I’m setting down an account of my journey through this virus era. I’m piecing it together as I go through photos, emails, messages, a very few journal entries I made, and my wife, Jill, and my recollections. This story begins with the May 7, 2021 post.
On the fourth day of our stay in Manila I struck out alone, horrors. Jill was working on some paper for graduate school. So, after breakfast and a good amount of hand wringing on my part I journeyed to the National Museum of the Philippines. I found my Grab car outside the gates and we went into the city. When we arrived near the museum we were in a long line of cars that wasn’t moving. I said goodbye and hopped out of the car, enough of that. Around the building I found the museum entrance along with a school bus or two. It was a Thursday and the museum was not very busy. Inside were many treasures of the Philippines. Here I will yield the floor to myself from back then. I wrote this on that evening.
January 29, 2020 I went to the National Museum of Anthropology today. I saw exhibits about the ivory trade, pottery trade, muslim culture, indigenous cultures, the wreck and salvage of the Galleon San Diego, different languages and ancient writing in the Philippines, and textile making and basket making. Then I walked all the way back to our apartment. The streets were crowded loud and dirty. The people were generally friendly. I ate a delicious fried banana in a crispy shell with caramelized sugar around it. It tasted great. I walked along the river and ended up going through some peoples living spaces. They were squatting in the middle of the riverfront park.The people I met were happy and said it was no problem. It was a little weird.
I remember walking toward the bridge over the river and as I got closer a tin shanty town under the bridge embankment appeared. It was quite a sad sight and I was more than a little nervous about being there. I didn’t see anybody and I was up on the bridge in no time. It had taken me more than an hour to walk back from the museum and I was glad I had. I saw many cats and many happy people making the best of a dirty crowded city.
That evening Jill and I went to find a nondairy ice cream shop we identified on the map. The search was a great success. Then we went to a Costa Rican bar that was around the corner in honor of our friend, Natalia, from CR who was spending her holiday in Thailand. A group of foreign English teachers from my school were spending time in Vietnam.
Covid-19 was beginning to pick up speed around the world. Cases were popping up in countries around the world. We were scheduled to travel on to Bali in two days on January 31st.
Good stories again – and photos!