I am Patriotic...and Independence Day

One hundred nine years ago today, the Philippines celebrates its independence from Spain. The US recognized Philippine Independence day on July 4, 1946; I remember having a holiday on this date when I was in Grade School, when President Ferdinand Marcos still celebrated it.

It was GMA's dad, Diosdado Macapagal, who, upon the advise of historians, and who was very patriotic, brought back the June 12 date, formerly known as Flag Day. *Historical facts from Wikipedia :)

{WALKING TOUR}

To commemorate my country's independence AND to show my patriotic spirit, I agreed to go with Zhar, Rod, Elizza and Bang on a walking tour of Old Manila, otherwise known as Intramuros. Bang had called Carlos Celdran and I must say, it was an AWESOME walking tour. Sure, it was probably one of the dang hottest days in Manila EVER, but the tour was SO fun and Carlos so funny, knowledgeable and just an overall great tour guide, we forgot the heat...

Ok fine, not really. It was friggin' HOT (!!!) but I must stress that Intramuros was NEVER as well explained as it was by Carlos. It was one heck of a history lesson: fun, informative, and did I say, FUN?!? :) Carlos' blog says that he is trying to change the way we look at Manila....and this is what he has done.

There are SO many things that I learned in a span of a mere two hours than I ever did in my Philippine history class on the Japanese times and the rise and fall of Intramuros. I went into the tour expecting nothing, but I definitely got everything!

Carlos is this small, funny coñotic guy standing smack in the middle of the plaza in front of the Manila Cathedral, our meeting place. He was wearing a barong tagalog paired irreverently with khaki shorts and flip flops, hehehe. He had a top hat on, as well as a messenger bag slung across his chest. He beckoned to us, and we joined him on the plaza square. He reaches into his bag and pulls out a small cassette player and raises a small flag.

Because it was Independence Day, I had brought a small flag to wave through the streets of Intramuros. I like to think Carlos was pretty impressed that I was proudly showing off my patriotism, hehehe. Anyhoo, I raised my small flag as well when I heard the strains of our National Anthem, the Lupang Hinirang, come out from his music player. And so the 6 of stood in a circle, with a couple of Philippine flags waving in the hot, humid air, standing straight and proud with our right hands over our hearts.
*Negative cluster by Gina Miller

And for the next 2 hours, we would all be enthralled by Carlos as he led us through the streets of Intramuros. His explanations were well thought of and well delivered. Sure, he talked pretty fast, but I thoroughly enjoyed his entire repertoire and the way he said it. There were hilarious incidents, such as the time he described the First Gentleman Mike Arroyo as a Filipino siopao who could easily pass off as Mao Tse Tung if you put a red star or something on his forehead. Hahahahahaha! Totally funny! You just HAD to be there when Carlos said it, hehehe.

And at the end of the tour, I WAS proud to be a Filipino. I was mad at what had happened to our country and how it had happened. But as always, there is HOPE. Hope to rebuild what was lost, hope for a better life for our people.

This is a HIGHLY RECOMMENDED tour, for Philippine history buffs and ESPECIALLY for those who don't care about our history at all. I will definitely be mentioning this (read this as PUSHING, hehehe) to the kids' teachers. Yes, Carlos says he does tours for the kiddos, with some editing to take out the blood and gore, but dependent on what he feels the kids can handle. He has many kinds of tours, too, so I'm looking forward to those sometime in the future as well. So if you're just thinking about getting on a walking tour, do it with Carlos. I am pretty sure anything and everything else will pale in comparison to Carlos' wry and witty humor.

I only have my photos of the tour, haven't gotten Bang's and Rod's pics yet, so I won't blog anymore until I have those to substantiate my post, hehehe.