Manila Memos

Carmen There’s no easy way to say this.  I don’t want you to be hurt. I won’t do this by text – that’s about as hurtful

In going to Philippines I knew I was trying to discover Emily’s roots. I didn’t make it to Cebu; But I vowed, if I was going have a future with Carmen I would certainly go with her to Samar.

I needed to explore and learn more about this country. Carmen was not my only agenda in The Philippines; I was also a tourist. I also knew Emily’s ghost was all around me, somewhere. I wanted to see more of Manila; the rest of The Philippines would have to wait for some future trip.

The drive from the the Discovery Hotel in Pasig District Manila to Cavite proved to be a real eye-opener to this Canadian foreigner. 30 minutes on the map proved to be 2 hours by taxi; Metro Manila never seemed to end, except for a 2 km stretch of mixed housing, garages, pastures, the odd cow and some rice paddies; the humanity was ever-present.

Why would anyone who had never been anywhere in the orient before, decide in late December to spend a week in Manila? Of course the answer had to be a woman. Or in this case, two women.

I kept reminding myself of my purpose for this trip, my stated one: to do due diligence on this new internet prospect, to ‘seize the day’ (and have no regrets in my ‘old age’) and to admit to myself I was still looking for Almighty; not The Almighty of course, but Emily