The Local Market in Puerto Princessa

2/22/95

In the afternoon we went to the local market in Puerto Princessa. The stores were small local shops of shanty construction. The first small store we went to sold groceries and dry goods. There I found several dust covered one gallon bottles of concentrated vanilla sitting on a back shelf. They were selling for P80 or $3.25 and I didn't buy one for some reason. Having never been in a local market like this I got the impression that a buy like this would be the norm. It was not. I made a point of looking in shops all over Manila once I realized my tragic mistake. I liked the idea of bringing back "vanilla from Manila" instead of "vanilla from Palawan", but it was not to be. Actually, I had a bunch to carry as it was, and was not looking forward to lugging around a gallon of fluid for two weeks. The domestic flight from Palawan to Manila was also rather strict on what could and could not be taken onboard, and I had my doubts as to whether it would have made it all the way back.

Several shops were selling the charcoal made in the countryside. A bag cost P40 which was just under $2. For the people who didn't need the full bag, one of the shop owners transferred the charcoal into small blue shopping bags selling for P12.

Many of the shops had hand crafted wood and bamboo items. Blowguns with darts were in several stores, as were all shapes and sizes of wood carvings. Fish and wild boars were the most popular subjects.

With the shopping experience came the motivation to learn my first words of Tagalog. I picked up just enough to function in the market. The word "magkano" means "how much". Used in conjunction with "ito" meaning "this", we have "magkano ito". This was everything we needed to make those all essential purchases. When we came across an item on an upper shelf asking "how much is this" was not quite right. In this situation, substituting "yon" for "ito" makes "magkano yon" or "how much is that". This simplified version of my language experience makes it sound easier than it was at the time. It was several days before I could successfully implement even simple Tagalog sentences into a conversation. This isn't a big deal because English was sufficient enough to handle most of the simple purchasing situations. In fact, local vendors seemed disappointed that they didn't get to show the Americans how good their English skills were.

The fish, meat and produce markets were an experience which defy words. Wall to wall people pushing, shoving, and bickering over prices of food items, many of which I had never seen the likes of before. Everything from boiled quail eggs to hog heads and seaweed to live eels sloshing around in pails could be found in the labyrinth of the market. Pork meat was fresh and sold in kilograms, the hocks intact with skin, fat, nails and hair. Intestines, blood, lungs and stomachs from pigs and cattle are abundant in the fresh market. It seemed like the Filipinos are able to eat and use 100% of these domesticated animals. Although the market bustled with activity, the vendors were very friendly and happy to talk to us about their wares.

Here in the market, like everywhere else in the country, the tall Americans stuck out. I wielded my 35mm camera and fired it incessantly at everything. Everyone in my frame was either dying of embarrassment or swelling with pride. Small arguments ensued regarding who would or would not get their picture taken. Kurt had Lani's Sharp ViewCam running all the time. A small crowd gathered behind the ViewCam to see the images being captured in the ViewCam's four inch color monitor.

Puerto Princessa seems to pride itself in being a very clean city. It is a common site to see elderly women out sweeping the streets with hand made brooms and dust pans fashioned from large tin cans. My only complaint about the town is the suffocating fumes downtown given off from the massive amount of two-stroke motorcycle engines. The amount of traffic unleashed on the city during the evening rush hour seems to be the worst period of the day.

• The audio files referenced in this page are from Jesus Dizon's Learn To Speak Tagalog tutorial. Be sure and check it out!