Searching for Pablo

Theory of relativity

April 17, 2007

Digging into my pockets yesterday, I realized I only have P85.00 and change left. How much P85.00 would buy?

I remember when I was in Tawi-tawi island, writing about one of the projects of a company known for promoting corporate social responsibility.

We arrived there about 2:00 p.m. and so we went off to the market for our dinner that night. Their public market was anything but orderly. The sheer volume of the crowd made it almost necessary to walk shoulder to shoulder with a stranger. To my left was an old woman, a turban on her head and a cigar on her mouth, almost a caricature of herself.

The smoke from her cigar burned my nostrils and I couldn’t look away because the guy to my right looked like he could skin me alive without breaking a sweat.

There we were, in single file. My hands on the shoulders of the local contact in front of me, my companion’s hands were on my shoulders. Like three-year olds, treading an imaginary line. To this day, I couldn’t remember how we made it out of there with vegetables, imbao (shellfish), and kuracha (sea centipede) and fresh isda sa bato in hand.

Our expenses for the feast? A mere P85.00 and change.

Posted by searchingforpablo at 1:26 pm | permalink

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