Ely’s Philippine Imports: New Orleans Filipino Store, meeting place of Pinoys
In New Orleans, I was on a hunt. Hunting for a Filipino store. That hunt would bring me to Slidell, Louisiana. Across the bridge, across the lake, on a very rainy day. I’m sorry, I lost my camera so I don’t have a picture of this Filipino store in Slidell. She told me that there was another Filipino store, right near the New Orleans Convention Center in the City.
So, one Saberdey, my goal was to find this Filipino Store in the heart of the city. I took out my hard-headed navigator, pushed some buttons and I saw, Ely’s Philippine Imports along Andrew Higgins in downtown New Orleans. Gora ang lola. As usual, dahil me topak nga tong navigator ko, kawala-wala ako. Ang alam nya lang ibulyaw to me was “Off-route!“. Ang hayup na to! Hmpt! Pinag-ta-tyagaan ko na lang until maka-harbat ako nang sum’tin friendly and new. Pero, buti nang nawala ako. Maganda ang mga nada-anan ko. Like this one:
Poydras Street. Eto pala ang kanilang Ayala Avenue, tree-lined at mga magagarang office buildings. Clean and nice. But dito lang sila. You move one block sa gilid, you’d see reality. Nakakalungkot na reality.
I would see the W Hotel. Eeeeek! This was where Yves and I stayed many years ago!
And this is the very popular Mother’s na nilinyahan namen noon for more than an hour makapasok at matikman lang ang best of New Orleans. I was not able to take picture of the entire line, pero paikot sya sa isang block at napakahaba nang linya.
Meanwhile, I found my destination. Medyo malapit sya sa Missisippi River. Eto sya. Ely’s Philippine Imports.
Wagi! A Filipino Store. Unang pumasok sa isip ko? Danggit! Pusit! Hahaha! Kaso, medyo kinabahan ako, ba’t walang sign?
Bakal na pinto. Bakal na rehas. Sarado. Pipindut ka nang sum’tin sum’tin. I looked around, me mga sign. “This area is under surveillance.“. Eeeeeeeekkkk! Counted ba ang mga niloko kong boys?! Anyway, getz ko na kung ano ang ibig sabihin nito. Big brother area to. I introduced myself. Na ako ang reigning uragon at butangera. Shi-nip ni Aling Darna sa New Orleans to make a difference. Pakilala rin sya. Sya pala me ari. She’s the Ely in the Ely’s Philippine Imports.
Social climbing starts now.
“Ka-aalis lang nang mga tiga-barko.”
“Ha?! Barko?!”
Natuwa ako. Hehehe! Keyword yong binitawan nya. Hahaha!
“Babalik pa ho ba sila?”
“Bukas. Mga alas diez. Dito sila kumakain.”
Ngiting aso na ako. Hehehe! Nawala lahat nang lungkot ko. Hahaha! Meron pala syang karenderia sa likod at sya lang ang gumagawa at nag-luluto.
Sabi nya, tiga Tanay, Rizal daw sya. Naka! Baka wala na yong barangay nya dun sa lecheng Ondoy! Sabi nya madami daw syang relatives sa Tanay na mga Catulos and they live right around Wawa. Uber bait ni Aling Ely. Wala pa ako sa mundo, yet she’s been here 1958 at tagalog pa kamo kami (anong masasabi nang mga ipokritang Pinoy na mega-fake english accent?!). She bought this place at hindi sila binaha dito. I felt better. Mukhang I might have to move in this neighborhood, except for those signs na “under surveillance“. Pinakain nya ako. Libre. Sinagpang ko naman. Wala kasi akong pera. Nag-emote kasi ako na bagong salta at walang kakilala.
Pati tubig. Libre. Sinamantala ko. Namili ako. Buko juice. Ayoko nang tubig.
Wala talaga akong dalang anda. Dahil nga $2.75 per withdraw sa pera ko sa impaktong ATM machine sa apartment. So, debit card lang bitbit ko. Ok. Ok. Rewind. Fine. Wala talaga akong anda! Hahaha! Kaya hiyang hiya ako nang pinabitbit pa ako ni Aling Ely nang kahit na anong gusto ko. Haller! Kunyari lang yon. Kinapalan ko muka ko. Eto ang mga nadekwat ko.
Wag nyo akong ipa-barangay. Pramis. Pinalista ko. Kiver. Chief Fairy Officer, nawawalan din nang bala. Leche. Bukas, alas diez impunto, babayaran ko utang ko. Hehehe! Well… para na rin makilala yong mga tiga-barko. Kaya lang, nakakahiya! Baka malaman nila, nangutang si La Kapitana! Hahaha!
So the following morning, Sunday, I was out on a mission again. This time around, to meet Filipino seamen working for the Norwegian Spirit docked in New Orleans. Malay nyo! Baka makakuha nang libring cruise ticket to anywhere in the Caribbean. Of course para na rin bayaran ang mga naharbat kong paninda ni Aling Ely.
Eto ang dinatnan ko. An sasaya nila. Nainggit ako. Hmpt!
I felt a bit of homesickness watching them lafang da fuud in the table, bantering and making jokes with one another. They were funny, nice and very friendly people. Some of them told me that most of them were contractual that work for six months (I’m not sure if I got that right) then home to the Philippines for two (2) or three (3) months and back to work again. According to one gurl seated beside me (dun sa unang pic), about 70% of the crewmembers were Filipinos.
I asked one of them how’s the industry doing. He told me that, on an average, most of them lost about $500 to $600 of monthly earnings. But I was surprised to hear that it was not about the financial crisis. It was about some regulations passed about safety. According to him, there have been a number of safety accidents daw, caused by lack of sleep amongst crewmembers. And so, the usual 12 hours of work, with 4 hours overtime was changed to 10. That’s 8 hours of regular work and 2 hours overtime.
Because I was uber-excited meeting them, I forgot to bring mongol and I don’t remember any of their names na, except for the Prism Band of love brothers and Lira.
He was one of the guys who cooked and was uber busy at the kitchen.
So far, they were the most wonderful Pinoys I met in New Orleans.
Not only were they wonderful, but if you think about it, it’s the earnings of these people that’s being remitted to the Philippines that is helping the economy be afloat with the current financial crisis gripping the world. Can you imagine what kind of help these people are doing to our economy? Combined OFW remittances are now running at $15 billion dollars a year. And yet – I just viewed one video on ABS-CBN to the effect na yong SSS would not give loans to members who lost their jobs dahil sabi nang SSS, essentially they want to make sure na makakabayad at na-max out na daw ang pinautang. But!!! Pag ang gobyerno ang humingi nang sum’tin sum’tin for stimulus chorva para sa pitaka nila, ambilis nang lecheng SSS! Hmpt!
Anyway, so ayon. After the salu-salu, bumalik na sila sa barko.
Ako?!
Mag-isa. Umiiyak. Sa pantalan. *hikbi*
HINDI PANANAKOT:
If you like this entry, gagawa rin kayo nang story about meeting places nang mga OFW’s o kaya na mga Filipino Stores, Filipino Travel Agencies o kahit na Filipino Doctor’s and Dental Offices. At dahil mabait kayo, you will submit that story to Barrio Siete because we get a lot of visitors here who are either Overseas Pinoys or Overseas Filipino Workers. Di ba? Ayan assignment nyo. Kundi? Ba-block kayo! Hmpt!
Address:
Ely’s Philippine Imports
339 Andrew Higgins
New Orleans, LA 70130.
Tel.: 504-566-7081
The Norwegian Cruise Lines
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Interesting concept Reynz. baka ma late konti ung homework ko. pero I do my best na magawa ang assignment para hindi ma-block.
hehehe this was Rob and Mahalia’s idea Darbs and given na ang readership nang Barrio is almost like 85% overseas, i’m sure they’ll appreciate these types of entries. salamat. am sure andami dyan sa nueva yorka.
naku natakam ako. mukhang ang saya ng barkadahan. nakakamiss ang maraming pinoy.
re: assignments, may mga topics na ako para ambush interview at paparazzi effect. LOL!
yeah, maganda yong suggestion nyo ni rob!
dito sa lugar ko eh anim ang filipino stores (apat ay may karinderia) within 10 miles radius. inggit ka no? may adobo, papaitan, giniling, sinigang, tinola, lumpia, palabok, diniguan, upo, ginataan, halo-halo, etc….yummm. ang sarap. kulang nalang eh kalderetang pitbull.
anyway, iyung filipino restaurant ang unang nag-ampon sa akin dito. tapos eh yung mga taga simbahan. haaay, parang mini-pinas na rito. sa iowa at texas eh halos ako lang ang exotic dun. sa new orleans ba marami? o ikaw lang ang tisay
in New Orleans, yun lang and what’s interesting was that hindi sila nagbebenta nang taro leaves hahaha and that was one of the reason ba’t ako naghanap nang pinoy store because i was gonna cook laing – yeap, yun lang alam kong lutuin hehe
yeah sa new orleans, i guess ako lang nga ang blandina except for these pinoy guys i met, wala na
dito naman sa Philadelphia, there’s 1 and 2 other in across the bridge in New Jersey siguro mga 24 miles at pinag-tatyagaan kong i-drive kahit malayo hehe
nakakatuwa. ang galing.
kahit kelan talaga basta piktyuran, game ang mga pinoy haha.
natawa ako sa utang. haha. yaman yaman mo kamahalan e.
penge naman ng original lakers cap! bohaha
all stars yun dencios, that was in 2002 nung nagkaron nang all stars sa philadelphia. nabitbit lang ako nung ceremonial wife kong si matilda kaya nakapag-social climb kina iverson ata yun nun i don’t remember now. give ko seyo on one condition. one lang. hehe ~evil grin~
kwela naman. anywhere in the world, you can find a Pinoy. tumingin ka lang ng mabuti..
kaso yung isang pic, parang kinakampanya yung isang presidentiable na mahilig mamigay ng relief items using his name as the brand.
sino sya? last pic? di ko makilala kung sino yong nasa litrato. ganun talaga sa mga daungan nang barko. me mga lugar na pinupuntahan ang mga pinoy.
dati, sabi saken ni james, nakatambay daw ang mga pinoy sa riverview in new orleans. he said, basta punta ka run, nakahilera daw ang mga payphones at swak makikita mo.
i went there, wala naman akong nakitang pinoy other than this guy na tiga guam daw sya, pinoy who speak no tagalog, pero litsi, accent parang bikolanong natisod sa kamatsili