In my normal rounds meandering through the Capitol Complex, random thoughts just occur to me.
Today, as I was walking across the street through mid-day traffic, I got whiff of the car exhaust... the smell that always triggers my memories of my childhood summers in the Philippines.
It reminds me of Manila, the highly polluted capital with a myriad of foul smelling open sewers, car exhaust, stagnant water, excrement, and old grease.
Not particularly attractive, but somehow you can't help but love Manila once you've been there.
It's a city of many contrasts, especially between the rich and poor, the pious and the flamboyant, the festive and the sorrowful.
My initial encounter in 1986 was a shocking welcome. Leaving the airport and sitting through traffic, I saw my first glimpse of poverty in the eyes of a beggar and her children. Never had I seen that before, and for an eight year old kid, it made a lasting impression that lives on today.
Manila has extreme poverty, but has its opulence too. Her tall, imposing megamalls and sterile glassy condos spring up all over. Manila's progress is always one step forward and taking two steps back, but that's a tango she's danced many times.
