Ironwulf.net: En Route – The Philippines, Travel, Photography Blog

I try not to travel around during the holiday seasons as the vehicular and human traffic is horrendous at this time of the year. But I decided to make an exception on the 17^th of December 2011 to witness this year’s Ligligan Parul 2011 or the Giant Lantern Festival in San Fernando, Pampanga. It’s a grand annual lights and music spectacle featuring the Filipino’s traditional Parol (Christmas Lantern) showcased in a gigantic scale. This year, 10 baranggays (villages) take turns to display their sophisticated light design display on their Giant Lanterns in-sync with their choice of music to give us audiences a feast to our senses.

The Siete Palabras was our main reason for visiting Angeles City in Pampanga on a Good Friday, but of course there is more to observe on the city’s lenten rites. We got there before noon and actually liked the festive mood the crowd seems to have and the number of stalls and vendors around the area. That is until a parade of flagellants came marching through with with their blood soaked backs yet incessantly self-whipping, seemed numb from the self-inflicted pain. It’s actually a first for me to witness such practice up close and didn’t expect I would enter a melancholy world of self flagellation.

I could hear the hoofs of horses among the ambient noise from the gathering crowd as we approach the stage where the performance would start. A few people garbed in Roman Soldier Armors on horses and a few more in clothes in the time of Jesus were already at the venue. Under the scorching heat of the noon time sun, the spectators were already eager to get the program started. It’s the Siete Palabras at Barangay Lourdes North West (LNW), Angeles City Pampanga. A street theater re-enactment of the Seven Last Words by 70 volunteer performers in the barangay.

There’s what we call the Great Migration, in which living beings move from one place to another to survive and we humans are no exception to this chain. When our habitat condition is deemed unliveable we move to a new location. A perfect example of this of course is the migratory birds that fly endlessly around the world and live temporarily on environments favourable to them. The Philippines, particularly the Candaba Wetlands in Pampanga has been an annual host to these birds

It was 7 days, 1798 kilometers, 9 Conventions and Visitors Bureau (CVBs), 8 provinces in 4 regions, 26 people on one bus on a trip around Northern Luzon. This is the Lakbay Norte Familiarization tour held January 24-31, 2010. I’ve always wanted to do a horseshoe loop of north Luzon and I was glad I was able to do it with the help of North Philippines Visitors Bureau. It was packed, tiring but also fun and exciting. For those who would like to try the similar route, this would be a great reference on what to expect.

It is Sunday, the last day of our 7-day Lakbay Norte tour. It seems most of us have exhausted our wardrobes that we started wearing some of the shirt giveaways we got throughout the trip. I get to curl up more on Holiday Inn’s comfy beds longer as our call time isn’t that early. We still have a few activities for the day and as soon as we finished breakfast. The group was once again split into half to do some horseback riding and a jeepney tour.

5:00am I came down at White Rock’s lobby and joined a table that turned into some sort of internet café. I think I only had at two and a half hours of sleep and opening my laptop seems like a heavy task. Its day 6 of Lakbay Norte tour and I still wish I could have tried those other rides at Treetop yesterday. But I already got used to having only portions and a taste here and there. Besides this is a familiarization tour. The point is to get “familiar”.