Visit to Intramuros on 6-20-2015

This country is rich in history. Some of that history has included foreign occupation. The Spanish occupied the Philippines starting in the 1500's. The Philippines was named after King Philip II of Spain. Before that the rulers were Tagalog chieftains. Intramuros was built by the Spanish as a protection against pirates and other imperial nations. Intramuros means "within the wall, or walled city", or something like that. The British invaded in 1762, and they ruled for about 200 years before they gave the country back to Spain. Then the Americans after the Spanish-American war. The Japanese occupied the Philippines for 3 years during WWII.

Intramuros was almost completely distorted during the American liberation of the Philippines. The Filipino government started restoring Intremuros beginning in 1979. 

The following are random pictures of our side trip to Intramuros, which later grew into Manila.

I love the Filipino flag. I bought a small one for our apartment.

I feel Sorry for this horse. This horse earned his oats today.

This is a section of the original street of Intramuros.

Bamboo bike anyone?

Elder and Sister Rigby. A wonderful couple. They are home now. Love these guys.

One of many street vendors. Where ever there is room to make a peco, there are people trying to do so.

This church is over 400 years old. The following are pictures of it.

This is part of what is left of the wall. We were told that General MacArthur had his headquarters here during the war.

Nature's curtains. 

Notice the windows. Very small sections that look like glass, but are made from seashells.

This is what a traditional Tagalog hut would look like. One of our Polynesian Elders told us that this hut resembled their ancestor's huts. 

This little guy is to little to control this thing. He was frozen at high speed and about to run into the back of our buggy. The guy to the right who is smiling ran up and stopped him right befor impact. I love these Fuilipinos.