Touring Intramuros with the Mabuhay Guides

Mabuhay Guides is another one of Tourism Secretary Ace Durano’s project to “produce young men and women who will guide DOT visitors to the Philippines, presenting the country in the best possible light in an interesting, intelligent & engaging manner, even as they represent the best the Philippines has to offer.” (from the Mabuhay Guides website)

Fort Santiago 01
Not the best thing to wear that Sunday. It was one of the hottest days of summer!


The training of the first batch is already over, and we now have 23 very qualified guides who are always on call when there’s a need for a guide around the Philippines. Luckily, one of the guides was an avid Couch Surfer, and he offered to members of the Manila group a free walking tour of Intramuros one weekend. It was such a big hit that he offered it again a couple of weekends after, and lucky for me, I had nothing to do that weekend.

Fort Santiago 04
Mabuhay Guide Bryan (right) answering Eran’s question

Arnold brought his fellow Mabuhay Guide, Bryan for the tour. Though there was a number of confirmations in the group discussion, there were only four of us in the tour group. The meeting place was outside Fort Santiago’s gates, where the tour starts. Fort Santiago is my favorite place in Intramuros, and I was quite happy to visit it again. I’ve been to Fort Santiago several times last year, so I was able to notice changes made throughout the park. It was great to learn things about Fort Santiago that I never knew before.

Fort Santiago 09
Calesa inside Fort Santiago

From Fort Santiago, we walked towards Plaza Roma, the park across the Manila Cathedral and the Palacio del Gobernador. There was a short history lesson under the shade, before we walked down the street to Casa Manila. Casa Manila is a living museum, built to re-create what the house of a wealthy landowner is like during the 1800’s. Picture taking isn’t allowed inside, and they’re very strict about keeping to the carpets while inside the “house.” The museum reminds me of the Aguinaldo Shrine in Kawit, Cavite.

Casa Manila
Casa Manila’s courtyard

Arnold and Bryan were both very knowledgeable about the Philippine’s history, thanks to their intensive training program. Aside from learning about the different facets of the Philippines, they were also trained on being a guide. They were very mindful of their guests, taking careful note to learn everybody’s name and addressing everyone personally. They encourage people to ask questions, and when they don’t know the answer to a particular question, they make sure they get your e-mail address so they can send you the answer once they have it.

The Mabuhay Guides can be booked through the Department of Tourism, under Ms. Susan Calo Medina at 8965523.

Comments

7 responses to “Touring Intramuros with the Mabuhay Guides”

  1. bchai Avatar

    Wait…are you one of the guides?!? 😉

    Also, since my Spanish is sadly lacking, what is “Intramuros?” I mean, why is it called that?

  2. Antoine Avatar

    hmm…love it here….

    ^ ^

  3. nina Avatar

    bchai: Nooo! Hahaha, I doubt I can ever become a real tour guide XD Intramuros means inside the walls ^_^ Basically it’s a city within the walls where the Spanish used to live in the Philippines

    Antoine: I love it here too ^_^

  4. Marco Avatar

    Was here yesterday!

  5. dong ho Avatar

    i really like the idea of the mabuhay guides. and congratulations to the first batch. this posts proves the importance of having guides officially from DOT. i hope there’ll be more guides.

  6. Arnold Ancheta Avatar
    Arnold Ancheta

    Hi Nina,

    I never had a chance to check your blog until today! Thanks for your kind words.

    To answer a fer questions:

    Intramuros does mean inside the walls. It was also alternatively called Ciudad Murada or walled city. You can learn more about Intrmuros by reading the book “Ciudad Murada” by Jose Victor Torres (published by Vidal Publishing).

  7. Faustino Mccalmont Avatar
    Faustino Mccalmont

    My spouse and I stumbled over here coming from a different page and thought I might check things out. I like what I see so now i am following you. Look forward to looking at your web page yet again.

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