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I am at Residencia 1863, a literary residency run by the Galician poet Yolanda Castaño. The apartment is in a 19th century building in the old town center. It used to be a photography studio. The former occupants left the sentry on the balcony.

Look, a Notting Hill homage.

This is how I met my cat Drogon. “I’m just a cat, lying in front of a large, ungainly cat, asking her to feed him.” And provide a litterbox. And regular vet visits. And expensive stuff to sharpen my claws on. And an online talk show I can appear on.

This is the work table, already colonized by my stuff. There’s a working typewriter. I miss typewriters: you had to pound the keys so your writing had conviction. Erasing was a pain, though.

The neighborhood is very quiet and it’s a five minute walk to the sea. Current temperature is 11 degrees, a cool respite from microwave Manila.

Speaking of cats, there’s one on the fountain in Plaza del Humor.

Down the street, the Praza de Maria Pita. Maria Pita led the defence of La Coruña during an English attack in the 16th century.

Schedule of readings, signings, other events
March

Reading Group Discussion of Franny and Zooey by J.D. Salinger
Saturday, 30 March, 4-6pm, Tin-Aw Gallery at Somerset Olympia, Makati Avenue, Makati

April

Twisted Travels Book Signing
Saturday, 13 April 2019, 4-6pm, Fully Booked at UP Town Center, QC

Twisted Travels Book Signing
Saturday, 27 April 2019, 4-6pm, Dia del Libro, Instituto Cervantes, Ayala Triangle Gardens, Makati

May

I will have a literary residency in La Coruna in Galicia, Spain from May 2-30. If you live in the area and would like to organize a reading or signing, let me know. Also if you want to order copies of Twisted Travels I could bring them.

On a gorgeous spring morning, so early in the day that the hotel hasn’t started serving breakfast, my guide picks me up for a long drive to the suburbs. It is the perfect day for a field trip. The sun is shining, but there is a cool breeze. The trees are a lush green and the flowers are in bloom.

Everything is bursting with life, and until I stand before the iron gate with its monstrous motto, I am trying not to think that we have come to a place of death.

Read it in the Inquirer.

Writing this piece took the longest time—not the actual writing, but working up the nerve to sit down and write it. You have to do justice to the subject, but you cannot be sentimental. I apologize for my failures.

Twisted Travels: Rambles in Central Europe will be launched on Saturday, Oct. 27, 2-5 p.m. at Fully Booked in Bonifacio High Street, BGC. Twisted Travels will be available at Fully Booked, Shopee.ph, Lazada.com.ph, National Bookstore, and Powerbooks.

We arrived in Prague in the early afternoon and were fetched by our tour guide Zoran, who announced that taxi drivers were on strike against Uber, there were violent clashes in the city, and massive traffic jams. This is perhaps not the welcome one wants at the beginning of a packed tour, but it set a bleakly comic tone for the whole trip. There was some discussion in the team as to who our guide looked like. He resembled:

a. the original host of The Crystal Maze
b. one of the War Boys from Mad Max Fury Road
c. the vocalist of the ’80s group Right Said Fred of “I’m Too Sexy” fame
d. Professor Charles Xavier of the X-Men
e. Captain Jean-Luc Picard of the USS Enterprise

Read an excerpt.

Photo by Allan Carreon

Whenever I find myself growing grim about the mouth; whenever it is a warm, drizzly September in my soul; whenever I find myself involuntarily pausing before coffin warehouses, and bringing up the rear of every funeral I meet; and especially whenever my hypos* get such an upper hand of me, that it requires a strong moral principle to prevent me from deliberately stepping into the street and yelling at random passersby—then, I account it high time to go to Quiapo as soon as I can.

Thanks, Herman Melville.

* a morbid state of mind, depression, low spirits

Everything is available in Quiapo, and at wholesale rates that make me feel like a flaming idiot for buying anything in shopping malls. Malls are for watching movies, soaking up airconditioning, and general preening. The streets and alleys of Quiapo are for shopping.

Note this combination of items approved of by the Church, and items disapproved of by the Church. I also stocked up on anting-anting.

After our consultations with our suking manghuhula, Allan my social media manager (I have two, haha, the other being Bubbles) and I had an excellent and very reasonably-priced lunch at a Chinese restaurant. (Which of us is the Fruit Salad?)

We went to Excelente for Chinese ham and queso de bola. Ham scraps, which are great on pan de sal, now cost Php1060 a kilo (!!!!!)

It was heartening to see that although Quiapo’s streets are filthy, crowded, hot and chaotic, and its regulars may not occupy overpriced condominiums or wear expensive clothes, homeless cats and dogs are given food and shelter. People are allowed to be human, unlike in Ayala Land’s Serendra condominium and dining complex, where people who dare to feed stray cats are charged huge fines. I guess claiming to support animal welfare while punishing people for actually caring for animals is their lifestyle. Of course we know what happens when there are no cats. Rats.

Cat haters, this one’s for you.

Soiree by Jason Moss

I’m in Poland on a research trip for a couple of weeks. The schedule is packed, so I don’t know how often I can blog, but I will document the trip on my cats’ Instagram. Quick, follow @jessicazafrascats!