A glimpse of Pope Francis

Hundreds of policemen arrived at 8 am including volunteers (marshalls) from nearby churches. They have no guns but were only there for crowd control.

Snipers took their position.

According to some policemen,  they’ve seen the pope five times.  palipat-lipat pala sila.  From here,  they would go to Luneta naman.  They’re so lucky.

Medyo groge na ako,  I sat down muna.    It’s dangerous to sit down in between thousands of people.  But I was close to the front and my family was guarding me, ready to pull me up in case of emergency,  such as a  stampede.

We’re minutes away.

There’s a woman with a television as small as a cellphone.

Edmund———“Naka labas na ba ng Nunciature?”

Woman———-“Hindi pa”.

After a few minutes, Edmund asked her again —— “Lumabas na ba?”

Woman———“Hindi pa,  Commerical pa”.

After several lumabas na ba, hindi pa,  we got so excited when she said the Pope has left and he’s riding on a Pope Mobile.  We all screamed.

Then Edmund looked at her tv  “Hindi yan pope mobile,  kotse yan.  Ay mali naman”.

Our excitement turned into anxiousness because we may not be able to see him because the car would be fast.  That’s  bad news: He’s riding a black car, not the pope mobile.
Less chance of seeing him in the flesh.

We got ready.  Oyen would take the video,  Nyke would take pictures.  Edmund wanted to carry me to make sure I am able to see the pope.

Here comes Pope Francis. He was riding on a speeding car. We almost missed seeing him because the car was running so fast. It was only one second, just a glimpse. Sana naman they slowed down a little bit to give the millions of people a better chance of seeing the Pope. BITIN.
Maraming kawawa, sa bilis, hindi sya nakita especially those who were waiting on the other side of the rode.

People didn’t want to move kasi parang bitin. Bitin talaga. Maraming tulala.  Halos one second lang or half a second. He just whizzed by. I heard a lady consoling her kids, “Sasakay tayo ng plane, pupuntahan natin sya sa Rome”.

Sama kami. We want to see him again. Not for one second, sana mga ten seconds man lang.
We were so tired so we decided not to stay anymore for another chance of seeing him when he comes back from UST. It’s raining too.

A———–:Nakakainis naman yung ale,  sabi naka pope mobile daw eh kotse pala”.

E———–“Ilang beses tinanong…. mapurol,  kailangan ng sharpener”.

We couldn’t pass through Espana because of the millions of people coming from all directions.

We turned back to where we started and took the side streets. Thousands were still waiting.

Carola is where the ancestral house of Justice Benjing Capili is. It’s a huge Spanish-style mansion located two blocks away from UST. My brothers, Aileen, and I stayed there when we were studying at UST.

We’re lucky, it started to rain only when we were leaving, not while we were waiting for the Pope.

Aileen and I saw Pope John Paul II on
February 18, 1981 at the corner of Espana and Basilio Streets. We were just walking when we saw many people lining up along Espana Street. Before we knew it, Pope John Paul II was waiving and smiling at us. Some people genuflected. I made the sign of the cross.

We walked back to Rotonda where our driver dropped us off.

I bought 3 t-shirts for P145 each.

Tricycles were allowed along Espana. Alam mo na, the cost skyrocketed.

I was sweating form the raincoat. It’s so hot. I felt so relieved when I took it off.

10:30 am we reached our vehicle.

We went straight to Gloria Maris in Greenhills for brunch. It was almost lunchtime.

I poured toyo and kalamansi to give this some taste. The wanton was matigas and tasted more like siomai. Mr. Choi’s (Robinson’s Galleria) wanton noodle soup is 100% better.

Halo-halo congee for Edmund.

We ordered three black gulaman and sago— for Yen, Nyke, and I. Edmund had coffee.

Nyke went straight to bed when we got home. While Edmund, Yen, and I had body massage (home service) at 1:30 pm. I went back to bed at 3 pm and woke up this morning at 8 am. I was exhausted.

The lack of sleep, long walk (3 km + 3 km ++), long hours of waiting (6 hours), standing, sitting, the hunger, thirst, exhaustion, migraine, were all worth it, even if we only caught a glimpse of #dearpopefrancis.

#popefrancis