The hero lies in you…the second day of my travel Vol.2

This is the last half of the second day in my travel in March. It’s already half past April! I think I should write this series more quickly!

I went to the “Fort Santiago”, which used to be a fortress in Intramuros. The Philippine was an colony to Spain. In 1600s, the Spaniards built this fortress and lived in it. After the war between Spain and America, the fortress was used for American and British, and the Japanese militaries occupied it under the Pacific war. Intramuros itself has a long wall and the Fort Santiago is a part of Intramuros. Intramuros in Spanish literally means “within walls.”

This time, I picked “calesa” for my sightseeing, which is one of carriages. It took me around the area along the wall for about an hour with the calesa. It was so funny that the calesa suddenly stopped right after it started moving and the horse dropped something… I mean…he got a shit… lol (I don’t know how I could say when animals do it. I apologize my impolite English.)

The wall surrounds Intramuros overall.

Only Spaniards could live in Intramuros while the Philippine was colonized. Now people open stores and do their business.

She was my guide in Intramuros. Thanks to her, I had interesting stories about this area.

You can see all presidents in the Philippines. Some friends often criticize the President Arroyo. I don’t know if she is good, however, I hope she would do her best.

For Japanese, Douglas MacArtur might be famous for his figure with his pipe when he came to Japan as the leader of GHQ. After the battle of the Philippines from 1941 to 1942, he escaped from the Philippines to Australia. And then, he said “I shall return” and after that… you already know the result of the war.

There are a lot of eduactional facilities, such as an university in Instramuros. Although I couldn’t take a picture, I have something funny to tell you. In Japan, we put school uniforms until when we are high school students. I saw some girls walking with uniforms while I was on the calesa. “What are they? High school students?” asked I. “No, they are college students.” said the guide. “Really? They look like high school students in Japan! How come they put their uniforms?” asked I. “That’s the style.” asked the guide simply. Ummm…I should have taken their picture…I can hardly explain my excited feeling… lol

Finally, I visited Fort Santiago. I felt sorry when I heard the Japanese killed many Philippinos in this fortress, not by shooting, but by drowning.

As I said before, Jose Rizal was also prisoned in the fortress and killed by Spaniard.

You can imagine Jose Rizal heading for the execution ground from these footprints.

I’ll quote his last night and his last day from a book I bought there.

The day before the execution, Rizal’s mother, sisters, a niece, and a nephew visited him in his cell. The guards did not allow him to embrace his weeping mother. He could only kiss her hand. He gave his chair to his sister Narcisa, a handkerchief to his niece, and a belt and chain to the little boy. He told his sisters his alcohol burner would be sent to them.
After Rizal’s family left, it was Josephine’s turn to visit him. He gave her his copy of the book Imitation of Christ.

(snip)

Rizal wanted to face the firing squad. The soldiers, however, had been ordered to shoot him in the back. He said he was not a traitor. But he obeyed and stood with his back to them. When the bullets hit him, he quickly turned around. He fell with his face to the sky.
(quotations from Jose Rizal)

According to the book, he could speak over ten languages, and he was a writer, an artist, a doctor, a teacher, a scientist, and a farmer. Most of Philippinos are proud of him. I don’t know if his choice that he claimed the independence of Philippines with words, not with arms would have been good. However, His “Last Farewell” hidden in his alcohol burner said he was happy to die because his death would give life to his native land.

After Instramuros, I went to an aquarium called “Ocean Park” I must say I’m sorry. Because of my shabby skills for pictures, almost pictures of fish can’t be posted. I think I have to aquire the skill.

Only this photo, I’ll show you. I couldn’t help laughing at these stick things. I associated nyoro-nyoro, which is a character of Japanese animation, with these things.

Here nyoro-nyoro is.

I should have visited the aquarium later. I could have seen the sunset in Manila Bay. Next time, I’d like to see it.

The second day was finished. Another adventure was waiting for me at the third day… I was surprised with a lot of things at the third day.

To be continued…