More Goats, But In Manila

Manila

Posted a blog not too long ago about having to slow down in my driveway, so as not to hit the neighbor's goats. Something about living in a provincial city where the rural and urban sides of life intertwine.

So fast-forward a week. Bill and I are in Manila for a series of meetings. Manila is the 8th largest agglomerate city, with 19,200,000 people. It comes between New York at number 6, and LA at number 9. To give you an idea, my hometown of San Diego is number 134. Manila is also one of the most densely populated cities in the world, with all those people packed into a relatively small land-space. But there are still bits of undeveloped land tucked here and there, within the city limits. After all our meetings were over, Bill and I zoomed around the city picking up a few items we can't buy down in Puerto Princesa. IMPORTANT items, like pinto beans and La Victoria salsa, in case you wanted to know. As our taxi cut through to one of the ubiquitous shopping centers, the driver had to slow down for -- you guessed it -- goats in the road! We were passing by one of those bits of still-undeveloped land, where an enterprising soul grazed a small herd of goats in the weeds. One got loose from his tether and wandered out into the street. As we veered around Mr. Urban Billygoat, I scanned the horizon. I could see high-rises in every direction.

Had to chuckle at the irony of that. Are goats becoming a thematic item in my writing? I think not. But perhaps incongruence is.