The rain has finally let up, and the air in Poblacion smells like wet pavement and frying garlic. I woke up to a text from my landlord — my ACR I-Card is ready for pickup. Not the card itself, mind you, just the notice that it's been processed. The actual card comes later, after an in-person visit and a few more forms. That's the rhythm of paperwork here: two steps forward, one step sideways, always with a smile.
I grabbed a quick breakfast at a corner carinderia — tapsilog, which is beef tapa, a fried egg, and garlic rice. About 150 pesos, maybe two and a half dollars. The woman behind the counter called me 'ma'am' despite my beard, and I didn't correct her. It felt like a small baptism into the local way of doing things.
Then I walked to the post office. Yes, the post office. I'd been expecting a package from home — a few books, some old photos, things I forgot to pack. The central post office in Manila is a grand old building near the river, all columns and high ceilings, but inside it's a maze of wooden counters and handwritten ledgers. I waited in line, showed my passport, and the clerk handed me a small box wrapped in brown paper. No stamps, no tracking number. It had just... arrived.
I sat on a bench outside, under the arcade, and opened it. My mother had sent a letter, typed on her old typewriter. She wrote about the garden, the dog, the neighbor who keeps borrowing our lawnmower. And at the bottom, in pencil, she'd added: 'Kumusta ka na ba?' How are you now? I read that line three times.
That's the thing about moving across the world — the mail becomes a lifeline. It's not just packages and bills. It's proof that somewhere else, your life is still ticking along without you. I folded the letter into my jacket pocket and headed to the Bureau of Immigration in Intramuros to sort out the next step for my ACR I-Card.
The Bureau of Immigration building sits inside the old walled city, a place that already feels heavy with history. Today, it was just heavy with people. I took a number — 184 — and sat on a plastic chair among a dozen other foreigners, all of us clutching our passports and visa documents. The process is straightforward enough: fill out a form, pay a fee, get a stamp. The fee is around 50 US dollars, plus express fees if you want it faster. I paid for the standard one. I'm not in a rush — I'm here for the long haul.
The clerk, a woman named Aling Rosa, stamped my form and told me to come back in three weeks for the physical card. 'You'll get an email,' she said. 'Check your spam.' I thanked her and stepped out into the courtyard. The sun was breaking through the clouds, lighting up the cobblestones. Intramuros, for all its historical weight, feels alive in the rain — the gutters running, the moss on the walls, the sound of water dripping from the old Spanish tiles.
I walked along General Luna Street, past the San Agustin Church, its bell tower dark against the wet sky. I thought about the first time I saw this place, last week. I was still jet-lagged, still thinking in miles. Now, I'm starting to think in pesos. The church is free to visit if you're just peeking in, but the museum is a few hundred pesos. Worth it, I hear, for the old choir seats and the organ. But today, I just walked by. Today was about the smallness of life, not the grandness.
I crossed the street to a little café I'd noticed earlier — Café Y Ruedas, on the corner near the old walls. It's a hole in the wall, the kind of place where the coffee comes in a plastic cup and the pastries sit under a glass dome. I ordered a breve latte, about 180 pesos — three dollars — and took it outside to a plastic table. The rain started again, a soft patter on the awning. I watched the jeepneys splashing by, their painted sides like moving murals. One had an image of a dragon and the Virgin Mary. Another said 'God Knows' in block letters.
That's the thing about Manila: even the chaos is layered. You have the colonial history underneath, the American influence on top, and this bright, stubborn Filipino identity pushing through the cracks. The jeepneys themselves are a lesson in that — repurposed US army jeeps from the Second World War, turned into rolling folk art. I flagged one down for the ride back to Poblacion. The fare is about 15 pesos — less than a quarter. The driver had a rosary hanging from the rearview mirror and a sticker on the windshield that read 'No Bad Vibes'.
Back in Makati, I stopped at the Legazpi Sunday Market. It's not Sunday, but the market runs all week now, a maze of stalls selling everything from dragon fruit to second-hand sneakers. I wanted to buy mangga — mangoes. The season is winding down, so the prices are climbing. I found a vendor who had them ripe and yellow, sweet enough to make your teeth ache. I paid 300 pesos for a kilo — about five dollars — which is steep for local standards, but I'm still learning where to go and when.
I took my mangoes home, sliced one up, and sat on the small balcony of my Poblacion flat. Two floors up, I can see the corrugated roofs and the water tower, and beyond that, the spires of the Makati skyline. The rain had stopped again, leaving the air thick and warm. I thought about the minimum wage controversy I mentioned the other day — the court blocking the wage hike, and how that affects everyone, from the jeepney driver to the market vendor. It's easy to romanticize the cheapness of a place when you're not the one earning the minimum wage.
I checked my phone. A message from the MaArte Fair organizers — the artisan fair at The Manila Peninsula, which starts next week. I'd been planning to go, and now I had a reason: they're featuring 'Karnabal', the old Manila Carnival theme. I read that the fair supports local artisans — weavers, potters, jewelry makers — and it's timed with the hotel's 50th anniversary. I marked it in my calendar. It's a good excuse to see the other side of Manila, the side that's not just about survival.
But first, I needed to figure out my transport budget. I've been relying on Grab for longer trips, which adds up quickly — a 15-minute ride can cost 250 pesos, about four dollars. The jeepney is a tenth of that. The LRT is about 15 to 35 pesos per ride. I did the math: if I use the trains and jeepneys for most trips, I can keep my monthly transit budget under 2,500 pesos. Grab only for the late nights and the heavy bags. That's the kind of planning that makes Manila livable.
By late afternoon, the sky had cleared enough to see a pale sun. I walked over to the Ayala Triangle Gardens, just ten minutes from my flat. The rain had left puddles on the paving stones, and children were jumping in them, their mothers laughing. I found a bench under a narra tree and sat down, watching the office workers stream by. A man in a suit was eating isaw — grilled chicken intestine skewers — from a street cart. He looked like he'd just closed a deal, and yet there he was, eating street food worth about 15 pesos per stick.
I checked the time. 5:30. I had dinner plans with a friend I'd met through a mutual contact — she works at the National Museum, and she'd agreed to show me around the new exhibit. We met at Manam, the Filipino restaurant in the Ayala Triangle. It's a step up from the carinderias — a modern take on classics like adobo and sinigang. We ordered the crispy adobo flakes with rice, and she told me about the museum's collection of pre-colonial gold, the kind that would make a pirate weep. The meal cost about 700 pesos for both of us, including drinks. Not bad for a sit-down place with air conditioning.
After dinner, she walked me to the LRT station at Gil Puyat. 'You're learning fast,' she said, as I tapped my Beep card on the reader. 'Just remember, Manila is a marathon, not a sprint. You can't do it all in one week.' I nodded, thinking about the mountain of paperwork ahead, the ACR I-Card, the bank account, the monthly rent on my studio — about 18,000 pesos, or three hundred dollars, give or take. It's manageable, but only because I'm not eating out every night and I'm learning to cook more of my own meals and shop at the palengke.
The train was crowded, as always. I stood near the door, holding the handrail, watching the city lights flash by. The rain started again, drumming on the roof of the train. It's funny — back home, rain was an inconvenience. Here, it's a character in the story. It shapes the day, the traffic, the mood. I got off at Ayala Station and walked the last few blocks home, stepping puddles, listening to the water rush in the gutters. The city was quieting down, the evening settling in like a sigh.
Back in my flat, I put the mangoes in the fridge, next to the leftover adobo from dinner. I turned on the desk fan, which sounds like a helicopter taking off, and sat down to write in my notebook. I listed the things I need to do: file the Annual Report for the ACR I-Card in January, renew my visa extension, and start planning the trip west to Mindoro and Palawan. But tonight, I'm just here. And here is not so bad.
I looked out the window one last time. The rain had stopped again, and the moon was trying to break through the clouds. Somewhere below, a dog barked at a passing jeepney. I thought about my mother's letter, the one still in my pocket. 'Kumusta ka na ba?' she wrote. Tonight, I could answer: I am learning. I am figuring out the buses and the banks and the barter system of the wet market. I am finding a rhythm.
That's the thing about a place like Manila. It doesn't give you everything at once. It gives you a glimpse — a mango, a rain-soaked street, a stamp on a form — and then it makes you wait for the rest. And I've learned that waiting here is not so bad, especially when you have a good story to tell.
So I'll keep walking these streets, tapping my Beep card, haggling for fish, and learning the language of the rain. I'll be at the MaArte Fair next week, looking for something to hang on my wall that isn't a map. And I'll keep writing letters home, even if they're emails, even if they're just drafts I never send.
Good night, Manila. See you in the morning.
That's all for this episode of the Philippines Travel Podcast. I'm Miguel Santos, and I'll be back tomorrow with more stories from the city. If you're planning a trip here, or thinking of moving, I'll be sharing tips on everything from SIM cards to affordable flats. Until then, keep your feet dry and your heart open.
Kumusta? Actually, I've been using that all episode. It's how you say 'how are you' in Tagalog. I'm learning. It's a start.