Sunday, July 21, 2013

Walking and Wandering

Since arriving in the Philippines, all of my Sundays except three have been filled with activities.  Granted, these activities have been amazing and unforgettable experiences, but I have never had the opportunity to explore Davao City on my own, until this last Sunday.

I started in the mid-afternoon and left the apartment complex with no destination in mind.  The apartments are surround by a very lively area that always has something going on, so I felt that it was a good place to explore!  There are numerous merchants with dollies in the area that sell fried food, coconut juice, cotton candy, and many other carnival-like snacks.  I walked between these vendors scanning what they had to offer (I began to realize that 15 feet away from any vendor was another vendor selling the exact same thing at the same price) and ended up at the San Pedro church.  I have mentioned the San Pedro church before, but it is the most significant landmark in the area around our apartments.  It's a very famous church in Davao, and since the majority of all Filipinos are Catholic, nearly everyone knows about it.

I was lucky enough to walk up to the church during an afternoon mass.  The mass was entirely in Visaya, so I wasn't able to follow the sermon.  Instead, I walked around the church just observing all of the attendants.  It was unbelievable at all the people crammed into the church.  Every pew was filled, there wasn't any vacant standing room, and people were standing around the doorways trying to be a part of the mass.  Even though the church serves multitudes of people on a daily basis, it still doesn't have air conditioning.   The heat was almost overwhelming when I snuck inside for a couple of minutes.  Everyone was fanning the air with whatever they could find, but it wasn't making much of a difference.  I decided that the most comfortable place for me to observe the mass was outside near the entrance of the church.


After San Pedro, I explored the surrounding area even more.  Since this is all near city hall, there are various monuments erected to honor heroes and significant moments in Philippine history.  There was a monument for the fallen soldiers of World War II and tributes to influential leaders of Davao's past.  All of the monuments were beautiful, but easy to miss.  They were placed in parks and in front of buildings like a casual piece of artwork that didn't have much significance, and it took careful observation to realize that they were something more.


Aside from the artwork, everything else that I came across was much more "random", but very interesting at the same time.  Since English is not the language of choice here, I had to explore everything in depth and couldn't simply dismiss something because it seemed uninteresting from the English description.  This proved to be very beneficial!

After walking for a bit, I noticed a small crowd gathered around a megaphone that was blasting speech from an excited orator.  I walked closer to see what the presentation was about; slowly working my way through the crowd.  From the crowd rose a middle-aged man with a microphone in one hand and a 8-foot long snake it the other. LIKE IT WAS NO BIG DEAL.  I am deathly afraid of snakes, but I was intrigued by this man and his friend.  There were two snakes and they were massive.  They would have been frightening if they hadn't been in some kind of torpor.  He was handling two of them with ease and there was no struggle from either reptile.  It amassed a sizable crowd, who all seemed to fear snakes less than I did.


Trying to put some distance between me and the snake handler, I headed into a wooded park where some aspiring masseuses were offering discounted, open-air massages for practice.  I politely declined, but the several massages I have had in the Philippines have been amazing and extremely affordable ($7.50 for an hour massage).  Maybe before I leave, I will see how much potential these massage students have.

I came upon a group of men huddle around tables under little gazebos in the center of the park.  It was here that I saw something that was neither frightening nor foreign to me: chess.  Though I didn't play (the competition looked fierce), I was able to connect with by-standers about a game that my dad taught me when I was in kindergarten.  It was entertaining to watch the lighting quick moves and the reactions of the crowd.  Even though they may say "check mate" differently, the strategy and the game was all the same.


I left the park and headed aimlessly down the street.  I grabbed some fresh buko (coconut) juice and a couple pieces of Philippine bread from a vendor.  The Philippines has a mild obsession with bread, and they are very good at preparing it.  The pieces I had were the perfect mixture of soft and sweet.  I enjoyed my afternoon snack in the shade of a tree on the large plaza that is right next to the city hall.  I am not sure what the occasion was, but the plaza's stage was prepared and a crowd had gathered to watch a couple of performers sing songs for everyone.  I appreciated the extra entertainment with my snack.


I explored the area for a total of an hour and half or so.  I couldn't believe all of the amazing, interesting things that take place literally steps from my apartment complex.  This whole time I had missed it because Sunday was the only time that I could explore the area before the sun sets at 6 pm.

After spending time in the San Pedro area, I headed to the closest mall to grab some things I needed.  The malls are more comparable to little communities than retail centers.  Each one has stores, a movie theatre, food court, restaurants, salons, and various entertainment services.  You could spend an entire day at a mall, and never have to leave to get something that wasn't available at the mall.  I even came across a bingo hall that had some bingo veterans enjoying their Sunday. 


After taking these pictures, I was chased down by an official
with the bingo hall.  It turns out that it is frowned upon to take
 pictures of a live bingo game. Luckily he didn't confiscate my
phone and these pictures.

The mall also had a talent show for children this afternoon.  I caught the very end of the show and only got to see the presentation of the awards and the excitement of the winning kids and their families.  The mall is part of a chain owned by SM, and the local winner of the talent show will have the opportunity to compete against the representatives from other SM malls across the Philippines.  These events, put on by the mall, only add to the feeling of community.

For dinner, I met up with several other B&V people and headed out to one of the most scenic areas of the city.  It sits on a hill and is called "Jack's Ridge".  There are a couple of restaurants on the ridge, and each has an amazing view of the city.  We were able to arrive just in time to catch the sun as it descended over the horizon.

It is hard to make out, but this is a panorama of Davao.
Off in the distance, you can also see the island of Samal.

I even recognized the artwork in the driveway as an image I came across multiple times while I was researching the Philippines and Davao City.



I didn't even realize it, but my time in the Philippines is coming to a close very quickly.  I am starting my last full week of work this week, and that doesn't leave much time to do more exploring like this.  However, I think the plan is to fill these last two weeks with exciting activities.  I will make sure to keep you all up-to-date with more blog posts!

I couldn't find anywhere to include it in this post, but feel free to check out my short post on the transportation in Davao.

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