(H)ISTORYA Rizal cash-strapped in Paris

Ambeth Ocampo

JOSE Rizal's 138th birth anniversary passed quietly last

Saturday except in his hometown Calamba. Classes have

opened and teachers are again requiring students to lay their

eyes on ''Noli Me Tangere,'' ''El Filibusterismo,'' ''Ultimo Adios''

and ''Jose Rizal,'' the Marilou Diaz-Abaya film.

The recent cultural blitzkrieg known as the French Spring in

Manila '99 reminded me that Rizal was a francophile. His letters

to his family were filled with enthusiastic reports on what he had

seen or experienced in Paris. Like most tourists he noted the

public urinals in the streets, the parks, gardens and museums.

Having read Victor Hugo's ''Notre Dame de Paris,'' he visited

Notre Dame and relived the story of Esmeralda and Quasimodo.

Not content with that, he even climbed the tower for a closer

look of the gargoyles he described as ''sculpted monsters that

served as decoration.''

Had he examined the gargoyles more intently he would have

discovered that some were water spouts and formed part of the

drainage for the roof of Notre Dame.

As tourist

Like most tourists, Rizal complained about Paris being ''the most

expensive capital city in Europe.''

In a letter that made Teodora Alonso shed tears, he said:

''I can live in this city when I already have a profession and I can

devote myself to some work that will earn me a livelihood;

otherwise with P50 it is impossible for me to live here... One can

live cheaper if he eats horse-meat, cat instead of rabbit, goes to

taverns where one can eat for one peseta and 50 cents. I'm

keeping up this bravado that brought me here out of

self-respect, so that they may not say I'm killing myself for P50.

God knows how many months at Madrid I shall need to recover

the advanced expenses I'm incurring here.''

Contrary to popular belief, Rizal was often short of money, and

in Paris he had to borrow money and perhaps he did eat cat

meat or what we would call today ''sio-meow'' to make ends

meet.

His family was going through hard times and could not send

him additional funds, besides Rizal did not ask permission to

visit Paris. He actually persisted even if his kuya Paciano

ordered him to stay in Spain.

Window shopping

Rizal was appealing to nanay for funds and Paciano later

advised him to pawn his jewels so as not to go hungry.

Unfortunately, Paris then as now is a shoppers' paradise and the

stores are part of the tourist attractions, so Rizal went window

shopping:

''We had a quick look at the establishment they call Bon March

(literally, cheap), one of the four or five very big department

stores here, the others being Ka Louvre, Le Printemps, La Belle

Jardiniere, and others. In these establishments are sold all kinds

of articles except food, though I believe I have seen a cafe and a

restaurant. It occupies an entire block with all the floors of the

buildings as large as the space between our house and the

telegraph office. So that you may be able to form an idea of how

big it is, it keeps 150 Norman and English houses whose only

work is to deliver the purchases of the buyers, the horses

occupying an entire large building.

With respect to Norman horses, mine though small, resembles

them closely for its broad haunches and thick musculature.

They serve only as draft horses and they are very strong; there

are some that are like elephants.''

Based on his letters from Paris one can see that Paris has not

changed in a century and that the Filipino tourist has not

changed much from Rizal's day to the present.

Comments are welcome at ambeth@pusit.admu.edu.ph