It was my first real adventure here. I rode a jeepney and the public train and wandered around a crowded market all byyy myyyyself... and was thrilled to discover that i was not raped, killed, tortured, robbed or even glared at, hence easing many of my big-city fears. I did, it is true, almost melt from the heat, but that was the worst of it!
Quiapo Market is noted in my guidebook as a great place to visit, but no other tourists seemed to be heeding the call. It was me and approximately five gazillion locals, who were selling their wares or doing their shopping in a massive, labyrinthine open-air market.
okay, you can't see the five gazillion people in this photo, but I promise they were there
Now, when I think of an open-air market, I think of fruits...
and vegetables...
and other tasty foodstuffs.
(these pretty eggs are labeled "maalat," which means salty, so i'm pretty sure they're salted eggs. I haven't eaten any purple salted eggs yet, though. Salted eggs are - well - they're kind of strange and gray-ish on the inside, but mostly seem to taste like... eggs. Not so sure what's special about them)
But at Quiapo Market, they don't just sell these items, they sell everything. EVERYTHING. In the same kind of stalls, lining both sides of the narrow streets, with colorful umbrellas and items displayed on little tables with hand-written signs... EVERYTHING.
I didn't believe it myself until I had wandered past the clothes section into electronics (the stalls are roughly arranged by category, but not precisely). And then after passing several stalls that only sold videoke equipment, I passed one selling cleaning products, another selling hardware and tools, and then - after getting lost and winding up on a footbridge - a row of stalls selling dildos.
And that's when I knew. Yup. Everything.
(And no, I was far too embarrassed to take pictures!)
At the heart of Quiapo Market, there's Quiapo Church.
It's rather lovely. Stalls closest to the church sell lots of religious icons and statues.
Also, abortifacents.
Needless to say, the law doesn't much dissuade these vendors. They sell their wares as medicines to treat "menstrual problems" (which is one way to put it), The abortifacent industry at Quiapo is part of the very serious topic of reproductive health in the Philippines, and the consequences of abortion being banned and discussion and distribution of contraceptives being limited. If you'd like to read more on the subject, check out this NYT article. Note, however, a lie the reporter includes at the end of the article - a pro-life activist blames sex education for the high rate of abortions. There is no sex education in Filipino schools. Hence...
I'm still learning about all of these issues, and the reproductive health bill that's been debated for years is looking to be a major focus of my project. But right now all I'll say is that half of all pregnancies in the Philippines are unintended, and at least a third of those unintended pregnancies are terminated through illegal abortions. Wealthy women have access to safe abortions, but poor women use the the unregulated drugs and herbs at Quiapo or a variety of very, very dangerous brute-force methods. Some hospitals refuse to treat post-abortion complications, or brutally mistreat and abuse women who come for help after a botched abortion, causing the over a thousand of women per year. Thousands more die of complications of pregnancy or during childbirth (understandable when you consider both the poor state of health care and that it may be their sixth pregnancy... or seventh. or eighth. or ninth. or...) And meanwhile the Catholic Church continues to block efforts to teach sex education in the schools or make contraception readily available in poor communities.
I'm not exactly neutral on the subject, to say the least. As I see it, the bishops and the politicians they control have the blood of desperate poor women on their hands, and it is downright criminal to ban the distribution of condoms (yes, the mayor of Manila actually banned them for a while) when unintended pregnancies are not only perpetuating the cycle of poverty but actually leading to the deaths of thousands.
Anyway. Back to Quiapo.
I was pretty nervous about pulling out my camera in the market. I already looked like a total outsider, and didn't really want to label myself even more thoroughly as a foreigner. Worse, I would be taking pictures of people's everyday activities - it felt intrusive and annoying, and I fully expected to be met with irritation when I asked if i could take a photo.
Boy, was I wrong.
The vast majority of the people I've photographed actually asked to have their pictures taken. They would shout, upon seeing my camera, "One shot! One shot!" and strike a pose - silly, serious or smiling, depending, but always a pose. And sometimes, after happily obliging with a photo, they'd grab some friends and pull them in and shout, 'One more! One more!" I've learned a new tagalog word, "kodakan," roughly meaning "Take a picture of me!"
At any rate, I had no trouble finding smiling faces to photograph. I did, however, have difficulty taking any photos of people that weren't staged - if I tried to take a picture of a vendor who was busy with his wares, his neighbor would tap him on the shoulder and point at me, and the vendor would turn around, give a little shout, and... you guessed it... strike a pose! Other times I would ask permission to take a picture of somebody who would laugh, nod, and ignore me - so I have a few candid shots.
Cutting manggang hilaw - unripe mango. really tasty with salt. i haven't been brave enough to try it with shrimp paste...
That stuff she's making was de-freaking-licious. I didn't notice her shirt until just now...
Glutinous rice wrapped in palm leaves, etc.
other photos... PEDICABS!
This kid's pedicab says "Niño," which seems sadly appropriate. Lots of boys from poorer families are pulled from school very early to help make money (their sisters usually get to go for longer)
Princess Wihaya and Dianne... wait, what's that, Dianne??
Creepy...
Canary salesman... pulling a face for the camera, or reacting to the heat?
Smart puppy found a shady spot on a hot, hot day...
I didn't get pictures of all the rest of this cart, but trust me... this vendor really loves Beyonce
That's all for now... off to go catch the bus back to Manila! Maybe I'll manage to catch up on posts sometime soon.. ha ha ha.... maybe it'll snow tomorrow in Taguig... but seriously, I'll try to get more up here. I have to show you my pictures of the rice terraces, after all!
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