Night of living with the dead...

Wandering around on Manila's North cemetery proved to be quite a stroll. This cemetery has the size of a small village, and some rumors have it that there are around a 1000 inhabitants on this cemetery, apart from the dead that is. Children playing on top of the graves, grinning old ladies selling drinks and snacks from their tombshops, there was even an improvised church in one of the larger memorial buildings. It seems all the graves are in use, and not only by the deceased. It was very busy on the cemetery grounds, and I even had to get out of my cab and walk to get in, as there was a major traffic congestion at the entrance. Somewhere in the middle of the square in front of the entrance an ambulance was trying to be as noisy as possible but the cars, jeepneys and trikes simply had no way of moving so it just stood there, sirens going and surrounded by people who where on their way to visit their dead family members. I couldn't help but think that whoever was in that ambulance couldn't have picked a better place to get stuck in traffic. As I walked in it was crowded everywhere, and soon after I managed to walk into one of the quieter areas I found the time to take some pictures. Of course soon kids where surrounding this tall white faced stranger and they happily tried their TV-American on me. I say American instead of English because when a 5 year old pinoy kid smiles at you and then says defiantly "Hey bro, what's up?" or when a 7 year old filipina girl waves at you and then calls out loudly "Yo man, what's your problem?" I don't really think of a guy sipping his tea with his pinkie up teaching those kids... MTV seems to have found its way to the cemetery just as it seems to find its way into every other home on this planet. Like any city, some areas where pretty clean and more upscale, with tombs that looked more like the old houses in New Orleans would look, or even a pyramid erected somewhere. Other places were more down to earth, so to speak, just a little tomb with a couple of nameplates on them. Most of the time I was very aware that I was an unfamiliar sight to the people living there, but I must say I never felt unsafe. Most places felt like daytime would not pose any threats, and friendly nods and lifting of eyebrows always accompanied the stares I got. (The pinoy way of saying hi). However some of the streets did send out a sense that after dark ghosts would be the least of your worries. Thanks to Jude, a Manila based writer and very resourceful man, I will soon be exploring the South Manila cemetery, as it is also being used as living space but it's smack in the middle of a thriving business and office centre of Manila.