October 18, 2014 [ANTHROPOLOGY OF TOURISM] Tartanilla towards a Touristic Future By Romeo J. Toring Jr. No one knows when animals first started to carry things. It may have been around 6000 B.C. when the first cities were built. Oxen were probably the first animals used, then donkeys.1 Horses may have first used 5000 years ago in Central Asia. Through the invention of the wheel, the horse carriage came about from the chariots of ancient Egypt, to the yokes of Rome, to the pumpkin ride of Cinderella, to our local Tartanilla. It could not be denied that the horse has been a vital agent in building our civilization. Around the world, we see traces of hoof prints in old cities and Cebu is no exception. All this time I have not told you our great piece of new, which is that we have brought a horse and trap - or rather a pony and a calesa - a sort of small dogcart, with big, spidery wheels, to seat two, which tips up unless a third person, generally the groom, is sitting on a small perch behind. This is a very light and comfortable trap, and the pony, an exceptionally good one, both being the property of an American officer we know who is going to Manila and selling off his effects.2 On one of the markers on the renovated Plaza Indepencia, two tartanillas have horses are made of a shaped ornamental plant and describe as: Before the smoke-belching jeepneys, the tartanilla was the "King of the Road." This horse-drawn carriage was the main mode of transportation during the Spanish Colonial times. Although made of light materials, it could carry four to ten people. Up to four horses drew the vehicle. The scarcity of horses led the way to the creation of a new form, a 4-seater tartanilla driven by a single horse.3 Old photos even attest the changes transformed the form of the tartanilla4. However, like any other king, his reign will eventually end. Now, we have jeepneys taking its throne but in the midst of a social crisis - traffic and air pollution. If Marx says, conflict is necessary for change,5 then our jeepneys will suffer the same fate. I see this crisis as a preparation for a new king to come - the buses.6 Who knows in the future what the sovereignty of the BRT would be? 1 Kinney, Thomas A. The Carriage Trade: Making Horse-Drawn Vehicles in America. (Baltimore and London: The Johns Hopkins University Press, 2004). 5-6 2 Dauncy, Campbell. An Englishwoman in the Philippines .(London: John Murray, 1906). 173 3 Text from Tartanilla Marker in Plaza Independencia, Cebu City 4 Urgello-Miller, Lucy. Glimpses of Old Cebu. (Cebu: The University of San Carlos Press, 2010). 141-142 5 Marx, Karl and Engles Friedrich. The Communist Manifesto. Intro. Randall, Francis B. (New York : Pocket Books, 1964). 94 6 Baquero, Elias O. and Felicitas, Princess Dawn. Cebu BRT Gets a Green Light. (Cebu: Sunstar News, March 31, 2014) 2 Before we look forward to the future, I invite you to look backward in time. This paper will be dealing with some patches of the tarnillas development in Cebu City. The issues being discussed in replacing the horse drawn carriages to machines might be common as those of in the First World 7, but I observe a different kind development in Cebu city, even different from the caruajes of Vigan.8 It would be proper to say that horses will play a role in the modern world full of restrictions. 9 While some places managed to convert their carriages into economic machines, Cebu, however (or maybe not), still remain to consider it as a part of everyday transport, not on major highways but on small streets of densely populated District of San Nicolas - Duljo Fatima, San Nicolas Proper, San Nicolas Pahina, Pasil, Suba, Sawang Calero and some extensions to the Carbon Market. It may be dirty and stinky but it is a place full of lessons to be learned. Glimpses of the Kutsero's Life If someone asks me for a place in Cebu City where one rides a tartanilla, I would immediately recommend Brgy. Duljo Fatima. Duljo is a word derived from the "Duljog" which people from the mountains do when they go down to the shore to fish and trade their fruits and crops.10 There, I met Mr. Miguel Cabatino (73), who was a former barangay captain of Duljo. Now with his wife, Rosalinda (67), he manages this horse drawn carriage business since 1949 as an inheritance from his parents. The horse carriage is locally known as "Tartanilla" or "Parada"; these terms mean the same, though according to Miguel, Tartanilla, is an older term and mostly recognizable. Before modern transportation, he used to own many horses and tartanillas were allowed to travel further in the streets of Cebu. Now, he owns eight horses which is rented by five kutseros for 150 pesos each. Standard fare is five pesos per person and prices vary depending on the occasion. Some dealers approaches to sell some horses to him and he selects the horses according to a specific criteria: must not be a coward, must be tamable, and must be on the right maturity for transport. This procedure is necessary to ensure the safety of passengers and traffic control. Prices ranges presently from 70,000 pesos to 140,000 pesos depending on the size. The biggest kind is called semimola the same breed former Governor Gwendolyn Garcia rode during the Governor's Cup.11 Colorfully decorated tartanillas outside Miguel's house are reserved for special events like the Tartanilla Festival and other festivities. Most of these tartanillas are made in sitio Barbac. The tartanilla business earned the Cabatino clan sums of fortune in the past, 7 Moriss, Eric. From Horse Power to Horsepower. (Los Angeles: University of California, 2007) 1- 9 8 Valdez, Elita B. Vigan City: It's Historical Development. (Vigan: Divine Word College, 2006). 9 Skelding, Bob. Guide to Modern Wagon Travel, A Complete Guide on How to Live and Travel by Horse and Wagon in a Modern World. (Colorado: Wagonteamster Publishing, 2011) 10 Association of Barangay Councils. 2002-2004 Barangay Profiles. (Cebu City: 2004).55-56 11 Malaybalay Riders Dominate Gov Cup Horse Show. Philstar News, March 30, 2013 3 along with other families who operates the same enterprise in Pardo, Mambaling, and Inayawan. The ones tending the horses were not the owners but the kutseros themselves. On one of the stables in Duljo Fatima, I met Emilia Navidad (49), who is a female "paradista" or kutsera for five years. Her husband is also a kutsero and their joint income supported their five children to finish high school. Their house is exactly built above the "quadra", or a more Cebuano term "pasungan" (which reminds me of Jesus' birthplace) where eleven of Cabatino's horses stay. The quadra is divided into different sections designated for each of the horses and other of their animal friends like chicken and swine. With all those creatures combined, the smell of manure stands out and astonishingly, the Navidad family manages to coexist despite these conditions. She also mentioned that collecting horse manure was a profitable sideline after drying it up and sold as fertilizer. Science can also affirm the quantity and quality of nutrients found in horse manure.12 All of the horses in the quadra are male. They came from the provinces of Mindanao and other places in the Visayas like Bohol and Leyte. The day starts depending on the horses' mood in the morning. If the horse is tired and lousy, they are fed first. If they are active and tamable, they are bathed first. Horses are traditionally fed with "Kumpay" (also called Dagami or Umut) and "Lunghaw" (also called Paragrass or Balili) - kinds of wild grass growing on the fields of Inayawan. These wild grasses are sliced into bits and mixed with water before served to the horses. Eskrambol - processed animal feed - could also be an alternative, however, Kusteros prefer the traditional method because it gives more nutrients in enhancing the horse's endurance for long hours of travel. Before the horse is used for travel or being "sang-ungan", it is bathed through a method they call "almahasan." In this technique, they hang the horse's head with a rope tied above then, they splash water from their well. They apply any kind of soap and meticulously clean the hair and tail. Before, they used a specific shampoo for the horse but they stopped it due to economic reasons. They also scrape mud also other stains with a tin can cover. After which, the horse's mouth is washed and then, the horse is dressed with the necessary equipments. Only then they bring the horse, passing through a narrow alley, to the streets and installed with a tartanilla. Each horse is only allowed to travel five hours a day which means that each kutsero is responsible to take care of two horses in a 10-hour daily shift day and night. They also travel at dawn for special arrangements. Even rain cannot stop them because horses are stronger and more efficient during these times. Caring for the horse also entails many difficulties especially on health. When the horse has a cough, they let it drink with 8 ounce of pure lemonisto juice (sometimes 12 Smith, Crystal and Swanson, Carrie. Horse Manure Management.(Virginia: Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, 2011). 1 4 mixed with salt and vinegar). For serious illnesses, they let the horses take a tablet or capsule medicine.