Intramuros with Carlos Celdran

On January 3, Jesse, Ben and I took the Intramuros Deluxe Tour with Carlos Celdran, a Manila native who is a visual and performance artist, historian, historic preservationist, tour guide, and lover of all things Manila (celdrantours.blogspot.com). Celdran's three-hour walking tour of Intramuros was one of the most inspiring and mind-blowing educational experiences of my life. What is incredible is how he does so much with very little: Celdran hooks up a mini-mic to a tiny speaker, accessorizes according to theme (during the Spanish period, shown here on the right, he wears a top hat, and then dons an Uncle Sam hat during the American period, etc.). The tour encompasses major areas in Intramuros, the historic walled city built by the Spanish after Legazpi burnt to the ground the 10,000 strong city headed by Rajah Soliman at the head of the Pasig River. His breadth of knowledge about Manila and Philippine history is astounding, and love for his city is so inspiring. I also appreciated how he incorporated the newest historiography, including critical remarks on the invention of Rizal as the national hero by the American colonizers (and did you know Rizal was only 4'11"? That's what Carlos said). Imelda Marcos, Celdran notes, spearhead the restoration of Intramuros, which was mostly flattened by Americans during World War II, when much of the city was ravaged (Celdran agrees that the city -- once the most exciting, cosmopolitan and urbane in the world, has never truly recovered from the bombing). The tour included Fort Santiago (me and Jesse are in front of it), St. Agustin Church, the oldest in the Philippines, which was spared destruction during World War II because it was the Red Cross headquarters, and Casa Manila, a reproduction of a typical elite 19th century home in Manila, one of Imelda's pet projects. The tour also included a calesa ride (I think when the horse saw us three chubby Balikbayans coming, he started to cry silently inside). Through it all, Carlos didn't mince words, sparing no one from his criticism, skewering everyone from Legazpi to Rajah Soliman to Douglas MacArthur. A priest who was in the tour group was so offended by Carlos' very incisive criticism of friar abuse and excess that he left halfway through the tour. His moving tribute to all those killed in Manila during World War II, especially at the hands of ruthless Japanese soldiers, brought us all to tears. We gained a completely new appreciation for Intramuros and for our people, and a burning pride, really, at the risk of sounding corny, for all those who came before us. At the end of the tour, we gave Carlos a Little Manila 2008 calendar and I told him that we had a connection: he gives tours of big Manila, and I give tours of Little Manila. How corny, but true!













After the tour, we just had to go to Aristocrat restaurant in Malate and eat barbecue pork, pancit canton, laing, and fried rice, because, what else are you gonna do after learning so much history? You have to eat it to really digest it all.