…sometimes this old barrio feels like a long last friend.

Okay, enough with the channeling of John Denver. I’m just glad to have escaped the big city relatively unscathed. It’s not that I’m averse to city life, I loved Seoul for example. But something about Manila, even its upscale center Makati, just grates on me. So nice to have left the city sidewalks (such as they were) behind and walk the beaches again today. Got some hugs and sweet loving from my good Buddy too which warms the heart.

The trip was pretty much a fiasco–a waste of time and money. I already wrote about the Philippine Retirement Authority issues. I heard from a commenter on a possible work around as far as the money transfer goes. And another reader emailed telling me his experience with the retirement visa and it didn’t sound very encouraging. So, we’ll see how I choose to proceed. For now it will be another 60 day renewal on the tourist visa.

Last night I was supposed to meet my friend Gem at 7:00 p.m. so she could repay the $1000.00 I loaned her several months ago. Long story short, she never showed. I sat at the Cubana bar drinking beer while I waited. By 10:00 p.m. I was drunk and angry and stumbled on back to my room. I had made arrangements for my driver to fetch me at 5:00 a.m. in an effort to avoid the traffic getting out of town (today is a Filipino holiday). I set the alarm for 4:00 and Danny texted that he had arrived at 4:10. So I hustled up packing and checked myself out of the hotel. Traffic was heavy but moving steadily so that was good. Until we got a flat tire, which sort of serves as a metaphor for my wasted trip.

While waiting in the bar I took these photos of life on P. Burgos Avenue in Manila:

This is the hooker that practically stalked me every time I was out on the street. Didn’t want to take no for an answer, finally had to be rude to get her to back off. Until the next time I was outside, and then she would continue her aggressive pursuit. It got to be a pain in the ass, but even so I felt a little sorry for her.

Now this old woman was just batshit crazy. Pacing up and down in front of Cubana’s bar shouting and laughing and talking to herself. Sometimes she’d veer into the street and cars would have to dodge around her. I felt certain I was going to have to witness seeing her run over. Security tried to run her off, but she always came back. Depressing really.

And what I found most disconcerting was this young girl, what, maybe 12 years old, out on the street. No idea what was going on, I didn’t see her try and talk to anyone passing by and no one said anything to her. The woman in the background was always nearby…not sure if it is her mother or guardian or what. But I first saw them around 3:00 p.m. and they were still there at 9:00. I almost crossed the street to ask the woman to take that child home, she shouldn’t be out on the street with the hookers. But then I remembered where I was and what I am so I kept my mouth shut. Nothing good was likely to come from my getting involved. Again, if I had actually seen anything that looked the girl may be being exploited or otherwise in danger I would have alerted the authorities. Absent that, the foreigner needs to mind his own business in this country.

Did I mention it is good to be home?