Thursday, May 03, 2007
dying breath
I'd say that this blog's last entry wasn't a proper last entry. Why? Two reasons.
Mainly, it was too short and second I wanted to try posting one of my school papers here before but wasn't able to. And so.. a good day to you.
I've made many crappy papers for school and this one is one of those.
This particular one is due tomorrow and I kept pausing while typing it for I could no longer think clearly and I've suddenly lost interest in it for no apparent reason.
Downtown Memory Lane
My recent trip to Intramuros or the “walled city” was the best fieldtrip that I had for this course. I haven’t gone there for quite sometime and all that I could remember were the walls and some dark corridors and dungeons—vague memories from a fieldtrip when I was still a child. Now that I’ve grown up, I saw a lot of other things. I saw things that I didn’t notice before right through the concrete walls and the exhibits. My perspective has changed and the dark and mysterious Intramuros that I knew transformed into such a beautiful place.
I entered the city through a time portal and at the other end, it felt like being alive during the Spanish era. The asphalt road became rough as the road distorted into cobble stones while some Calesas zipped by the window of our van. Some Houses suddenly aged and I found myself standing on the road between Casa Manila and the San Agustin Church. I started my Intramuos experience by entering Casa Manila. Granite stones adorned the ground and a simple yet magnificent fountain stood in the middle of the courtyard. I felt myself quiver in astonishment after admiring the architecture all around. It was absolutely marvelous the way they were able to preserve the furniture and its arrangement inside the house. After taking a stroll through its halls and different activity areas I began to have a clearer picture of how life was back then. A Clacking of Horse shoes echoed across the narrow streets while some elite Filipinos partied and enjoyed themselves talking with other guests in the Sala. Bathrooms consisted of tubs and an arm chair with a hole on its seat. People dined with servants flapping these huge cloths of some sort to drive away flies although this wasn’t probably the way everyone else dined during that time period as this was a house that belonged to a rich family. Anyway, it gave me a clearer picture of how a typical Filipino house might have looked like during the Spanish period. Next stop was the San Agustin Museum. It was mainly a church but it also housed a lot of other things like artworks, religious images, a garden, tombs and various rooms for the Augustinians. The Agustin museum made me imagine a community wherein Christianity had a lot of influence. A lot of things in there were grand. At first look, everything seemed majestic from the high ceilings to the huge halls that dwarfed anyone who attempted to pass within them. The whole church was a masterpiece even though our frivolous tour guide pointed out to us the deceiving yet cheap-looking 3D patterns painted on the walls. Its huge double doors seemed to tell the church-going folk that they, the Augustinians, were really serious about their activities. But after going there, I began to wonder why they didn’t make anymore fastidious looking churches in our time today. There are some nice ones like the church of the Gesu just inside our school but I was thinking of a more majestic kind, like the Agustin church that seemed to have a renaissance flavor. I also felt it was an interesting thing to experience what it would be like if I was a Christian during those times.
The last one I visited was Fort Santiago. Just as some people who go there, I got this feeling that somewhere from the corner of my eye I would see a real Spanish soldier or a real Filipino freedom fighter still detained in one of the dungeons. Sadly, the dungeons were closed for renovation when I got there however I still had this feeling of being in the past. The huge thick walls that surrounded Fort Santiago had this effect that it was still war-time. I tried to picture Spanish guards marching around and guarding the perimeter near the Pasig river. The bronze metal statues of them that were scattered all around contributed to the realism in a way.
By simply looking at everything in Intramuros, an average tourist might be able to get an idea of how life was back then but it wouldn’t be the same if you knew or studied the history of the Philippines during the colonial times. Everything I’ve read and known seems to fall in place when I go to these historical places. Reading all about an event or a place isn’t the same as being there or being able to touch it. Blanks were filled in my head. Going to Intramuros didn’t confuse me or aggravate me in any way. It brightened up what I already knew and turned it into something I really appreciated.
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