When I was a street kid of Manila, the happiest place for us is Star City. It is the Disney World kind of Manila. Seeing the beautiful lights from the place where my grandmother little store is located. Hearing all the noises that people make while enjoying the rides. For me looking at the lights and the rides are fun already but having to experience is much more.
I remember that time we have two ways of getting inside the amusement park. Legal and illegal ways.
As what the saying says, “there is nothing impossible for Pinoys”. We can fixed electronics, and we can hack computers and build the virus to destroy a system. We as Filipino, we find ways to make things happen, and that’s we did.
We go around the park premises walls which are built with “yero” metal roof, and it is easy to break in. As a skinny small kid, a small opening can let us get in. So that how we can get in. You may be wondering, yes we are in, how can we get the ticket to experience the rides? Well, we are hard-working kids, and that time ticket is still in. We saw the family that has tickets on their hands, and we will ask them if we can have at least one ticket. Rides in Star City sometimes requires two or more tickets to get in. So we will ask several people for the ticket until we can have enough to give to the amusement ride attendant.
We got a free entrance, got a free ticket and if we feel hungry we will again ask people for food! Easy as 1-2-3. Annoying to others, fun to us!
That is how we can get in illegally to the park with ticket and foods.
The legal way is to present 12 empty juice pack of Zesto or 6 empty juice pack of Big 250. During the day we will go around the CCP, PICC, Gloria Maris, look for to every garbage cans in the area and dig into it searching for a pack or 2 of zesto. We are lucky enough if the place of the trash can we are digging are from the fast food place that serves zesto or big 250. Sometimes there are company outing or activities, and it happened that their drinks are the same stuff that we are searching for.
There is one place that we always check and we are getting hundreds of empty pack. That is the garbage site of Star City at the back of the park. It’s a huge storage place that has all kinds of garbage. From plastics, papers, and leftover foods even garbage from the restrooms. We don’t care about the smell. We just want the empty packs of juice to get inside the park in a legal way.
Of course, security guards still know who we are. If they see us inside the park, asking for tickets, food and drinks they will escort us to the exit gate. Which we tried not to happen. Once they see us begging, we will run and hide for a few minutes or go to a place that they will lose their sight on us.
While writing this blog, I had so much excitement in my heart. Riding on those amusement rides are one of the precious memories of my life. It gives us another level of happiness, fulfilment and a dream come true.
Now, I don’t need to go around the premises of the park to look for an open hole to get in. I don’t need to go around the city garbage and dig for the empty juice packs. I just need to wait for payday, promos and buy the ticket for myself, family and friends.
During that time, we will do anything to get inside the park, look around the premises for a hole that we can fit in, go around the city and dig through the garbage to find empty packs of juice just to make the desire happen. With our desire to experience the fun, we don’t care how horrible the smell of the garbage is, if we get wounded entering through the hole, or security will caught us asking for food, ticket and escorted to the exit of the park. We will still do it all over again and enjoy the temporary happiness.
I know that these kids on the street right now have the same desire to experience those rides, to scream as loud as they can and for the moment forget the problem they are facing now. If I have the resources, I will have them experience it even just for a night, and I know that they will treasure that forever.