type of flowering mangrove. The name of the city is less fitting today since there are no mangroves left, possibly thanks to a Peace Corps project in the 1970's. The urban myth goes that in the 1970's PC volunteers were assigned to remove mangroves in order to build fish ponds which at the time seemed to make sense. Then twenty years later scientist decided that mangroves provide more benefits than previously thought, like increased fish catch, protection from storm surge, a well balanced ecosystem etc. The whole PC cutting down the last mangrove thing might be true or not but the reality is there are no more mangroves. The city of Manila has a history of being a trading port for Chinese and Arab traders from the 10th century onwards until the Spanish arrived and conquered it in 1571. The city was named the official capital of the Philippines in 1595 and was occupied by the Spanish, British, Americans, and Japanese over the next 400 years. The city that is standing today is a mixture of religions, languages, and culture. The city has old Spanish style churches, mosques, and Buddhist temples scattered throughout the city along with people from all over the Philippines and other countries. The city of Manila is made of areas like Makati which resembles Beverly Hills, literally! The streets are wide and lined with palm trees, everything is new and maintained, and there are parks throughout it. Then there is Malate which resembles a toned down red light district with a mixture of things like the Hyatt Hotel, backpacker lodges, bars, restaurants, nightclubs etc. The Quiapo area is home to bargain shoppers and anything can be bought in Quiapo but more on that later. The city also has a Chinatown, the Intramuros area (Spanish architecture), and squatter areas all over. The city seems chaotic and without a direction which leaves this halo-halo (mixture) of time and beliefs standing. If it didn't have all these idiosyncrasies well it wouldn't be Manila or Maynila then.

We arrived in Manila last week for Mid-Service training and it allowed us to have some free time to roam through Manila. We decided to venture into Quiapo which is bargain central and brought a couple friends (Jon and Emma) along for the experience. We traveled to Quiapo using the LRT which is a cheap, air conditioned way to travel through the city. When the LRT came to a stop at Quiapo we stepped onto the platform and were welcomed by the sounds of people bartering on the streets below us. The streets of Quiapo are in constant state of fiesta. Vendors line the streets and walk through the streets pedaling rat poison, clothes, hardware tools, birds, rabbits, fruits, vegetables, and anything else imaginable. The established stores look on jealously from their permanent fixtures located behind the tents of the vendors. The streets are a sea of people and you slide past one person to the next which is less like walking and more like swimming. After purchasing fruits and other non-necessities we took a break outside of the plaza at the Quiapo Church. Since it was Sunday there was a service in session and it seems that every vendor surrounding the church is selling candles, crown of thorns, and idols of Saints. The TV screen attached to the side of the church shows the priest inside giving his sermon but everyone outside has other concerns at the moment. Occasionally a group of kids come by begging for money or food which they seem quite successful at. While we were waiting near the church plaza I noticed a girl that was about ten years old trying to sell toy cars that flip over. She seemed a little lost amongst the crowd and didn't have the same vigor to sell as many things as possible like other people did. Eventually a little boy who was about the same age and his grandmother came by for a demonstration. The little girl unfolded a mat in the middle of the crowd and placed the car on it. The car jump, jolted, and flipped to the delight of the one boy audience, the little girl seemed to find no amusement in the trick. The grandmother then handed some money to the girl and the business transaction was complete. The boy walked away with a new toy, the girl walked away with a few pesos of profit for her family and things went on the same as before; the girl hawking the toys in the absence of a childhood, schooling, and dreams for those of us that want to purchase our own dreams.

We left the streets of Quiapo eventually and made our way into Chinatown which appeared to be void of life. It was a shock to look in every direction and only see concrete, glass and medal surrounding us. The streets seemed gray with the lack of human voices and perspiration. We found a tea house before us and decided it was the right place to eat. After contemplating over the large menu we all came to a decision and spent our time waiting by sipping tea and enjoying the air conditioning. The meal that was laid before us was impressive and more than we could eat. There was grilled vegetables, sweat and sour chicken, dumplings, and a plethora of other foods. After eating to the point of bursting we each took a last bite and then paid the bill. It was only mid-afternoon but the day was over for us. We made our way to the arch welcoming visitors to Chinatown and looked across the roundabout at the Spanish styled Quiapo Church recognizing that this short distance couldn't purvey the difference separating these two places. One of us finally waved our hand at the oncoming traffic and got on a Jeep heading back to the hotel.
Quiapo Church from underneath Chinatown arch


Emma, Jon and Pilipino jewelry vendor (oh, they're so cute)