A Day with Ruthie

I wasn't kidding when I said a rooster woke me up the day before. People keep them as pets here, even in the downtown of a major city. It's odd to hear the typical bustle of new york or paris (honking horns, the rumble of engines, people buying and selling in the street) and see skyscapers all around you and then hear the clear COCKADOODLEDOO! Of a rooster announcing the dawn.

I was up fairly early, and I put together my day bag and struck out to meet Ruthie at the junction between the two LRT lines. I reached there before 11AM, our chosen meeting time,a and read for a bit in the station.

Ruthie turned out to be a softspoken, pleasant girl with extensive European travel experience, a Nikon D90, giant hipster glasses and a Broken Social Scene T-Shirt. I found it hard not to like her right off.

She took me to her old University, by Jeepney. A Jeepney is a distinctly Asian vehicle that serves to provide bus services throughout downtown, rather than a bus system. It serves the same basic function that the Songthaews served in Thailand--a sort of roving flexible light bus sytem, although in Manila the Jeepneys are a somewhat more organized thing and tend to run more consistent routes, which are generally written on the front and sides, though finding them amongs all that decoration can be tough. They are incredibly cheap, with an average ride costing about 10 Pesos (20 cents) and are the standad way of getting around for the average Philippine moving through the city without car or motorbike. Generally you take the light rail as close to your destination as possible, and then grab a Jeepney for the last kilometer or two.

We wandered her Alma Mater's grounds while she told me stories, like how the Lagoon was reputed to have aborted babies hidden in it (?!). I suppose every campus has its ghost or horror stories, but this one seemed especially morbid.

We spent a while just taking photographs, and she showed me their statue of a naked man (the model for the statue was actually the father of one of their now-famous action movie stars) symbolizing Academic achievement and we finally ducked into a place called "Chocolate Kiss Cafe" near the campus where she used to go as a student.

The food was excellent--I had the traditional Philippine meal of Bagoong Rice, which is a sort of rice pilaf with egg and finely chopped vegetables and seasoned chicken. We split a sampler of chocolate cakes after that was excellent, and spent much of the time talking about music and travel and our experiences with photography. We saw eye to eye on a lot of things, and that was nice.

Afterward, we took the LRT down to another station--Cubao--and wandered there for a while. There was supposed to be a large concert that night, but I decided against sticking around since I was still feeling worn out from being sick, and I was going on a walking tour the next morning. Instead, we rode down together to a stop near the Intramuros/Chinatown area, and walked through part of Manila thats seen better days.

We walked first through the Voodoo market which runs down Rizal ave and up next to the Churches. Despite the Catholic church's best efforts to stamp out superstition here, you can still buy herbs and ingredients for potions and hexes and curses right here in the squares, directly under the watchful eye of the crucific of our lord and saviour. It seems an odd set of things to mix, but the Filipino people are untroubled by it, and Catholicism instead got into the act with candles that you buy for good luck, and then people burn for you while you say a prayer.

Ruthie is raised methodist, and shrugs at the entire spectrum of it and says she really doesn't know the details.

Interestingly, the voodoo market is also the tactical shops market, directly across from where you buy your good luck charms and hexing ingredients you can buy more practical things like collapsible batons, knives, combat boots, military patches freehanded on the spot (even for the wrong organizations--I considered buying one that said "Lockheed" for myself), and it seemed like every AR-15 accessory ever--stocks, shrouds, hand guards, optics, it was all there, mixed in together. It is an odd mix of things.

We wandered past two cathedrals and through the old theatre district that runs alongside Chinatown. Ruthie pointed out some of the architecture to me, though the light was failing and I had to promise myself I'd come back if I wanted any good pictures. The Capitol Theatre here (which you'll see in tomorrow's entry) was especially beautiful. Eventually we got to logical place to part ways, and she directed me to a Jeepney that would take me back within just a couple of blocks of my hostel, and off we went.

She went home to spend the evening with her family, and I went back to my hostel and rested up. I didn't know it yet, but tomorrow was going to turn out to be a very big day.