Quiapo, old and new

When I was small my grandmother would always drag me off to Quiapo to go shopping with her.  We would go up this old bridge at the bottom of which was the street Echague.  On the right corner of that street was the old Clover Theater, which showed zarzuelas and other fun things like Ang Susi ni Wong, a parody of the American movie The World of Suzie Wong.

Halfway down Echague between the bridge we just descended and Quiapo Bridge, which we would have to pass under, was the Chinese goodie shop that was my lola’s favorite.  I think it was called Eng Bee Tin, but I just may be getting confused because of the revival of that brand as a new hopia brand today.  They have different flavors like custard and ube and other strange ones.  We just used to buy the monggo, then we would buy lo hua, small Chinese air pillows with sesame seeds or peanuts on the outside and belekoi, which was a bar of nuts in hardened syrup.  And of course, that’s where we would buy our castañas during the holiday season because there it was cooked without grease.  It was roasted deliciously.  I remember it cost P1.50 for half a kilo, which was all my mother would let me buy.  Once she gave me P20 and I told the driver to buy one kilo.  I was made to sit in the corner, which was graying from all my tears shed there each time I was punished.

Then my mother and my aunt opened a dress shop at home so from this Chinese deli (I guess it was) we would walk down to the corner into Villalobos, cross the street and walk in the direction of Quiapo Church and shop at Royal Bazaar for sewing things.  Until much later when I had my oldest daughter, Risa, who was then maybe two years old.  I was sewing dresses for her and her little sister and decided one day to bring her to Quiapo, just the two of us, no yaya.  Well, did she ever scream when we passed by a man who was shouting, selling socks.  She was so horrified she would not stop crying.  That was the last time I went to Quiapo until about three years ago when I began to make jewelry.

Villalobos is the street for fashion accessories.  But it no longer looks like it used to.  Then, when I would go regularly to accomplish errands for my mother, it was a clean, tidy street.  Now it is no longer a street.  It is the extension of the Quiapo market.  On both sides of the road are market stalls that sell tuyo, hibi, crabs, vegetables, flowering plants, bunot, walis, plates, mugs, plastic containers, umbrellas — all those little details of our childhood that we have forgotten about.  These market stalls are half on the street, the other half on the sidewalk.

Beyond them are the craft stores, the most prominent of which is Wellmanson.  You cannot go to Villalobos and not visit Wellmanson.  It has almost everything you can think of, from fancy rings at P45 and up, to little hats that you might want to wear.  It has knitted scarves, all sorts of beads and charms, all sorts of feng shui items, graded and non-graded eyeglasses, wallets and handbags, boxes and wire and plastic thread, key chains and handbag caddies, hangers and stationery … everything in the accessory world you can think of you will find there.  But they don’t have a wild assortment of semi-precious stones like corals, turquoise, citrine, little things like that.

If you want those things then you should go to DIY, the one that’s farther away, closer to the church.  There you will find all sorts of stones, from plastic to semi-precious, including freshwater pearls.  Also all sorts of skulls and little icons like the pechay and sili so popular with the Chinese.

The closer you get to the church, the closer you come to finding anting-anting, our old amulets.  I am always taken by the male and female candles they now sell you in case you’re praying for somebody with, for example, cancer.  They ask you first what is the gender of the person you are praying for.  If you say male, they will sell you a male candle.  You light it while you pray and you leave it lit.  I happen to know that the male and female candles have been around for a long, long time and once were used to cast spells.

Quiapo has grown old and faded but it hasn’t lost its charm, at least not for me.  I love going there alone and poking into stores looking at new items I can buy to make my jewelry.  Quiapo has always been a vital part of my life.  It was part of my childhood and now as I approach the end it has returned, changed, rugged, muddier but more down-to earth and very real.  Quiapo continues to be a vital part of me.

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