quiapo

before going to joey's shower last friday, jojie and i went to quiapo to buy a remote control for the TV we bought a couple months ago (funny na wala palang remote yung nabili namin kaya we had to go to the philips service center in quiapo to buy a remote control unit). although it wasn't my first time to go to quiapo, it was my first time to go to plaza miranda. the whole place was bustling with energy! there were people everywhere and you can buy just about anything and everything there -- from winnie the pooh and mickey mouse woven plastic bags to the aluminum stick you can use to unclog toilets and drains (abie! sinusundan din ako ng mga ito!). i've always known about the herbal stands that line up the streets of quiapo (those that also sell the medicines for abortion) but i never knew that all the hilots in the world (at least it looked that way to me) can also be found in quiapo. although i personally do not believe in hilots, i was so amazed by the sheer number of hilots there and more amazingly, the number of people lining up for their services. i was also particularly taken by the candle stores (i use the word "store" loosely). gone were the usual votive candles i see in the supermarkets. instead what they were selling were the long and thin kinds, about 8 inches long and
half an inch in diameter. and these candles were not colored white nor yellow, instaed the candles were in color red and black! most interesting were the human shaped candles, also in red and black. if jojie were not with me and if we were not in a hurry, i would have stoppped and asked the candle peddlers what those human shaped candles are for. i also saw the line of the mga manghuhula. judging from the number of people flocking in the manghuhula stands, i thought at first that they were playing bingo or billiards or even selling novelty items. so without losing sight of jojie who was walking in front of me, i surreptitiously peeked at what they were doing and lo and behold, i saw tarot cards and all kinds of panghuhula paraphernalia. when i caught up with jojie, i literally thanked him for bringing me to quiapo, a place uniquely filipino.