Cebu Journal (pg. 3)
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January 30, 2005: I have now started the third week of my visit to Cebu. I guess that behooves me to put together page 3 of my journal.
This afternoon was another fun time in Cebu. Today we went riding on Jeepneys and also went down to Carbon and Colon, the old market areas of Cebu. I was joined by four guys from Lexmark, four of the five that accompanied me last week on the Cebu visit: JP, Julius, Raquien and Rocci.
I have a good deal of stuff on the Jeepneys, but it will still be a couple of days before I can get everything sorted out. However, today, I also got the chance to walk through the markets today and get some more nice photos. It was as if I was a movie star as people greeted me and wanted photos with me. There were little children, old folks and even a couple of men who were dressed as women.....
The marketplace is very crowded. People are everywhere. It seemed to me that there were more people trying to sell than there were buying. Of course, we got there in the afternoon and it was very warm. Many of the people in the stalls were asleep, taking a siesta.
As with the last page I had up, I am adding some of my favorite photos from the day here:
Throughout the trip today, I saw a lot of people sleeping, in all sorts of places. The new slide show (click here) will provide a number of these. I really liked the picture of this old lady with the baskets. A lucky catch.
Lots of children today. They all wanted their pictures. The two girls on the left followed us for a couple of blocks and kept making poses. I finally took this picture. I think it was a cute one. Then, another sleeper on the right.
Some of the Jeepneys get pretty crowded. The picture on the left is of a Jeepney that had a better clearance for my head than the some of the others that will be seen on my Jeepney page. Anyway, the guys on my right were hanging from the back of the Jeepney...four of them. I was amazed that they all fit and that none of them fell off. The picture on the right is a certain guy showing how to hang from a Jeepney.
There are over 80 new photos in the new slide show (click here). Once again, these may take a little time to download, but I think they are very representative of the Colon and Carbon areas of Cebu.
We also visited the SM Mall today. It is the other large mall in Cebu. We ate at a Thai restaurant. Not quite like the Thai food we get in Lexington, but it was still quite tasty.
I want to write more tonight, but it is after 11 and I am getting a little sleepy. I will add more tomorrow.
January 31, 2005: As a continuation of yesterday's entry, I first off wanted to mention how we had gone downtown to the Metro Gaisano Dept. store, which is located in Colon. It is a large, 6 or 7 story Dept. store. We stopped there for a break. I had an interesting cool treat called a halo-halo, which translated means "mix-mix". I suppose that there are numerous types of this concoction. The halo-halo I had was a dish with a bed of shaved ice covered with some gelatin, a couple flavors of ice cream, some sweet corn, some syrupy mixture, some coconut milk and pineapple chunks and then garnished with sweetened corn flakes and a chocolate straw. It is meant to be mixed up and eaten that way. On a hot, humid day this treat is quite refreshing. Actually, I would say that the halo-halo treat could be considered a metaphor of the Philippine culture. Many different cultures have come through here and left their marks. Visayan (Cebuano) language is indeed a mix of English, Tagalog, Spanish and the local dialects. You have a distinctly Asian culture with strong Catholic roots.
While in Gaisano we also saw a horde of security guards walk in escorting someone, obviously a famous Filipina. As we sat up there relaxing while I ate my halo-halo, suddenly the stage was filled with dancers wearing superman shirts. Soon thereafter a young singer came out and was introduced as Rochelle "Raki" Vega. She is like the Kelly Clarkson of the Philippines, having won the Filipino version of American Idol (called The Born Diva). She was the third winner of this national competition here and is a native of Cebu. I was surprised to hear her sing "If You Could Read My Mind", a song made famous by Gordon Lightfoot in the '70s. The interesting thing was hearing this sung disco-pop style. And, as many of you know, I am an avid collector of cover songs and so I am now after this version of this song...I am sure to find it somewhere!! Here is a photo of Raki Vega for those of you interested:
On another note--I have received emails from many of my friends that have been following my journal and looking at the pictures. I consider myself an aspiring National Geographic photojournalist wannabe. I have always been an avid fan of the magazine. One of my readers (he knows who is...) recently wrote:
"National Geographic...that's exactly what the shots remind me of. Maybe it was those years of missionary work (I was a missionary in Japan for two years in the mid-'70s) that give you an eye for images that seem to look deeper than tourist attractions. I love the pictures of the people."
I was honored by these words. Indeed, many Lexmarkers come here and stay at the fancy hotel, go snorkeling, scuba diving, etc., which is fine. I have no criticism of that at all. But, I choose to see the people, the lifestyle, the suffering, the joy, the intrigue, the loneliness.... I truly enjoy spending my free time here with the Cebauno Lexmarkers. They are the reason I am here and I want to be a part of them as much as I can in the short time I am here. I want them, by the same token, to experience their country from my eyes...eyes with which they have not seen their country. It is not only an experience for me...it is for them as well. When they walk with me through the markets or ride with me on the Jeepneys, they see others react to me. They get a sense of what a foreigner in their country experiences. As we walk through the market and I see people asleep on their vegetables, or see a decrepit beggar on the street with tattered clothes and a dirt-caked body, they then see these things. The commonplace to them all of a sudden becomes something noticed. This new awareness and wonder in their eyes becomes apparent to me and I gain joy from that. Let the others scuba dive and snorkel and relax on the beach. They are missing out on the "real Philippines." I have been blessed with this great opportunity to smell the acrid scents of sewers, garbage and other things, to smell the sweet scents of barbecued meats in open markets, the pleasant scents of flowers.... I have been able to see the joyful expressions on the faces of poverty-stricken children, just because some big giant foreigner took their picture, shook their hand and greeted them in their own tongue. I have thrilled in the looks of a horseman, sitting idly on his "chariot" waiting for a fare, only to be asked by a big foreigner to have a picture taken together with his humble cart and shabby clothes...and then see his mainly toothless smile when handed a 5 peso coin for the photo-op. This is what is joyful to me. Words cannot express the satisfaction.
Naturally, there are things that bother me, just like any other person. Balut, a Filipino delicacy--a fertilized egg with a partially developed duckling, which is eaten boiled, sounds disgusting to me and it is one of the foods, I am embarrassed to say, that I refuse to eat. I don't like the musty smells of the hotel. I don't like the heat and humidity. But, the dislikes are so outnumbered by the wonderful Filipino people, their graciousness, their sincerity, their humility. The smiles when I blurt out Maayong Buntag (good morning) in the morning, or guapa ka (you are nice looking) to an old wrinkly lady in the market. These things warm my heart.
The poverty in Cebu is sometimes overwhelming to me. When we walked through the market, little children came begging for coins. My heart said "give them a coin," but my mind said, "No, don't do it. Many others will appear from nowhere if you do." As we drive down the street in an air-conditioned vehicle, there are young children and old ladies that bang on the windows asking for handouts. In most cases they are carrying a child in hopes of gaining the sympathies of the on-lookers. I am told that many of these are forced to do this by crime syndicates. Some people just sit on a corner staring hopelessly into the street. As in any country, these are the forgotten people. These are the faces that I want to remember. They cause me to consider my own extremely blessed lot in life. They bring out a gratitude in me that I cannot experience at home in the U.S. The forgotten have left an indelible mark on me....they won't be forgotten by me.
February 3, 2005: The last two days I have been really swamped. Nonetheless, there are still a few observations to be made.
One thing I have not noted heretofore is how beautiful the mornings are. Every morning I go up to the 12th floor of the Marriott for breakfast. From there I have a nice view of the mountains to the west. These are the same mountains we went up a few days ago when we visited Tops. Usually, the skies are clear or partly cloudy. All of the previous days' dustiness has disappeared and the air looks fresh and clear. Unfortunately, despite the spring-like appearance, once outside the heat and humidity hit again. Reality sets in and by the time I am to the Lexmark entrance, about 400 yards from here, I am already a sweat hog. I get to my office and I am like Homer Simpson and his donuts...."Mmmm Air Conditioning."
I keep my 9th floor office at about 22 degrees Celsius, or about 70 degrees Fahrenheit. Most everyone that comes to my office brings a sweater. In the meantime, I am still warm at that. I keep my hotel room set at about 68 degrees Fahrenheit. Nice to at least have a cool room to sleep in. More than once I have pondered the plight of many of the people here in Cebu who live in the ramshackle houses and must still try to sleep in the humidity and heat of the night. I hate to think what it is like in the summertime. It is no wonder that so many people spend a good amount of time in the malls. They are air conditioned.
Yesterday I walked down the road with some of the folks from Lexmark to have a lunch at a Korean place. The walk was fairly pleasant as the wind was brisk and kept things fairly cool. On the way, we were followed by beggars wanting handouts....some of them would hold out their hand and then gesture to their mouths as if they wanted money to get food. Others were hawking everything from limes, sunglasses, food and rope cots. Their brazenness is stunning. Children, many less than 10 years old, walk out into the midst of traffic, barefoot, knocking on windows of cars, asking for handouts or trying to get people to buy their goods. Cigarette and water hawkers stand in the middle of the road as cars pass them on both sides. They wait for the traffic lights to change so that they can approach the open-aired Jeepneys to try to sell their goods. The occasional driver may buy a bottle of water or a pack of smokes.
The Korean food was pretty good. Despite the heat of the day, I wanted a bowl of champon, Korean noodles in a spicy hot soup and some shellfish, squid, etc. The champon was good, the fried rice was something to be desired. It was also nice to have some kimchee, though it was not as spicy as I would have liked. There was a strong taste of vinegar.
After the Korean food, which was spicy for those with me, we decided to cross the street to a little Italian ice cream shop. We were hounded by little kids begging for handouts. In fact, they followed us into the ice cream shop, but were quickly scooted out by the shopkeepers. Nonetheless, they kept opening the door. I wanted to tell them to get lost, but the Filipinos don't even have anything similar to that in their language. They are a patient people.
Back to the ice cream....it was so very good. Some of the best I had ever eaten...no joke. True, home made Gelato. One of the best treats I have had since I have been here!!! Apparently, the shop and a small outlet at the Ayala Mall, are owned by an Italian guy who has been here for a long time. Thank goodness for him!!
Another treat for me was having another Lexmarker from the U.S. stay at the hotel. I was able to join Curtis for breakfast and then for dinner last night, at Kenny Rogers Roasters. It was so nice to have an American to do something with. I am pretty sure that I talked his ears off. But he is pretty patient. He will be here through the end of the week, go to a resort in Mactan for the weekend, and then return here for the last few days. It appears that we will be on the same flights from Cebu to Lexington. That will be nice to have someone on the trip. Thanks Curtis for the listening ear!!
Well, this weekend we are taking another exciting trip. Curtis will join me, along with 10 or so Cebuanos on a boat trip around some of the smaller islands off of Mactan. I will not write about them now as I will save it all for the trip report afterwards. But, Saturday should be fun. I have a pair of high water dockers that I am going to chop off at the knees and use for "swimming trunks" as we will be at beaches where the water is pristine. I am now heading to the mall to go pick up some sun screen and some Dramamine. I am also hoping to find a pair of sandals that may fit me, but I seriously doubt there are any my size.
In closing, I have now done the Jeepney page with a slide show of Jeepneys. Click here to see the Jeepneys.