Divisoria Market. What an experience! It was basically an enormous flea market. Only, superimposed onto the streets of a city. All the sidewalks in the area were covered in stalls, and people, and stuff. Plus there was a 4 or 5-story indoor portion. (Filipinos love their malls after all). Don’t I look perky here?
We went thinking it would be more of a tourist destination, where you could buy handcrafted items and what not. It was very much the opposite. There was plenty of mass-produced plastic. But we still had a great time. We began by going in the underground portion of the mall. And when we walked in, this is what we saw.
So we started wandering. And eventually, things contracted a little bit. At this point, it was getting difficult to maneuver with the stroller. So we collapsed it. Then it continued to contract. Eventually, we were left with corridors that could barely accommodate one person. Yes, that is a corridor between stalls!!! It was seriously packed in. And it was hot. No air con (see me speak like a native). 
We gave the kids a budget of 200 pesos each (~4 dollars) to spend. Juju chose these little basketballs, which are actually stress balls. (Perhaps he is hinting at something… ) And Clara, of course chose the pinkest, girliest thing she could find. This ring came in a package of about 30 assorted rings. And she has been happy as clam about them ever since.
We quickly figured out that this basement-type area wasn’t really what we were looking for. And it was just a little bit too difficult to navigate with a stroller (collapsed though it was). So we decided to go upstairs and inside.
This is just a funny little tidbit. Logan was pretty warm down there, and he just kind of flopped to the side in the baby carrier. So I started blowing on him to cool him off. And he just got the goofiest grin on his face any time I did it. It was pretty funny. I love the at little critter.
The mall area was more of the same, only with air con. Hallelujah!! We wandered for a while. Bought a couple things. And then we went to the food court for lunch. We went to Chow King (Greatest name for a food establishment. Ever.) For dessert, we each got to try a choco pow (Greatest name for a food item. Ever.) The kids obviously enjoyed theirs. 
After wandering through the mall, we decided to brave the streets.
We tend to attract a fair amount of attention since we are very white. But, we got stared at even more than usual. Like I said, this wasn’t really a tourist area. It was mostly locals. So we stood out. At one point, I went to go check something out on my own (with Logan) and I returned to this scene:
Jonathan said that this was the 2nd or third group of little kids that happened by. We continued to wander. And got hotter and hotter. The poor boys had it the worst. Logan was pressed up against me in the baby carrier, and Juju was in the stroller.
And aWe decided that we were done. Especially because we were getting low on water. But the market kept going on and on and on. There was nowhere to really find a taxi in this vicinity.
They did have trikes though. We rode a trike a couple of miles to a point at which we’d be able to find a taxi or call an Uber. And I’m pretty sure that this was the highlight of the kids’ day. They haven’t stopped talking about it since. 
Especially Juju. He’d been pretty wilt-y near the end there. And we were starting to get a little concerned even. But as soon as we got on the trike and got moving, he perked right up. It was freaking adorable.
And here is a picture of all of us on the trike. Now we just need to ride a Jeepney. 
We requested an Uber. And we were pretty sure that we’d be transported straight to heaven when we got into that beautifully air-conditioned vehicle. It was magical. And that was the end of our adventure. The kids were absolute troopers and they were so good.
