Rizal, The Traveler

Ivan Khalil L. Descartin

Jet T. Castillo
Beth Morales-Nuncio
Overview
Rizal had 2 Trips Abroad
3 Dominant Themes of his
activities in his travels:
 Academic Purpose
 Leisure
 Nationalistic Purpose
Secret Departure for Spain:
 Very few people knew
about Rizal’s 1st trip to
Europe
 Planned by Paciano
 He wanted to make it
appear that Rizal would
just continue his medical
studies in Spain.
 On top of that was another
objective…
 Jose Rizal’s Secret Mission
Observe keenly

of the European nations in order to prepare himself in the

mighty task his oppressed people from Spanish tyranny
entrusted him.
Rizal visited many countries
in his 1st Trip. Let’s focus on 4
 SPAIN

 FRANCE

 GERMANY

 AUSTRIA-HUNGARY
EMPIRE
Rizal in Spain
Rizal met other Filipinos in Spain

Marcelo H. Del Pilar Graciano Lopez Jaena Juan Luna

Antonio Luna Mariano Ponce Jose Alejandrino

They were called the “Illustrados”

 Means “enlightened ones”

 They got to see liberalism with their very
own eyes
 Very rich natives sent to Spain to study
 Some eventually settled there
Rizal and the Filipino
Expatriates in Madrid

Triumvirate
The Illustrados and their Advocacy

 The illustrados dream of better

treatment of Filipinos by the
Spaniards.
 They put up organizations to
advance their cause
 They used their talents such as
painting and writing to
promote their intentions.
 Expatriates Rejoice
 One day, Juan Luna and Hidalgo won
1st place and 2nd place in an
international painting competition
 Rizal delivered Brindis (Keynote speech)
Christian Virgins Exposed to the Populace
 Brindis

 “Genius knows no race”

 The speech is considered a
direct attack and challenge
to the Spanish regime
 Both works were reflections of
reality of politics, society, and
moral life of the Filipinos
under the Spanish
conquerors.
Doña Teodora’s Letter to Rizal
(Dec. 11, 1884)
 Refrain from writing articles
that might offend the friars
and the Regime
 Should not fail his duties as
Christian
 Not to continue pursuing
further studies since she had
that fear that it could cause
him death later.
 Rizal’s Answers

 Even if he puts an end to his writing

articles, he will still have enemies.
 Life can’t be without any sorrow
 Conscience has to decide whether
to submit or perish in the society
where a person is born
 The best legacy parents can give
their children are upright judgment;
generosity in the exercise of rights;
and perseverance in adversity.
 A son can pay honor to his parents
thru honesty and good name.
Rizal also had Formal Lessons
in…

 Painting and Sculpture

(Academia de San Fernando)
 Fencing (Schools of Sanz and
Carbonell)
 English, French and German
(Madrid Ateneo)
Rizal in France
 Rizal in France

 He visited the Leannec Hospital . He

was stunned to see the advanced
facilities in the accommodation in the
said hospital.
 He again visited Dr. Nicaise who
showed the technique of operation.
 Rizal visited the Lariboisiere Hospital
where Felix Pardo de Tavera was an
intern. Here he observed the
examination of the different diseases
of women.
 Rizal in France

 Visited a large eye clinic in Rue

du Cherche-Midi
 Visited DR. LOUIS DE
WECKERT, the leading French
Ophthalmologist
 Popularized “The Monkey and the
Turtle” by sketching it.
 Rizal in Germany

 Today, there
stands a Rizal
statue in Germany
 Rizal in Germany
 Stayed in Heidelberg
 Attended the lectures of Dr.
Otto Becker & Prof. Wilhelm
Kuehne, leading German
Opthalmologists
 Attended the UNIVERSITY
OF HEIDELBERG’s 5th
Centenary Celebration
 SWABIANS
 Rizal in Germany

 Experienced the feeling of

nostalgia for his parents and his
country
 Wrote THE FLOWERS OF
HEIDELBERG (“A Las Flores
de Heidelberg)- forget-me-not
 Joined a chess player’s club
in his dormitory
 Rizal in Germany

 stayed with Reverend Karl

Ullmer for a 3-month summer
vacation
 Protestant Pastor
 He improved his fluency in the
German language.
 In the Philippines, rumors
spread that Rizal might have
converted to Protestantism.
 Rizal in Germany

 Rizal published the Noli Me

Tangere in Germany
 Was published with the help of
Maximo Viola
Rizal in the Austria-Hungary Empire

 Met PROF. FERDINAND BLUMENTRITT

 - Director, Ateneo of Leitmeritz, Austria
 - Blumentritt’s place is in present-day Czech
Republic
 - Austrian ethnologist
 - Has too much interest in Spanish culture
and Philippine Languages
Rizal in the Austria-Hungary Empire

 PROF. FERDINAND
BLUMENTRITT became
Rizal’s favorite pen-pal
 They often exchanged
letters and books upto
Rizal’s death.
 Rizal sketched Blumentritt’s
portrait
Rizal in the Austria-Hungary Empire

 According to Ambeth Ocampo’s

book “Rizal’s Teeth, Bonifacio’s
Bones” (2007), Rizal and his
traveling companion, Maximo
Viola, stayed at Metropole Hotel
in Vienna.
 A prostitute came to Rizal’s
room.
Rizal in the Austria-Hungary Empire

 Viola wrote:
 “…a temptress…of extraordinary
beauty and irresistible
attraction…offer for a moment
the cup of mundane pleasure to
the apostle of Philippine
freedom…”
 This is the only “slip” he saw in
Rizal in their 6-month trip
together.
Rizal's First Trip Abroad

What was effect of this trip

to Jose Rizal’s faith and
social perspective?
Important Consequences

1. Sudden change in the religious

outlook
2. Melting down of his social
complex (widened view of
cultures)
Rizal, The Traveler (Part 2)
2nd Trip Abroad
He visited the following
countries:
 Hong Kong
 Macau
 Japan
 USA
 England
 Spain (again)
 France (again)
 Belgium
 Rizal in Hong Kong

 Brief stop-over
 Followed by a spy, Jose Sainz de
Varanda, sent by Gov. Gen. Terrero
 Met Jose Maria Basa, who later
inherited Rizal’s library after his
execution.
 Met Balbino Mauricio, whose Binondo
house became the model of rich
Filipinos’ houses in his novels.
 Rizal’s Experiences in HK

 Long celebration of New Year from Feb. 11-13.

 Theatre
 Lauriat food
 Rich Dominican Orders
 Cemetery: Protestant, Catholic, and Muslim
 Rizal in Hong Kong

 Rizal wrote to Blumentritt:

 Hong Kong is a small but very clean
city.
 Rizal in Macau

 Jose Maria Basa

accompanied Rizal to Macau
 Met Francisco Lecaros, a
Filipino –married to a
Portuguese
 Rizal wrote that Macau is a
small city that is gloomy, sad
and almost dead.
Rizal in Japan
 Rizal in Japan

 Juan Perez Caballero-

Secretary of Spanish League
(Legation) invited Rizal to stay in
the Spanish Legation (similar to
an embassy)
 Rizal agreed
 Reasons: He could save
He has nothing to hide
 Rizal in Japan

 Rizal met Osei-San

 O-SEI- SAN (Seiko Usui)
(23 years old)
Rizal (27 yrs. Old)

“No woman better than you has loved me, no

woman like you has sacrificed herself. As the
flower of the chodji falls from the stem fresh and
perfect without being stripped from its petals or
withered, tender and poetic even after its fall, thus
you fell…Sayonara, sayonara! You will never
come to know that I have thought of you again, or
that your image lives in my memory…When will
the sweet hours I spent with you return?”
 Rizal in Japan

 Rizal quickly learned the

Japanese language, arts, music,
and judo
 Amazed with the beauty of
the country, people and culture
 Rizal observed: Few robbers
 Rizal in Japan

 Rizal befriended Tetcho Suehiro

 A Japanese novelist who left
Japan because he advocated
press freedom in his country.
 Suehiro was inspired by Rizal
 Later in his career, Suehiro wrote
2 novels similar to Noli and El Fili
 Rizal in the USA

 Got quarantined for 8 days in San

Francisco because he’s an Asian.
 He wrote: “ I wouldn’t advise
anyone to make this trip to
America, for here they are crazy
about quarantine (8 days) and
have severe customs inspections,
imposing on any little thing duties
upon duties that are enormous,
enormous.”
 Rizal in the USA

 Observed racial discrimination of Blacks and

Asians.
 He wrote: “America is indeed ‘Land of the
free and home of the brave’, but only for the
whites.”
 Rizal in the USA

 Saw Niagara falls, but was not

impressed.
 He wrote: “The falls of Los Banos are
more beautiful than Niagara.”
 Rizal in England

 Anotated Morga’s
Sucesos de las Islas
Filipinas
 Antonio de Morga –
Spanish official and
historian in the late 1500s
 Rizal in England

 Morga wrote about

description of the life of the
natives in the Philippines and
the events that happened in
his time.
 Rizal read Morga’s book
which was stored in the
London Library.
 He annotated (wrote
explanations using his
perspective) the work of
Morga.
 Rizal in England

 On weekends, Rizal was

bored.
 Rizal wrote:
 “Sundays here are very
boring; every place is
closed, there are neither
shops nor theaters, and if
music is played, it is only
religious music.”
 Rizal in England

 Rizal met Dr. Reinhold Rost –

editor of the Trubner’s Record,
a journal devoted to Asian
Studies,
 requested Rizal to contribute
some articles:
 Specimens of Tagalog
Folklore
 Two Eastern Fables
 Rizal in England

 While working in the Annotation,

Rizal started El Filibusterismo
 All this time, Rizal lived as a
boarder in the Beckett boarding
house, which was a short walk
from the London Museum.
 Became friends with Gertrude
Beckett
 Rizal in France

 Stayed with Juan Luna and Paz

Pardo de Tavera
 Met Eduardo Boustead, a
Filipino-British married to a
Filipina, and his 2 daughters
(Nelly was one of them)
 Nelly Boustead: considered
herself a Filipina
 Rizal in France

 Established patriotic
organizations:
 Kidlat Club
 Indios Bravos (to proclaim that
natives of the Philippines are
great)
 Sociedad R.D.L.M. (Redencion
de Los Malayos)
*code name of the secret inner
group of Indios Bravos
 Rizal in France

 Rizal was in Paris to witness 2

big events:
 Centennial celebration
(100th anniversary)of the
French Revolution
 Inauguration of the Eiffel
Tower
 Rizal in Spain

 Rizal became very active in the

Propaganda Movement
 La Solidaridad
 Goals: Assimilation
 Better treatment of Filipinos
 Representation in the Spanish
Cortes (congress)
 Rizal in Spain

 Published “Filipinas Dentro de

Cien Anos” (Philippines: A Century
Hence) and Sobre La Indolencia
de Los Filipinos (Indolence of the
Filipinos)
 – two of Rizal’s greatest essays
 Published in La Solidaridad
 Rizal in Belgium

 Published El Filibusterismo
 With the help of Valentin Ventura
 Rizal in Belgium

 On page 142 of Ambeth

Ocampos’s book “Rizal Without the
Overcoat” (2000), Jose
Alenjandrino, Rizal’s friend and
visitor in Brussels narrated…
 Rizal invited him to a “house of 2
ladies” to have some amusement.
 Alejandrino liked the amusement
and asked Rizal if they can visit
again.
 Rizal in Belgium

 Rizal refused, he said that

once-a-month amusement is
enough because if it is done
more than once a month, it is
already a vice.
 And Rizal wouldn’t want his
friend to develop a vice.
 What could be this
“amusement?”
 The Big Question

 Was Paciano successful in his intention of

sending Jose abroad?
 Compare the Jose Rizal before his first trip
and the Jose Rizal after his 2nd trip.
 Lessons on Rizal as a
Traveler

 He was very productive, academically and

patriotically.
 He made a lot of friends (academicians,
Filipino compatriots, foreigners, girls).
 He wrote a lot (blogged) about the sights, his
insights, and experiences.
 Conclusion on Rizal as a
Traveler
We may choose to be like him, follow the
good things (not the bad things) he did,
when we become a traveler one day, as
a tourist or OFW.