Intramuros by Calesa
I had a guest from the US last month. She’s French but studying law in the US. Let me call her Vi. She spent only a few days in Manila for official business. It was her first time to visit the Philippines. I lent a hand as she conducted her interviews here, and showed her around a few places during her short stay.
We happened to be in Intramuros for one of our meetings. We had more than an hour before our next meeting so we decided to take a walk around the walls of Intramuros. As we stepped down the rocky steps beside one of Intramuros’ gates, we were offered a Calesa Ride. Might as well.
The Calesa ride around Intramuros is a quick 1 hour tour. They have standard rates of P250 for the regular Calesa. There’s a bigger calesa that can accommodate more than 10 persons at a bigger price too. In some parts of the tour, the passengers can alight to see more details of the walled city, take photos.
Our guide’s name was Ambeth, a young man in his early 20s. He was with his father, the kutsero, who in his old age appeared to be hard of hearing. As we drove off with the snap of a whip and the click clack of the horse’s hooves, Ambeth began telling us about Intramuros – the walled city.
Ambeth showed the way, told us about the sites, explained some of the details. He was speaking in broken English and I appreciated the effort. He was trying to communicate with Vi who would nod when Ambeth explained things. Sometimes Ambeth would run out of words and would speak in Tagalog. I would tell him: “Inglesin mo, para ma-practice.”
Along the way, Ambeth found out that Vi was French. He uttered a few French words (that Vi couldn’t understand until after a few repetitions). Ambeth shared that his sister lives in France.
Ambeth showed us one corner of the walled city which was both a prison and a venue for executions during the Japanese occupation. It was an eerie thought, but the heat of the sun and our hurried pace prevented us from “feeling” the place.
Ambeth told us about the many universities and what they used to be (seminaries, government buildings etc.). Ambeth showed me Jose Rizal’s former school, Letran. We alighted at another corner of Intramuros where there were 18th century canons. Ambeth showed Vi the City Hall and its clock tower. He added “Canons look like they shoot city hall.”
Ambeth also showed us the old Malacanang. I couldn’t believe that this run-down building used to be the presidential palace. I hope he wasn’t pulling my leg.
I told Ambeth that he had a namesake, a popular historian who writes on the Inquirer. He just smiled, he was not aware of his namesake. I told Ambeth “I learned new things from you today. Salamat, keep up the good work”.
We gave Ambeth and his father their well deserved P250 plus a generous tip. We were rewarded with a hearty smile and a warm thank you from our historian-guide, Ambeth! Merci!
Travel tip: When on tour, take extra effort to gain rapport with tour guides. It makes the tour more personalized, more enjoyable and more memorable.
ka edong
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