Tourism day!

Hey, it's Alyssa again. Sorry I'm hogging the blog-writing so much. I think Hank's going to do tomorrow.

Anyway, today was our culture day in Manila. Obviously on this trip, our main focus is the service work, but we want to at least try to get a decent comprehension of the area's history and culture while we're here as well. So first thing today, we headed off to Intramuros. It's an old stone fort built by the Spanish after they took over Manila. It was originally a wooden fort (built by the Moors, I think), but the Spanish tore that one down and built the stone one in its place. Most of it is gone now, due to shelling in WWII, but it's still pretty awesome looking. We had a very enthusiastic tour guide who kept insisting his name was Georgie Porgie, who took us around in a horse-drawn carriage type thing and at one point stopped at a place with a piano to play us "Let it be" by the Beatles. Question mark? Anyway, it's a gorgeous area, and also very interesting for the Jose Rizal memorial they have there. Rizal is the Philippines' national hero, who was a doctor and writer who exposed the corruption of the Spanish in the Philippines and helped advance the cause for Filipino independence. His writing is absolutely beautiful. I recommend reading his final letter "Mi Ultimo Adios," if you can read Spanish, or find an English translation.

After that, we went to a couple museums for some history, art, etc. One thing that was interesting to earn about was the amazing diversity of the Philippines. 7100 islands, hundreds of different languages and cultures. We also went to a big outdoor food and handicrafts market" that was pretty cool, though we obviously couldn't get any food there.

Anyway, time to get off the internet. Tomorrow we head to the Hope Worldwide center in Payatas for more clinical work. And right now, we're off to some place called the Hobbit House that Ben found in his guide book. Apparently, it was opened years ago by a Lord of the Rings enthusiast who employed only dwarfs as waiters. Interesting...