Charms of Old Manilla

The Jeepneys ready to take my lucky shipmates on a tour of Old Manilla.

Lovely Rival Park with The Insignia in the far left background.

Adorable young child greeting us in Rival Park.

A model of a "Spanish" galleon in the Museum of the centuries old Church. My friend and Trivia Team member, Nancy, reading the background information.

Ruins of The American Barracks. The iron gates were added to prevent further damage to the barracks.

Lobby of the Manilla Hotel. MacArthur's suite was on the fifth floor.

Two glorious sea days after my death defying pedicab ride thru Nha Trang, we arrived in Manilla, home to fourteen million people. While Manilla is known for its fabulous food, funky bars, and nightclubs, those things are not what my trip is about. Those younger than I can enjoy those aspects of the city. My tour of choice for this the 144th day of our voyage took me to Rizal Park, San Augustine Church and Museum, Fort Santiago, an upscale handicraft shop, and a final stop at the Manila Hotel where General Douglas MacArthur resided during the war. You too can enjoy those quarters today for a mere $5,000 per day. I'll pass thank you very much.

Another similar tour of the same sites, "Old Manilla by Jeepney", was fully booked, thus I was unable to add to my list of heretofore untried modes of transportation. What is a Jeepney, you might ask. When our troops pulled out of Manilla at the end of WWII, the powers that be determined that it was simply not feasible to ship all of our hundreds of Jeeps back to the states. Instead we sold/gave (not sure which) them to the governing powers of Manilla. Being the enterprising souls they are, the old jeeps have been airconditioned, painted, decorated, repaired and placed in use by the public transportation system of this enormous city.

Rizal Park was a vast, spotless, beautifully landscaped, tree covered public park with a monument to Manilla's national hero, father of independence, almost god-like man who was falsely accused of a crime, arrested and executed on that exact spot some 100 years or so ago. Much like the signs all over the northeastern United States proclaiming George Washington slept here, our guide felt compelled to identify where he was jailed, the path he walked to his execution, and so on. If the executioners' intent was to immortalize him they succeeded, big time!

Next stop, San Augustine Church and Museum. What a relief to be back in the land of Churches instead of Temples and Mosques! San Augustine Church was founded and built by Augustinian Friars in the 16th century who traveled here aboard Spanish galleons from Spain via Acapulco, a journey of a year or more. For two hundred and fifty years, 108 of these galleons were used to connect Manilla to Acapulco. (The museum sign called them Spanish galleons then went on to say most were actually made in the Philippines. Thus to me they are simply galleons.) Four of these ships were captured by British pirates and 26 were lost at sea. The trip west was relatively easy requiring only three months at sea while the trip east could take over six months to complete. Prevailing winds and tides the obvious cause for the extended travel time.

Fort Santiago is a huge old fort surrounded not only by a wall, but also a mote. Cannons still remain protruding through the portals toward the sea. It was within these walls that we saw the bomb damaged remains of American Army barracks from WWII. The Japanese captured the island for a brief period in, I believe, 1945. Upon the ouster of the Japanese, largely due to the efforts of the Americans and Australians, the Philippines gained their independence. Scattered throughout this walled fortress were restaurants, vendors of all sorts, a long partially shaded mall to the original multi-storied structure housing in its basement, a dungeon. A tour of the dungeon required the climbing of approximately forty steep steps in the noonday heat, entering the building, navigating another forty or so steps down to the dungeon, explore same, then reverse the order. Or one could sit in the shade of a huge old tree atop a lovely two foot rock wall and people watch for an hour or so. Having toured a dungeon several years ago in a castle in Europe, I chose the later accompanied by my friends Jo Anne and Nancy. Delightful time!

No tour is complete without a stop at a craft mall of one type or another. Today's mall was a beautiful high-quality, airconditioned shoppers' dream. My problem at these stops is once purchased, the item or items must fit into my limited luggage space to get it home. Otherwise I could have had a field day at this particular market.

Observations of that part of Manilla which I toured and remarks from our tour guide follow. While COVID killed relatively few residents (some 2,500 or so per our guide), it killed the economy. For two long years there was no tourism work, very little work of any other kind, and new meaning was given to living off the land as there were absolutely no imports. "We ate rice. Lots and lots of rice. Some fish when it was available, but mostly rice. Every day!" As a result, the gap between the haves and the have nots has become a gulf. These people, like many other ports we have visited are very proud, friendly, welcoming and happy to have the opportunity to show us their homeland. What a wonderful experience this has been. I have learned so very much about this beautiful world and its inhabitants, I wish that I could share it in its entirety with each of you.

Today Is Someday! Waste Not!