pearls,churches and viva the revolution

shopping in the "tchangget"

The marketplace for pearls is huge, all the traders are muslims from the southern province of Mindanao. This also happens to be where they find the pearls!

Anna finds another sister in the world

ready for a wedding

The oldest Church , San Augustin, founded
early 1500's , the only building in the entire city spared by the Japanese bombers because of its red cross designation.

We visited the Intramuros, built by the Spanish to keep the pirates out, inside is Ft.Santiago, which was originally a Sultan, Rajah Sulayman, personal digs.
Did you know that the Philippines were named for King Philip of Spain? The original Tagalog natives were so lucky that someone came a long to give them a name.

 We were lucky to find Lorenzo, a very knowledgable young man who gave us a great tour in a "Kalesa"

The horse's name was Antonio.

The Katipuneros were the rebels who fought for independence  from Spain.
The father of the Philippines struggle is Dr. Jose Rizal who besides being an incredibly educated and talented man, inspired his people thru the power of the pen. We just happened to visit his monument on the 150th anniversary of his execution by firing squad.

Jeepneys are everywhere, they are colorful,cheap,noisy and always packed to the brim.