Hisp-ASIANS?

Images of Baclaran (none are taken by me, all pics were googled)

I'm leaving the country in August. My friends are supportive and encouraging. None of them have any concrete plans of leaving, but they do have this abstract dream of staking out to the unknown "someday." I don't think I want to go into the never-ending debate about the country's brain drain because this post will just become long-winding and boring as hell.

So, anyway, I was talking to my friend who is married to a Texan. She's fixing the necessary documents so that she can leave for America before November and finally be with her husband. She's excited and yet afraid to leave the Philippines because 1.) she's never been to America 2.) she doesn't know anyone in Texas 3.) she has to adjust to a whole new culture. I told her I have relatives in Austin, and when I'm in the States, I'll visit her in Austin and we can drive to Mexico! Hehehehe. We won't tell her husband that we'll be on the lookout for a Gael Garcia Bernal look-a-like (or Gael himself if we're lucky!).

Her Texan visited her last April and she took him to a famous area in Manila called Baclaran. Frankly, I don't know much about Baclaran aside from the fact that my mom and my aunts love to go there to buy cheap wholesale products of every kind, and that Filipinos love to go to Baclaran Church-- the church is so popular, every actor, politician, yuppie and vendor has boasted about going to the church. My parents probably took me to Baclaran church when I was little during one of our annual Holyweek pilgrimages, but I don't really remember.




Anyway, the place is always crowded with people and you have to be extra alert so you don't become a victim of pickpockets, thus I was suprised my friend would bring her Texan to Baclaran. Can her husband take the heat? (literally and metaphorically)

Actually, her hubby did a pretty good job. He not only enjoyed going around Baclaran, but he also gained a few fans with the vendors loitering around the Church because they were fascinated with his blue eyes. He commented that Baclaran reminded him of Mexico. The church, the vendor stalls lining around the church plaza, the brown skinned people, the occasional beggars, the busy dry market--they all gave a Mexican vibe to the place. Small wonder since Mexico was a Spanish colony as well.

Maybe I should visit Baclaran before I leave. I haven't been to the old Manila area where there are still traces of Spanish architecture left. This way, when I arrive in Texas and manage to kidnap my friend from her husband to take her to Mexico, we'll both look in wonder how close to home a place looks like, even being so far away.