a waltz at the historic fort

this afternoon, while the rain was threatening to spoil an otherwise perfect day, i had a very strong craving for newly-cooked, steaming banana cue and camote cue, with the sticky caramelized brown sugar still clinging to them like a scorned lover. the craving was too powerful that without batting an eyelash, i hailed a cab and went straight to manila cathedral where there were vendors selling the favourite merienda fare among filipinos at the plaza across the church years ago when i was still covering the government's weekly bond auctions.

sadly, the vendors were no longer there. instead of the old woman who used to peel and cook those bananas in boiling oil and sugar, all i saw were old men wearing green checkered shirts asking me if i wanted to tour intramuros by riding their horse-drawn carriages.
when i asked them where were the vendors selling banana and camote cues, they pointed me to a narrow street a few meters away from the plaza. i followed their direction and ended up in a small shed where a middle-aged woman was busy cooking the banana cue, sweats pouring on her forehead. sadly, there was no camote cue.
my mouth was already watering upon seeing the cooked banana cues.
"mainit pa  yan," she told me when i asked if the banana cues on display on top of a banana leaf were newly cooked.
i bought two sticks (four pieces; two bananas in one bamboo stick) and a bottled water.
since the vendor did not have a table and a chair where i could sit and enjoy the banana cues, i decided to walk back to the plaza where i could sit on one of the benches.
unfortunately, there were no vacant benches.
so i decided to walk all the way to fort santiago (a five minute walk from the cathedral, which was, by the way, closed and under renovation) where i was sure i could find a place to sit and while away the time.
true enough, i had the place all by myself. i sat on one of the benches surrounded by lovely plants and tall trees. the scenery was made even better by two fountains. i removed my shoes so i could feel the grass tickling my bare feet. perfect!
it was bliss. for a a few precious minutes i was flown away from the noisy, filthy manille.

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while enjoying my simple merienda and the lovely park, i remembered those days when we (i and other reporters) used to buy banana cue and camote cue after the treasury bill and bond auctions at the bureau of the treasury. since the wire agencies wanted their news fresh from the auction room, we would send the numbers (example: 6.88 percent bid for the 91-day Treasury bill) by cellphone as they were being flashed on the screen inside the auction room. there was a glass wall that divided us reporters and the members of the auction committee.
ah i remember those days with fondness. one or two of us would use a binocular just to make sure that the tiny numbers on the white screen would be very, very clear.
we would shout because sometimes the lines were not clear. we would sigh in frustration if the reporter or editor on the other end got the numbers wrong and therefore we need to issue a correction.
"confirmed!" we would chorus once the numbers that we earlier dictated on the phone were accepted by the committee.
"reject!" if the numbers were not accepted.
those days, ah, were.
fun!
most of the time, we would eat our late lunch (after the auction, which started at one in the afternoon. the committee would eat their lunch first while us reporters would be gossiping at a sofa right outside of the auction room talking about celebrities, government officials, etc) at either chicken bacolod, max's fried chicken or jollibee. these fastfoods and restaurants were just a few steps away from the palaco del gobernador where the bureau of the treasury used to hold an office. the building was also right next to the famous manila cathedral, where a requiem mass was held for president corazon aquino before she was brought to her final resting place beside her hero of a husband.

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after i satisfied my craving for the banana cue, i felt bloated. so i decided to wander around the historic fort santiago, where the national hero and martyr dr. jose rizal was imprisoned before he was shot in luneta in december eighteen ninety-six. it was a lovely weather for a walk. the sky was overcast but there was no rain. a chilly wind was also blowing from the pasig river, rocking the leaves.
there were a few tourists with cameras that were also enjoying the serenity of the place, disturbing the ghosts of thousands of filipinos, spanish, japanese, americans who died and were buried inside the fort during several wars that destroyed the place.

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first stop for me was the rajah sulaiman theatre. it was nothing but an empty space encased by brick walls. i sat on one of the concrete stairs and tried to imagine myself holding a concert on the tiny stage, or a fashion show. if i remember it right, there used to be some filipino (as opposed to american and british) plays that were staged here, including the award-winning bubungang lata.
then i headed further inside to the rizal shrine. sadly, it was closed and was being renovated.
so i walked some more and reached the building that held some of rizal's memorabilias: furniture from his house in calamba, laguna, shirts, suits, copies of his novels noli me tangere and el filibusterismo, a black and white photo of his wife josephine bracken.
i didn't realize how small rizal was until i saw his winter jacket (which he probably used while he was studying medicine in europe, or practicing his profession in hong kong) inside a glass case.

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after that, i walked towards the edge of the fort near the pasig river, which, surprisingly did not emit that  foul smell unlike in the canteen in malacanang palace. but the water was still murky. trash still floated.
i sat on the grass and tried to picture myself during those dark days in our history, when we were treated as poor slaves in our own country by the spanish. who was i during those times? was i leonor rivera? josephine bracken? was i jose protacio rizal mercado y alonso realonda? or was i sisa? i was still trying to decide whether it would be fun to be leonor, josephine or sisa when i heard some noises. a lovely conversation and laughter from korean tourists.
they woke me up from my reverie.
so i left the place and let them enjoy the view.
on my way out, i saw a pair of young lovers quarreling. they were seated in one of the benches under the trees. i was guessing they were eighteen or nineteen.
while i did not intend to listen to their conversation, i heard the young man shouting to his girlfriend: "hindi ka kasi nag-ingat eh. paano ngayon yan?" the young girl, wearing her school uniform, cried even more. the young man then embraced her. then i heard him cry too.
i left. not wanting to encroached on their privacy in such a public place. a park. while i was walking away from them, i was thinking what was it that they were fighting about.
is the girl pregnant? ah, kids!

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next stop was the cell where rizal spent his last twenty-four hours before he was executed at bagumbayan. there were footsteps on the ground that he walked on from his cell to luneta where he was shot. for those who could no longer remember their history, rizal was sentenced to die by firing squad after he was charged guilty of rebellion, sedition and conspiracy to overthrow the spanish regime in the philippines. a kangaroo court handled the trial.
i tried following the marked footsteps on the cemented ground, but soon i got bored.
so i sat again on a bench and read an old copy of vanity fair, the one with brad pitt on the cover promoting his zombie movie z.
while buried deep into the brad pitt article, i was surprised to hear a tip tapping from a horse. i didn't know that there were also caretelas inside the fort, obviously for foreign tourists who wanted to be transported back in time when rizal was still roaming the cobbled streets of intramuros. chos!

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i wanted to take photos of the place. but i lost my camera.
so i ended up taking some selfies using the iPhoto on my macbook. it was not easy, mind you.
kakangawit.
but at least i had a souvenir of my idle afternoon walk to the historic fort santiago, driven by my craving for banana cue and camote cue.

to cap a perfect afternoon, i went to the nearby san agustin church to say thanks to the gods above for the beautiful weather, among others. after the mass, as i was standing outside the church waiting for a cab, it rained. hard. a blessing from heaven.
that's all!
enjoy the rest of the week fairies, witches, bitches, queens and wannabes.