The first day we were here we just walked to a nearby mall… which was huge. It was like 5 little malls put together, literally… like you’d exit one mall and it had a bridge that led to another mall. We ate lunch there at a place called Fely J’s, which was endearing because my late Grandma’s name was Fely. The food here is pretty bomb. But that was kind of expected.
For those of you who know me fairly well, I don’t often indulge in my own culture (which is a complicated story), and so it was really nice to be able to experience the food and the life here. Even though I hardly know a lick of tagalog and I feel super tall compared to everyone else, I still feel like I’m in a comfortable space, which was not expected actually.
Yesterday my mom’s cousin, Uncle Sebastian (or Kuya Boy as my mom calls him), took us to Tagaytay. It was about a 2 hour drive up into more of a Provincial region. The air there was a lot better than in Makati. No smog or the ever-lingering smell of something burning. We ate at Leslie’s (I noticed that a lot of the restaurants/ local stores here are named after a person… like Antonio’s, or Sarah’s Shop, Baby’s Shop, etc.). My mom has been going to town on the meals and I complained later that though the food is DELICIOUS… I’m going to get fat D=!
Anyways, Leslie’s was a fun experience… there was a Mariachi band there that impressed the hell out of me. Five very talented individuals walking table to table expressing their pure love for music. This isn’t the stereotypical Mariachi band whose voices are usually blaring in the most invasive tone that usually irritates your atmosphere… they were really good! Their voices blended to so well together. Their instruments were old and tattered, but you could see just how much they loved doing what they did because of the amount of excellence behind their performance.
It was funny too because later on I heard them singing Lady Gaga and the Wondergirls to the next table over… I wanted to upload them to the blog but unfortunately the internet here is pretty slow... so for all you GAGA fans out there (no one in particular roxagagagaga) you'll have to wait.
We explored Tagaytay well into the afternoon, just looking at little stores, admiring the farmland (Pineapples galore!.. also, free range chickens and cows! To be honest, they look happier than our Cows), and soaking up the heat. I wore Jeans… bad idea.
After Tagaytay, Uncle Sebastian took us to where he lived, Taguig, which is just a little ways from Makati. We went to a place called Market Market which is pretty much just another mall except outside of it was like a farmer’s market. Beyond the fruit and vegetable stands, there were stands that represented different regions of the Phillipines, all selling their particular specialties and delicacies… I thought that was pretty neat. We walked stand to stand, picking up some personal favorites (like mine, Pastillas de Leche… which is pretty much like pure sugar and condensed milk formed into some sort of candy)…
When we got back to our hotel it was about 9pm. A 13 hour day. Wowee.. =]
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