Our Trip So Far: Cavite
Tuesday, July 5th, 2005We’ve been here in the Philippines for a little over two weeks. I haven’t had time to get online and post anything because of our tight itinerary. The times I actually get on the internet I just check my email and answer some comments, then quickly logoff.
My wife and I anticipated the difficulties traveling with three young children so we adjusted our expectations and tailored our trip to be as kid-friendly as possible. So far it’s been good. Our home base is at my uncle’s place in Las Piñas which is fairly near the Ninoy Aquino International Airport.
Our first few days here we spent in Cavite where my wife went to high school for one year. She took time to reconnect with her old ka-barkadas. Cavite is unrecognizable to her she says. Gone is the small town feel as Cavite has acquired new roads and shopping malls as part of the effort by the local government to improve the area’s infrastructure. Coincidentally, Cavite, a film making the rounds in independent film festivals worldwide, depicts its landscape as “dismal and upsetting.” The movie, although said to be visually stunning, “shows a kind of poverty and desperation that most Americans rarely see.” I’m not sure if I saw the same Cavite but had the filmmakers shot it ten years ago, its portrayal would have been even more dismal. I was told the route from Manila leading to Cavite was known as dumping grounds for victims of vigilante-style murders but this has been largely eliminated due to the improvement of roads in the area.
While in Cavite, we took a quick trip to Tagaytay, had lunch, enjoyed the view and went horse-back riding.
Next: EDSA and Cubao