Alabang Ladies International Group

Last year Carlos took ALIG on our first guided walking tour of this fascinating part of Manila.  Menchu Lopez wrote a report on the tour for the newsletter last year and we are reprinting it here.

For those of you who have never been to Quiapo don't miss this chance.

Can anyone resist a Carlos Celdran walking tour?  I know I can’t despite the fact that I am a Filipina.  Carlos’ tours are now famous (or should I say, infamous) within the expat community and he has been increasingly gaining clients from the local community.  His penchant for mixing history with creative storytelling has made his tours a sought after experience in Manila.  So on the 11th of September, ALIG members were once again treated to a day of fun, history and discoveries in the heart of Old Manila, Quiapo.

We met at 7:45am at Sarah’s house and set out on a convoy of 6  vans to meet up with Carlos in Binondo Church, also known as Sta. Ana Church.  Binondo Church lies at the center of Chinatown and right outside its doors one can see the bridge that connects Manila to Chinatown.  The story of how the Spanish moved the Chinese community across the river (yet still within cannonball distance) is one of the many stories shared by Carlos during the tour.

The tour started with Carlos and Menchu singing the national anthem, “Lupang Hinirang” (Carlos caught me by surprise there and thank God I still remembered the words!).  From there we walked to the side streets of Chinatown with Carlos giving us both a historical and gastronomical tour, pointing to us various landmarks of the area and bringing us to Carvajal Street, a small alley where you can find almost any fruit and vegetable; juicy ruby red grapefruits, luscious green kiwi fruits oriental vegetables and spices and of course native rice cakes and sweets. 

Why is the Quiapo fire engine purple?

We walked to Eng Bee Tin, the most popular Chinese cake shop, where everything is painted the color of bright lavender, the color of “UBE”, our local yam.  Even the famous “hopia” (which is a popular Chinese cake) is now made of “ube” when before it would only come in flavors of red bean paste or lotus seed paste.   The owner of that store is now one of the major donors to the Quiapo Fire Brigade, hence the bright purple of its trucks.
Carlos also took us to Salazar bakery which was established in the 1920’s where everything from “hopia” to chocolate crinkle cookies were sold.  Still another Chinese bakery offered us some sweets for sampling.  Next stop was the oldest hotel in Chinatown where Carlos showed us photos of Manila then that were displayed at the hotel lobby.  Here one could see photos of the original American Jeeps that were converted into what is known now as our “Jeepneys”.  Next landmark was an old building, off a nondescript alley, which housed the oldest Chinese temple in Manila.  The heady smell of incense was enough to put you in a trance!  Some of us lit some incense sticks and folded then burnt golden paper for good luck.

Next stop:  Sta. Cruz Church – situated in the heart of downtown Manila where old Spanish influences were mixed so cleverly with the East.  The church faces a beautiful water fountain and opposite it is a an old Bank where the eagles etched on its eaves portray a sinister look. From here Carlos took us on a most interesting walk wherein one has a glimpse of the Makati of the past, going through shops that were once brimming with merchandise and customers but are now closed with an out of business sign or just padlocked from sheer neglect. This part of Manila thrives in shopping along the sidewalk and anything is for sale.  Watch your step though as some shops are way below street level as a proof that Manila is a sinking city!  This is why some shops display an array of bright gold and red Chinese artifacts to ward off bad “feng shui”!!!

Quiapo Church:  Where Catholicism meets Magic

Last stop:  Quiapo church.  It was made our last stop fittingly so as this Church is the most popular one in the area.  The Quiapo Church houses the lifesize image of the Black Nazarene, the patron saint of the Filipino worker.  Each January sees thousands of Filipino men crowding the plaza in front of the church to pay homage to the image.  The crush of people sometimes spell disaster among its devotees and each year a few lives are lost.  
 

The walk to Quiapo Church from Sta. Cruz took us along Rizal Avenue, which was the Ayala Avenue of the past.  Anything but anything is on sale here!  Even those odd looking gadgets that entice you to buy them on the false promise that your love life will take off the ground (goodness, I all of a sudden remember all those funny remarks and looks of the vendors especially when they us all walking in their street!)  From there we went to the stalls of Carriedo market where local “healers” otherwise known as ‘albularyos”  sell potions (“gayuma”) that will make your erstwhile lover fall in love again with you, white aloe stones (“tawas”) that claim to make one more beautiful, a few amulets (“anting anting”) that claim protection from impending death or even from our  local poltergeist (“aswang”.).  A walk along this lane takes one back in time  when paganism ruled the Filipinos and the Roman Catholic church was unheard of.   This is where the Filipino brand of Catholicism takes a different flavor as it merges with pagan beliefs that are hard to eradicate among the common people.  We then proceeded to a place that sold trinkets and other accessories.  From here we all divided into groups of 3’s and rode pedicabs to a Chinese restaurant for lunch. 

What can I say about the tour? – it was truly a one of a kind experience.  Carlos is incomparable to any I have met and only someone who truly loves being a Filipino can  portray Quiapo the way he did.  Quiapo then & now?  It still is as interesting as it was when I remember it as a child.  It still thrives amidst the development of Manila and it still has at its heart the pulse of the common Filipino. 

Menchu Lopez

 

16th May 2008

Liz Davies sent us an email she sent to friends with her thoughts on a recent ALIG daytrip.

"I went on a wonderful road trip yesterday with ALIG to the Pahiyas Festival in Lucban. I almost didn't go, because it was so hot down here, and I didn't want to fall over from the heat on an all-day marathon. But I'm glad I did now, because it was cool, pretty, and so interesting.

This is the festival season, where towns all over the Philippines go mad and dress up for a thanksgiving festival before the rains start. It's such a pretty neat little town, and the scenery on the way is just beautiful, winding through the mountains of Quezon Province. There were towering trees with lilac flowers cascading from the branches, bright yellow allemanda sprawling over the hillsides, big fat contented water buffs lying in the rain, and shiny little horses carrying baskets of coconuts. We strolled through the streets admiring the decorations, with the rain coming down, alas, and smiling at friendly faces. Even the bright colours of the open umbrellas added to the colourful scene.  

I loved seeing the sweet faces looking out of windows decorated with leaves and flowers, especially the old 'lolas' who had been hard at work decorating their houses for days every year, for years. There was a real fiesta atmosphere despite the rain. The big flowers on the houses are made of rice cooked and rolled into coloured sheets, and then cut into petals. They also use bunches of rice, big leaves and bamboo in imaginative ways to cover the fronts of shops and houses, and little stalls are overflowing with delicious local snacks made of peanuts, coconut, and lots of sugar. One little house had a waterfall coming through bunches of green rice onto a little pond with fish and peasants in it. The patron saint is St. Isidore, patron saint of farmers, always naively portrayed with round eyes and upright posture in gumboots. No-one gets dressed and painted up there, as they do in some towns, although there was the school marching band bashing away on Main st. in cheerleader uniforms though.

Some of our ladies bought some really showy hats made of abaca, a local fabric spun from the fibres of leaves.They looked so classy posing for our farewell group photo in their hats in pink, cream, navy and black, with twiddles and flowers heaped on. very glam, and not bad for three or four dollars. They will be the envy of their friends at family weddings back home !

The rain was so hard at one point that we all went into the old Spanish Church along with throngs of locals, like wet chickens. It was a spacious church with whitewashed walls, high roof and ornate brass chandeliers. Only the ducks and water buffalo enjoy the rain. The peasants weave a cape from the huge palm leaves to keep their backs dry while they work on the terraces.

Then on the way back we stopped in the next town of Liliw for some speed shopping of shoes. I bought two pretty pairs of sandals, one in turquoise, and one in yellow, and could have spent much much longer. That heady smell of cheap shoes is quite dizzy making ! It's Imelda Heaven, the streets lined with shoe shops. Maybe next time. Then we had lunch in a very cramped little resto and came home via Los Banos, the hot springs resort on the side of Mt. Makiling, whose head was in swirling white clowds. Don't know how we got that side of the mountain but lost track with all the curving roads. Let's hope the sun is shining next year."

Thanks to Marion and Natalie for organizing such a fantastic adventure.