Jaime C. Velasquez park better known as Salcedo park located in between L.P. Leviste and Tordesillas St. is one of the greenest parks in the whole metropolis albeit small. On weekday mornings, it serves as a tambayan to mostly expat children and their guardians. On weekday evenings, the jogging paths are filled with health buffs while the benches are turned into an inexpensive form of dating venue. Then on Saturdays, it transforms into a high end tambayan. It’s a virtual who’s who from the business sector, showbiz and government. Here are some of the interesting personalities who I’ve seen visiting the Saturday market: Jaime Zobel de Ayala, Gloria Diaz, Celeste Legaspi, Dominic Ochoa, Cong. Teddy Locsin, Gina de Venecia, et al. It also serves as a meeting place for business deals. It’s also like a reunion of sorts: I saw my Tita Letty who I’ve always wanted to visit, my mother’s high school barkada Tita Lucille who I only see in pictures, my relatives who I haven’t seen in ages and those that I’ve seen just weeks ago, my college friends and officemates. I guess almost everybody goes there.
The merchandise are pretty much what you can see in a supermarket or shopping mall. And the prices almost are the same. They have live plants, dairy products (especially hard to find ones like carabao’s milk and kesong puti), ready to eat food, fruit shakes, fruits, small handicrafts, seafood, lechon baka and a list of other stuff. You must try the inihaw na bangus, inihaw na tilapia and Ineng’s barbeque.
I believe the secret is in the frequency. It’s like a club meet where you meet only once a week and almost everybody looks forward to that day…no qualms about the heat, sales personnel that discriminates, slight difficulty in parking and finding a seat. The good food, the star gazing and the chance to be out of the box like condo are reasons why you look forward to this respite from the fast paced city life.
See you in Salcedo Park!
No comments:
Post a Comment