Manila, Manila

“…Gaya gaya, puto maya.”

After 26 years, I finally know what puto maya is! After my usual spicy tuyo flakes at Via Mare, I decided to not order the bibingka and listen to Lilian’s suggestion. Hence, I ended up learning something new for the day.

Puto maya turned out to be sticky rice (in Via Mare’s version, with sesame seeds on top), with fresh yellow mango and caramel-like syrup. It was good and filling. Yum!

But the cultural lessons didn’t end there. After buying our bus tickets for our Northern Luzon trip this coming weekend, we went to the National Museum aka Pambansang Museo.

Trivia: When you ride the LRT1, you’ll see a building with “Pambansang Museo” written on it as you approach the Central Station. On the other side of that building, the one facing Intramuros, it says “National Museum.” Well, well, well, it turns out that the museum isn’t in that building! The museum is actually in another building to the left of it! Talk about tricking people!

Unlike the San Agustin Museum, the National Museum was air-conditioned, funded by corporations/individuals, and well-maintained (Though as far as what’s inside, I prefer that San Agustin Museum). There you can find the remnants of the San Diego ship and the skull of the Tabon cave woman. Ha! Yet another proof that women survive longer than men. ;P

I felt there wasn’t much there as I had expected of a “Museum of the Filipino People,” but I went on a Sunday when admission was free so who am I to complain?

Afterwards, Lilian and I ventured to the Fuente circle where the big Lapu-Lapu statue is located. Lil and I said to eachother, “What the heck is Lapu-Lapu doing here?” After so many trips to the Visayas, I’ve come to associate Lapu-Lapu with Cebu.

In the background was the Department of Tourism building where I was at last February 14. The Lapu-Lapu statue turned out to be what I kept seeing from the balcony of Ace’s office that day. Yihee, memories! HaHa!

Walking a little further, Lilian and I ended up in Luneta. Now back in 2002, people kept telling me not to go there because it wasn’t a safe place. As I have proven over and over, this world is simply full of paranoia.

I didn’t feel unsafe at all. Luneta is full of people, at least on Sundays, just sitting on the grass with their families and loved ones. As usual, there were a few tourists on the loose, too.

For me, if you haven’t been to Luneta, then you haven’t been to Manila. Corny as it may sound, but I felt really Filipino there. Along the walkway were uniformed sari-sari stores, selling their usual drinks and sitsiryas. Roaming around were the one-man mobile vendors selling green mango, taho, and dirty ice cream. I assumed the fishball vendor was out sick so I didn’t see him. Kids were running around while their parents were sitting on the grass. All these were going on while the cool Manila Bay breezes were keeping everyone from running to the nearest mall.

Near the Roxas Boulevard side, markers were placed where Jose Rizal and the 3 priests (Burgos, Gomez, Zamora) were executed. There is also a wall where Jose Rizal’s “Mi Ultimo Adios” is written along with its Tagalog and English versions.

And Luneta won’t be Luneta without the Rizal statue with two armed guards who I always used to just see from a car window as I passed by it on Friday afternoons in 2002. It’s actually pretty nice with the Philippine flags flying high on both sides. You can’t help but feel a little patriotic.

Lilian and I walked along Roxas Boulevard to find a place where we can finally just put our feet up. We passed by my old office – the U.S. Embassy - and I couldn’t believe it has been 5 years already since I interned there. Man, I am getting old! We were thirsty and was going to park our butts at the Starbucks that I used to frequent, but I reminded Lilian that if we just wait a little longer, real food awaited us.

We walked towards the Ermita Church and hailed a jeep to take us to my former suki mall in 2002 – Robinson’s Ermita. And no trip to Manila would be complete without eating at Aristocrat on the top level of the mall (which didn’t used to be there…my former co-intern, Alexis, and I used to have to hail a cab to go to the Roxas Boulevard branch to get our Filipino food fix). I added an order of sago’t gulaman with my usual boneless chicken barbecue. O di ba, Pinoy na Pinoy!

Ahh, Manila. If we could just fix some of our major problems in the country, I wouldn’t have to “miss” this place because I would stay here for good. Sniff.