Cultural moments
June 5th, 2009
Settled delight is such a lovely thing. Yet again today did not work out at all as planned, yet it seems every time one thing goes wrong something unexpected and incredibly . . . delightful finds us. Our hostel ended up being much cheaper than we thought, but then it was dilapitated to say the least. So, we paid more and got a private room. We, somehow, found our way to Fort Santiago, which was beautiful - old fortress, vine covered, ruin with old canons and landscaped fountain areas - an interesting mix. The place has had an interesting and varied history as well, originating in the 17th C.
During WWII hundreds of people were kept imprisoned and then martyred. It was also where the national hero of the Philippines was kept imprisoned - Rizal. While checking out his shrine what could easily be called a typhoon descended upon us. Thankfully we all had rain ponchos but it was still hazardous . . . yet beautiful - all the rich greens of the palm trees and other plant life even richer - the dark grey stone of the ruined buildings turning almost black. And the rain driving us into shelter also drove us to meet more people.
When we finally ventured back into the downpour after walking awhile I spotted some wicked looking grafitti off in the distance. . . going off course to discover . . .a middle aged woman hailed us down and enlisted us to watch a cultural show - where we basically spent the next seven hours! There were loads of brilliant dances from various regions and countries, stands of crafts, pottery and painting. During a dinner break we tried Bulack (duck fetus). The taste was alright . . . but the look! Especially the little feathers :s And a rice cake that reminded me of childhood at Keele. Throughout the show I was keeping my eye on this beautiful soil painting. Too much for me to spend but I got it anyways. If I get it home undamaged I think Clinton will love it. It's a broken jar encased in a tunnel - the jar representing life, the crack in it representing the broken life of the indigenous people, and the tunnel leading to it represents the world enclosing upon and trying to stifle the life of the indigenous people.
After I purchased it and while waiting for it to dry I talked to the artist and his co-worker - interesting guys who gave us some interesting information. When we left shortly after we ran into them no the street and got invited to dinner. A sizzler - (stand that served hot Mexican style food and rice in a back alley). The group of guys were very focused on furthering the craftwork, art, and music of their indigenous tribe in Northern Mindanao - and their friend was a youth worker who met up with them to help in the enterprise and promote fair trade.
This is why I'm here. Meeting up with people, sharing some moments, ideas, life. We also talked about identity and the similarity of skin and desiring to be fair complexioned. It's very big here and skin whitening is still an issue - big billboards advertising it that you could go "From Ebony - to Ivory" with the use of pills and when I went to buy bug spray three brands of skin whitening cream were beside it. Identity is an interesting thing.
Side note: 1 L Brandy - 63 Pesos (about $1.20 Cdn).
When we finally ventured back into the downpour after walking awhile I spotted some wicked looking grafitti off in the distance. . . going off course to discover . . .a middle aged woman hailed us down and enlisted us to watch a cultural show - where we basically spent the next seven hours! There were loads of brilliant dances from various regions and countries, stands of crafts, pottery and painting. During a dinner break we tried Bulack (duck fetus). The taste was alright . . . but the look! Especially the little feathers :s And a rice cake that reminded me of childhood at Keele. Throughout the show I was keeping my eye on this beautiful soil painting. Too much for me to spend but I got it anyways. If I get it home undamaged I think Clinton will love it. It's a broken jar encased in a tunnel - the jar representing life, the crack in it representing the broken life of the indigenous people, and the tunnel leading to it represents the world enclosing upon and trying to stifle the life of the indigenous people.
After I purchased it and while waiting for it to dry I talked to the artist and his co-worker - interesting guys who gave us some interesting information. When we left shortly after we ran into them no the street and got invited to dinner. A sizzler - (stand that served hot Mexican style food and rice in a back alley). The group of guys were very focused on furthering the craftwork, art, and music of their indigenous tribe in Northern Mindanao - and their friend was a youth worker who met up with them to help in the enterprise and promote fair trade.
This is why I'm here. Meeting up with people, sharing some moments, ideas, life. We also talked about identity and the similarity of skin and desiring to be fair complexioned. It's very big here and skin whitening is still an issue - big billboards advertising it that you could go "From Ebony - to Ivory" with the use of pills and when I went to buy bug spray three brands of skin whitening cream were beside it. Identity is an interesting thing.
Side note: 1 L Brandy - 63 Pesos (about $1.20 Cdn).
posted by Charles at 5:18 AM
1 Comments:
Some interesting history here.
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