GRACE IN A WORLD OF CONTRASTS

I met Grace at a mega popular disco called Juliana last Friday night. This disco seems like the place to be Friday and Saturday nights in Cebu CIty. It seems like everyone goes there. I even ran into some of Marifel's friends there that night. There was blasting loud music and much dancing and quite a bit of drinking. The next day, I told Grace what had happened to me the day before.

The day before that, meaning Thursday, I met this Japanese guy named Chiba in my hotel. He's an interior designer brought from Japan to do up some new club in the town center. Apparently he had a friend who went back to Japan the day before, leaving him no one to really talk to since he spoke no English. He told me about what it was like working in an environment where he needs a translator to explain everything to the staff doing the actual work on the club. He also told me that the team was planning a Saturday trip up to a place called Mountain View, which houses some very famous dining spots about an hour out of town. He invited me to join them, which I thought would be very fun.

On Saturday, me and Grace went to Ayala Mall to see The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor, which was a lot of fun. When we left the mall, we realized it had rained. That's fairly common in Cebu so I thought nothing of it. Grace wanted to stop off at her place before our plan to meet up with Chiba and go into the mountains. She lived very near the mall and so we decided to walk. Before this, I had always stepped out of the front door of the hotel and into a taxi. This was my first time to really see the place. Just minutes walking from the mall, we entered into the area where Grace lived, and it was something of a shock. I don't have pictures. I wouldn't pull out a cel phone or camera there even if I had one with me.



I had heard many times before about rich and poor living side by side in the Philippines, but now I actually saw it. Run down shacks surrounded by run down vehicles, rust and garbage. The buildings often had no running water, no aircon and no CR. People were just hanging around, playing cards, drinking $1 rum and generally milling about. Now everyone in the area was extremely nice. They were interested in who I was and wanted to talk to me. I met a lot of cool people I would otherwise have never seen, had a couple of shots of dollar rum, and generally had fun. After Grace changed clothes, we went to meet Chiba.

I knocked on Chiba's door and asked him about the trip to the mountains. He said because it had rained, they cancelled the trip deciding to do it another day. I was somewhat disappointed, but Grace asked, "Why not just go anyway?" So we did. We got in a taxi and he agreed to take us up there and even wait for us, for a fee of 700 peso of course. So off we went into the mountain paradise. It was an adventurous winding trip up. EVen saw a motorbike accident. We stopped at a bourgeois restaurant/hotel called Chateau de Busay and there we ate. It was pretty amazing. It was night now and from there you could see the whole city in all its lighted glory. Only a big expensive camera could come close to capturing the beauty of what we saw up there. The place we were in felt like a palace and the view was astonishing.

Going from Ayala to such a poor area and then to this mountain palace type environment made me realize just how different a world I am in. Still, I love it and can't wait to see more. Now, though, after too much sightseeing and partying, I really have to get down to some business. I will be busy writing paid articles and doing freelance graphic gigs this week. Still, I am certain more adventures lie ahead. There's always something new to see!