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After a detour to drive thru the grounds of the palace, the visitor proceeds on his way towards Santa Mesa. The next place of interest is known as the “Rotonda”—a circular Plaza at which two important thoroughfares and some of lesser importance intersect. In the center of the Rotonda stands the Carriedo Fountain built in memory of Francisco Carriedo, the Spanish engineer who installed the first gravity water system in Manila sometime in the 19th century.

A typical country scene

Santa Mesa Soon the visitor arrives at another residential section known as Santa Mesa. This section is on top of a hilly district overlooking the city. Fine bungalows and villas surrounded by beautiful lawns adjoin one another. Americans, Europeans, and Filipinos live here side by side. Mingled with the sumptuous abodes found in this section are several patches of nipa huts, furnishing a startling contrast—the almost primitive native residence common throughout the archipelago, especially in the barrios, as compared with the architecturally highly developed occidental type of residence. In the midst of this ensemble of residences are rice fields cultivated in typical native fashion with terraces, ditches, carabaos, etc.