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Published: April 26th 2015
Men on stilts, beautiful girls playing xylophones, dancers and costumed natives greeted us as we arrived in Manila this morning. It was a beautiful sight and made for good entertainment early in the day.
Our first stop was the Manila American Cemetery and Memorial where 17,000 Americans are buried. It is was a solemn sight and the location is beautiful.
A couple of hours navigating traffic,apparently snarled due to an accident, we finally arrived at La Loma, a marketplace renowned for its suckling pigs. We didn’t sample any…
On to a Chinese cemetery where we found 2 story mausoleums, some with running water and air conditioning as the families tend to spend time there in reverence to their ancestors. We were told the Chinese are wealthy in the Philippines and their burial grounds show it.
Lunch was not to our liking today as it was a buffet which was lacking in warmth, cold, food and taste. The setting was lovely though and next to it we visited the Casa Manila, built as a pet project by Imelda Marcos.
In the same area, was San Augustin, a stone church built in 1606, a magnificent structure. As
it was Saturday, we witnessed 3 weddings at different stages at this site.
A stop at Fort Santiago finished our very full day.
As we embarked the ship, we were again entertained by locals.
The Manilans waved and smiled at us at every turn. Didn’t mind if we took pictures even though many of them live in squalor. Doesn’t appear to be a middle class but, if there is, we didn’t see it.
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Maria Brown
non-member comment
Manila
How colorful and, your getting to see some very unique places. I feel a closeness to the Philippines because it seems like every time I call a credit card company or other American company i am speaking to the outsourced job in the Philippines....... No Baby yet but it could be any day now!!!!