divisoria coast guard.

a few weeks ago, a couple of shops seemed to have something common in their window displays -- an authentic-looking coast guard lifesaver. needless to say, i obsessed over it and decided that i absolutely had to have one for my studio.

with a bit of charm and a willing companion, i managed to score one of them.

read the story below...

believe it or not, i actually tried convincing the sales attendants to sell me the lifesaver. i told them i'd pay triple the price they paid for it. this tactic didn't seem to work, so i thought of escalating my whim... to store management ;-)

i asked for the phone numbers of these shops' head offices, got in touch with the marketing department, and again tried to negotiate. since they insisted that they couldn't sell these things, i relented to asking for the supplier's name and contact number.

finally, one of them admitted that the said item was sourced from divisoria.

being a child of the suburbs, i became rather hesitant at the mention of divisoria. for those of you who are not familiar, it is actually a market district known for dirt cheap prices and a wide assortment of... well, just about everything. indeed everything from fruits to electronics to fishing supplies to fabric can be found here. the market itself is comprised of several intersecting streets, and not to mention four major malls.

of course, i forgot to ask WHERE exactly in divisoria i can find the lifesaver.

i convinced one of my friends (seen in the photo below) to join me in this hunt for the lifesaver. we met up after work and drove to taft avenue where we parked my car and hailed a jeepney.

my friend, demonstrating the use of the lifesaver.

we found the item at juan luna street, which, luckily enough, was exactly where the jeepney dropped us off. too bad that it was already late evening by the time we arrived. all the fishing supply shops were closed except for ONE, and the owner exploited this fact by charging me PhP300 for the lifesaver (i'm sure i could get it a much lower price if i got there sooner).

if you plan to head to divisoria outside of rush hours, it might be easier to take the MRT or LRT-2 and getting off at recto station (i haven't tried this, but apparently, it's common knowledge).

divisoria (philippines exiles and stellersjay)