So, yes, Wednesday.
After hours of tedious work in the library, the afternoon managed to be awesome, in the masochistic kinda sense, when I went to Quiapo for a necessary shopping experience in one of its unassuming yet wonderfully cheap stores. The rain made the day gloomy and the traffic congested, and the puddles in Hidalgo flooded my shoes with dirty water when I tiptoed the wrong way, but it was all worth it for the resulting rewards of the loot. Later, I met up with Trina, who was on one of her last legs of field work along the esteros of Sampaloc, and we decided to walk to Binondo for dining purposes (given the notorious reputation of Quiapo fastfood), and wandered about semi-aimlessly long enough such that we actually completed a mini-tour of Manila north of the Pasig (a Quiapo-Sta Cruz-San Nicolas-Binondo route). With wrinkly feet and tired leg muscles, we eventually found the resto near the estero, thanks in part to our long-delayed decision of hiring a pedicab. Also, we were awed (and shocked) at the pedicab driver’s incredible navigation abilities on the traffic-ridden streets. Apart from his pedaling and braking skills, we also marveled at how he managed to make the pedicab pass in between the bumper of one car and the tail of another one without a single scratch.
At around 8, we left for QC via the train line which ends/begins in Divisoria, with fishy-smelling shirts, completing an eventful 4-hour journey across the heart (or aorta, to be more precise) of Manila.
