Manila Friends Activities

I don't know if Manila is a place where something is always happening, but when I go there, it seems that way. It is a sprawling busy metropolis, that's for sure, and it seems as if at every time of day, Manila buzzes.


I have many friends in Manila and when I'm there, I see them. During this recent visit, I saw: Guia Lim, Araceli Lorayes, Mila Santillan, Cynthia Posa, and Lourdes Gimenez, Theresian classmates; we had dinner at the Dusit and spent close to five hours getting caught up. Mila, Cynthia and Lourdes had just visited Europe in April, and they recounted their trip to Spain, Central Europe, France and Italy. Guia, Araceli and some other classmates had visited Macau not too long ago, to see if Macau does compare with Las Vegas, since it is now a gambling center in Asia.

On another occasion, Mila, Cynthia and Lourdes Gimenez brought me to Santa Ana church to visit the small chapel of Our Lady of the Abandoned, patroness of this old church. Upstairs, behind the statue of the Our Lady is a small little known chapel where one can see the back of the Virgin (there are mirrors so you can see her face). The chapel is old, with blue and white tiled floor, capiz-shell windows, other 17th century statues, and silver candle holders, painted mural of bible scenes on the ceiling. It is quite a lovely restful place, with piped in religious music.

After that Santa Ana pilgrimage, we had dinner at Nicotina on Roxas Boulevard. The decor of this place is interesting - high ceilings, airy feeling, something native, something Asian in feel, and there's live entertainment as well. I guess this is a supper club, reminiscent of the old-style supper clubs along Roxas Boulevard, but this place isn't dark and it's more of a restaurant than a dancing place.

I also saw some college Maryknoll classmates: Marily Orosa, Meldee Perez, and Ana Marie Sison de Jesus - all of them looking great. We met at the trendy Museum Cafe in Makati, where we talked for a good four hours, capped by Mass at the nearby Greenhills circular Chapel.

Marily Orosa also hosted a lunch for literary folks: Karina Bolasco of Anvil, Felice Sta, Maria, me, and Marily, this time in Felix's in Greenbelt 5, Makati. It was great fun to get caught up on literary news in the Philippines.

Anvil is posting giant posters of their authors in the forthcoming Book Fair (September I believe), and Marily Orosa dragged me to Pacific Star beauty parlor for a serious makeover and photo shoot at Studio 5. It was fun acting like celebrities, although I am amazed at how the camera can capture the most subtle of expressions - a sour look, a haughty expression, eyes half-closed, a fake smile, a tired look, a trying-hard look, double-chin, too much teeth - so really, in balance, despite so many photos taken by the photographer, you end up with just 3 or 4 good ones.


Cecilia
(Top Photo seated l-r: Guia Lim, Lilu Gimenez, Mila Santillan; standing l-r: Cecilia, Araceli Lorayes, Cynthia Posa
Middle photo shows the Santa Ana chapel
Next photo l-r: Marily Orosa, Karina Bolasco, Cecilia, and Felice Sta. Maria
Bottom photo show Cecilia and Marily)