The Market

I have to learn how to get around in Olongapo confidently, and safely, so the Philippine midwives I am staying with decided to take me out today to teach me. The main use of transportation in the Philippines is a Jeepney. I will have to take a pic tomorrow and post it on here, but it is like a very small open bus. They are colored coded depending on where in the town you are going. The ones we have to take from our house to get around are the brown jeepneys with the white top. It cost exactly 12 pesos each way which is about 3cents in American money. The jeepney does not stop only slows down a bit, so you have to hop on quickly and when you are at your destination you knock on the roof and the driver will stop to let you off. On the jeepney there is a padded bench on each side and you have to squish together(like a can of sardines) When I thought that no one else could possibly fit the driver let 2 others on. Good thing I am not claustrophobic! Once we reached the market we all hopped off and joined the bustle of Pilipino’s buying and selling things. To explain what the market is like in American terms-it is like a HUGE Saturday market but people also sell electronics, clothes, toys, ect...The people treated me like a celebrity always saying hi maim, beautiful girl, pretty girl, wow look at her, what is your name? Are you wearing contact lense?(they find it hard to believe that my eyes are actually blue) It is saddening in a way of how much they want to be like Americans-the people here never want to be out in the sun, and buy whitening products for their skin even...The fruit and vegetables here are amazing and fresh, I bought 9 mangoes for 80 pesos which is about $1.75. Seeing the meat on the other hand was very interesting. The smell of raw meat is not very appetizing to me anyway and the meat lays out on tables the entire day waiting to be purchased. carcasses would be hanging with flies on them and animal heads would be staring right at you…I am sure that it was fresh; just butchered even; just the way that it was presented made me think about if I wanted to ever eat meat again... There are many beggars in the market and the little kids try to sell you plastic bags to put your stuff in, one little boy and 2 girls came up to me to try to sell me one, and I gave them my fried plantain shish kabob instead. It seemed they were more pleased with that than if I would have buyed the bag. Next was going to the grocery store, unlike the grocery stores in the states, it is very hard to come by milk or cheese, lettuce, or spinach and many other things. If one wanted to buy a more Americanized brand of something, it would be very expensive. A box of cocoa puffs was selling for $10.80. But most things are very inexpensive here, I bought some stuff to make spaghetti for dinner for the family tonight, hamburger meat and all and paid 436 pesos which is about $9.00, don’t you wish food was that cheap in the states? All in all I had a blast going through the market. It is so interesting and fun to experience a whole different culture! I feel like I will get used to living in the Philippines soon, my jet lag is slowly resolving!

What are you looking at?

The people loved posing when I would take a pic

Those fish were still alive flopping around

yum yum