The first evening in Makati
We got here fairly effortlessly yesterday afternoon, before 3 PM. We arrived at Buendia bus terminal, wild, crazy, and cluttered with activity around 2:30 PM and immediately began negotiating for a taxi—Monette began pushing for 200 pesos ($3.44) for a ride to Mosaic Towers, the heart of Makati. I suspected we were not going to get a quick lift for 200 pesos. Sure enough, most cabbies held out for 300 pesos. Just as I was about to say, “let’s just pay the 300” somebody said “ok, 200”. Long story short, he didn’t know where Mosaic was so we got out and started over. I ended up paying 250 just to end the negotiations and get on with completing the little journey.
Into the ferry terminal in Balatero
It started downpouring, as only a healthy cloudburst in the tropics can do. Rainwater flowed 2 inches deep in the streetways and we had managed to get within 1/2 block of Mosaic, but it was a one way street so I told him to just let us out and we found a dry spot under an eave amidst the downpour. Finally there was a bit of a lull in the deluge and we took off scampering for Mosaic. Of course we got soaked but the always-kind-and-accomodating Thess was here at Mosaic Towers to oblige us. What a relief to meet up with her.
Needless to say, we found our room, impeccably clean and luxorious. We unpacked, showered, regrouped, rested, then headed for the Antipodean where we indulged in draft Heiniken and fine food and palavered till almost 8 into the evening.
Today we hit a coffee shop known for its decent food and fine coffee, but both of us being non connisseurs of coffee and apparently neither of us could appreciate how fine our meal was, we just used the time to chat. Then I did my banking at BPI. Turned out I did not have as much in the bank here as I originally thought. We decided to march around Greenbelt I, which is closed for remodeling—I don’t even want to know what they are thinking, but as it always seems, they are tearing things down, closing good businesses just for the sake of making things new and improved. Myself, I like tradition. I like habits and familiarity. I could go to the same old baseball stadium year after year.
In the end, we simply shopped around on the 4th floor of Greenbelt IV for curtains, an item we could not find in Puerto Galera. We looked at furniture, sofas, beds, just pretended like we were rich. I couldn’t even find light covers, you know, the $4.99 glass covers you put over a light bulb. Too outdated I guess. We finally found curtains that would do the trick and departed. Despite the whining knee, I got my exercise in. Maybe I can get 2 1/2 miles in today. Now we will chill for a bit, then head out again in a few hours. Time is closing in on us, ugh!
Always good to relax come evening—fish and chips chased with a good old fashioned Bloody Mary
rubberboa 
Heineken, world famous beer from the Netherlands … do you like it? I just prefer San Miguel, world famous beer from the Philippines!
And then:
“Greenbelt I, which is closed for remodeling—I don’t even want to know what they are thinking, but as it always seems, they are tearing things down, closing good businesses just for the sake of making things new and improved. Myself, I like tradition. I like habits and familiarity”
Oh My God Lord Jesus, I agree so much with you on this – I can mention countless examples (even just here in Dumaguete) where they feel the urge to splash a truck load of cash on a “renovation” or a reconstruction, and it just means two or three years of nuisance, dust, dirt and ugliness – and the end result is just LESS compared to how it was before, while they wasted a ton of money …
They used to have a gorgeous little garden/park with little store buildings around it at the back of Robinson’s Mall, just lovely – but no, that was not good enough, someone got it in their head that NO, WE NEED TO EXPAND ! I don’t believe it for one minute – I think there’s already an oversupply of “commercial space” – and now they’ve destroyed that lovely green space, and taken away a vast parking area as well …
I can give countless other examples.
When will people finally understand that sometimes “less is more” ?
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Isn’t that the truth, tear down, rennovate, ruin, tear down, all the time…it’s an obsession. Yes, I like Heineken, but I might be like you…I like San Miguel Lite. It’s 1:30 in the morning, I’m wide awake. I just got through spending 1 1/2 hours on the phone with Monette. I think it is a record. I can’t get her off my mind, she can’t get me off her mind, and here we are, on opposite sides of the world. I’ve got to do something. This is not going to work.
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Well I think you need to bring that November return forward then, make that August or September or something … but the big question then is, what are you gonna do in the long term? That’s gonna be a tough call …
(I believe you already had the idea that she could be with you in Arizona part of the year, but that’s gonna be reasonably complicated – moving to the Philippines permanently would be a helluva lot simpler)
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Yeah, I need to move that return up. That’s the plan
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