Large green lizards with their small mouths moving were lined up ready to grab any food that fell from his plate. The bravest lizards were almost touching the plate when he swatted them away with the back of his hand.

     Three days ago, I was sitting in my air-conditioned office in Florida and now I was eating with a Filipino family in Manila. Dark eyed children stared at me from behind furniture and scrutinized every movement I made. On the table in front of me a pack of the largest lizards I had ever seen were lined up waiting to scurry for any food that fell on the table from the people eating.

     I was staying with the Arcega family as a guest of their daughter Precila who was a pen pal.

For three weeks I would live as they did which meant no air-conditioning, no screened windows and no hot showers. My small dark room had a bamboo bed covered by a thin mattress and a small fan blew across the bed to keep away mosquitoes. Cold water from a bucket in a small shack was my shower while a cold-eyed albino lizard watched.

     The Arcega family home was raised above the other single room structures which surrounded it and made up the Arcega compound. Below the home was a partially enclosed dirt packed area where canopies swung from the roof above. A narrow stone archway partially shaded by a banana tree opened into the narrow alley in front of the house and open sewer ditches drained into sewers that lined the alley. Smoke from burning trash saturated the air and burned my throat.

     Brothers, sisters, in-laws, friends and grandchildren lived in the crowded compound. In the Arcega home people slept in any available space often sleeping on the kitchen table. Meals were eaten in shifts with the last to eat getting less. A family of four lived in a single room below the house and it was divided into eating, living and sleeping sections by curtains with a single hot plate for cooking.  

     It was a tough day by day existence. Those who worked suffered endless days of tedious boredom at repetitive low paying factory jobs. Those left at home were up before the sun cleaning the open sewers or washing clothes by hand. Water was fetched from the community pump and food was bought daily since they had no refrigeration. Having little time to relax they always took time to talk with one another and make light of their situation.

     Several times I left the compound with Precila and her sister Lilly. Walking down the alley past vendors pushing carts selling fresh pineapples we would come to the main road where a cacophony of sounds wrapped around us. Jeepneys which were military jeeps converted to taxis prowled the streets looking for passengers. The back was covered and two small wooden benches were for the passengers.

       They were in different bright colors with lots of chrome and prominent silver hood ornaments. Finding an empty one we jumped in the covered back and scrunch down on the wooden benches. Large silver crosses hung from the rearview mirror and on the dashboard were prayers to patron Saints. After driving about a mile, we transferred to another jeepney and eventually got to our destination.

     Manilla was a blend of extreme contrast and unusual sites where people lived in cardboard boxes minutes from modern shopping malls. People hung on the outside of leaning buses lurching under sleek silver monorails and a piano bar in a McDonald’s downtown was directly across the street from a bank with machine guns in front. Rich sophisticated people got out of limousines next to farmers eating nearly hatched ducks they washed down with rice wine.

     After wandering around Manilla for several days we decided to see Baguio City which is called the summer capital of the Philippines. Before air conditioning government was conducted because being in the mountains it has much cooler weather. The first four hours we rode past flat land with lots of banana groves guard and rice fields being plowed by water buffalo. The last hour was almost straight up a winding narrow road with no guard rails. Finally, at the top Baguio City with governmental buildings, curiosity shops and open-air restaurants.

       Sitting outside a Filipino restaurant I watched people strolling by leisurely listening to the Asian and European dialects. The leisurely pace and fall like air gave Baguio City a light holiday feeling. We walked around past the many shops and international restaurants with tantalizing aromas of different foods filling the air as we explored the town. Going past a small park I saw a saw a small dark- skinned man standing on one leg under a tree. He was a native Filipino called an Igoriat.

     Later we took a taxi to a large open-air market where on wooden tables under canopies were fruit and vegetables colored deep purples, bright oranges, yellows and many other tones. People of all skin colors and manner of dress were there along with Igoriats barely five feet tall selling beautiful wooden carvings. I bought a life size eagle in stained black and several smaller painted carvings of ducks.

That evening the temperature turned brisk and fog enshrouded the city as we walked past small white stucco buildings with red terra cotta roofs. After walking down several streets we came to a large park with a manmade lake in the center. Lanterns around the lake made golden sparkles in the water while small row boats glided through the light fog making the scene look like an impressionistic painting. It was magical.

            Back in Manila a few days later Precila, Jojo, her brother, Parley and myself walked about a mile past small squatter hutches and large banana trees to a complex of underground bomb shelters used by Japanese and American soldiers during World War II. Stomping down the steep narrow concrete staircase I could see one single burning light bulb above the entrance to the dark subterranean shelter. It gave me the willies going down those steps……I can’t imagine what it must have been like during the war.

             We stayed in Manila for several days as a typhoon came by the island making a lot of rain and some wind. After it passed, we decided to see Matabungay Beach in spite of warnings about the NPA robbing tour buses and even kidnapping foreigners. They were a small guerilla type army that lived in the provinces and opposed the current government. Lily and Jojo came along for added protection.

 After several hours in an old school bus that speeded around curves without guard rails and made frequent stops to pick up people carrying goats, chickens and produce we were dropped off on a desolate macadam road. A small grove of banana trees was just up the road and in front of us a sand dune then the beach. After climbing over the dune, a young Filipino boy selling souvenirs came up to us.

           We rented a bamboo raft anchored in shallow water and partially covered by a canopy of bamboo and palmetto leaves. A charcoal grill was on the ocean side in front of a wooden bench where we talked while waves broke continuously lifting us up and down while a cool breeze blew in from the South China Sea. The young Filipino who greeted us on the beach was still with us so we asked him to get some food we could cook.

            Meanwhile we jumped in the water which was comfortably warm like being in a bath tub. While everyone talked, I swam under the water which was so clear though I had no mask I could see perfectly the hard, flat, sandy bottom. Swimming around collecting interesting rocks and enjoying the relaxing water I kept thinking to myself in amazement that I was actually swimming in the South China sea. A few weeks ago, I was in my trailer in Florida. It was surreal.

 I got out when I saw the young kid coming down the beach with some food. They were the largest shrimp I had ever seen being about the diameter of a large man’s thumb and about eight inches long. We lit up the charcoal grill and boiled them as we edged toward twilight. About twenty minutes later as we ate the sun touched the ocean creating bright streaks of red and gold in the sky. We listened to the lapping waves while the first stars appeared then came to shore as it got too dark to see. Another magical moment.

A few days later I left for Florida. My first stop was Seoul where I remember running through the airport to catch a plane. Then over the Pacific around two a.m. some guy tells me about a plane catching on fire in the middle of the Ocean. I tried to sleep but kept thinking about burning airplanes as we reached Washington state as the sun was just rising. That was really beautiful. Tampa was dark when we landed then the first thing I did was get a big Wendy’s hamburger. I lost several pounds while I was over there.

     Several days later I was at work looking at the picture we took of the sunset at Matabungay beach.  Priscila, her sister Lily and I were on the raft and behind us was that beautiful yellow and gold streaked sky. It felt strange to think that just a few days ago I was there swimming in the South China sea. I don’t know if anyone else has ever experienced this but for a few days it felt like I was still somehow there.

            About a week later there was a coup attempt in the Philippines and many of the places the newspaper said they were fighting I had been two weeks earlier. I remembered the machine guns in front of the building across from the McDonalds in Manila and wondered where I would be if I had gone to the Philippines two weeks later. It was a strange feeling.

Still it was a beautiful and amazing place.