Intramuros: Old Spain in Manila, Boiled Corn, Shanties ~ Fact is Not Truth

Intramuros: Something I've forgotten all about

Intramuros. Sa wakas. (Finally.)

I had the chance to go here last December, when I volunteered to bring my lethargic English guest for some “planned” sightseeing in Manila, but never got to because he just decided one morning that he was, well, too lazy for it. So it was exciting for me to have a free Saturday afternoon to visit there and shoot. Ch picked me up in the church and we commuted our way to Intramuros, the walled city of Manila.

“Do you know how to go there?” Ch asked as she put back the small suha (pomelo) in the bag she bought for me from Davao.

“No idea.”

Her look was a mixture of fear and worn out exasperation, like she was used to it but never really enjoyed it. She knew I meant it, but she also knew that we will somehow manage to get there anyway.

“So how?”

“Well, I think I know how to get near it. Then we can find our way from there. C’mon. Not once did we get lost in any of our adventures.”

Che knocking on Manila Cathedral's door

She knew I was telling the truth. She followed me to a jeepney and 30 minutes later, we were walking towards the entrance of Intramuros.

Good thing my UK friend and I never got to go there, else I’d look stupid again (like when we were looking for Mang Inasal for 30 minutes in Makati and ended up eating at the MRT station branch there because apparently, I didn’t know Makati that well, which pissed him off a bit). Ch and I just walked around the area with no directions of where to go or something. All I knew was that I was too eager to take pictures. I taught Ch the basics even while we were still inside the jeepney so she just needed to apply it.

Manila Cathedral was closed to the public that afternoon. A lot of people in formal attires were loitering at the entrance of the church. A wedding was about to begin. Disappointing but we got to take some cool pictures. That was when Ch got her first ever money shot.

Che's Money Shot

We went to this park. I saw a guy who was taking pictures as well. I took a stolen shot of his shadow.

The train thing near the park.

The random person's shadow.

Ch and I walked around more until we chanced upon - chanced being the operative word – Tamayo’s catering-slash-museum, where our good old friend Smy had her debut a couple of years ago.

Tamayo's: Where our Smy celebrated her debut thousands of years ago.

“I know this place,” I absentmindedly blurted out as we approached a fountain.

“Yes, this is where Smy celebrated her 18^th!” We, almost in unison, realized.

"Which one?".

More practices for Ch as I changed the lens from the weird wangle to the 50mm for more dramatic shots. We got to play around a bit more before leaving.

Ang Banga

“There’s a lagoon here somewhere.” Ch suggested we look for it. After a couple of inquiries, we found out where it was.

This train thing kept on following us.

Both with grumbling innards, we decided to look for clean street food to ease our burdens. We checked in a restaurant just across the street from Tamayo’s but got turned off by the price tags of desserts there. Then, we crossed to the street tindahan where we bought softdrinks and 1 bag of junk chichirya each.

Photo credit: Guardiya Sibil

I don't know this cartoon character, honestly

We aimed for the lagoon right after that. We bought some boiled corn kernels first before we climbed the wall. We took a long time taking photos of the worn out wash rooms at the ground floor of the walled area, had some more tutorials and before we knew it, our time was up. I had to rush to our Bible study in Las Pinas.

Nilagang Mais

Che enjoying hers.

Me enjoying mine.

Nothing else was noteworthy except for me pairing up with the caretaker at Tamayo’s for a photo op because our polos looked similar. It was worth the walk though.

I appeared to be an employee there.

Long shot from the wall of Manila City Hall.

Intramuros revisited is more of a playground for photographers than anything else. We failed to go to some other historic places, and my mom never missed the chance to emphasize that.

Something-y on the wall while we were eating. A jar perhaps? A pot?

“Sayang hindi mo nakita yung kulungan ni Rizal.” (Pity you weren’t able to see Rizal’s jail.) But I saw that one before, when I was in elementary. Yeah, it’s a pity I never got to see it again, more so, take a photo of it, but the shots, and Ch’s welcoming to the photography world was worth the exhaustion.

Ch: Clueless I wasn't taking her photo.

As we were playing around the wall, Ch and I went to the canon for, well, shots with the canons. But as I was taking her poses, I kept on getting the people from the other side of the wall with her. It was funny, but I liked it. I think they knew I was taking photos and they kind of wanted to be included, so I granted their wish.