Travelogue
To go or not to go, that was the question I faced. Everyone I invited turned me down so I would be going alone. Not that being alone scares me, I’ve always been fine going alone. Watching movies in the cinema, eating in restaurants or just walking and hanging out by myself was totally normal activity for me. The simple joys that I don’t have anyone else to take care of or anyone nagging on what to do next. You get to find to appreciate and enjoy the little things (Rule # 32) once you are totally alone. Anyway, I waited until the last minute before I finally decided that I would be going. I got off work at 12mn Friday night (Feb 26th) and went straight to the Victory Bus terminal in Cubao. Being that I decided only at the last minute, I wasn’t able to reserve seats on a bus. And the station was PACKED! For Panagbenga, the buses left every 30mins and I wasn’t able to get tickets to ANY (12 buses were full). Next trip to Baguio was at 9am which wouldn’t do for me as I would miss the parade. The next trip to anywhere out of Manila was at 5am to Dagupan. While thinking on my next move (and contemplating if the trip was just not for me), I chanced on a few other passengers who weren’t able to get tickets. There were some vans available to take us there. I quickly said yes (Adventure is Out There! Kaka Rawr!) and found out that the trip would cost 500bucks (Law of Supply and Demand) whereas a Victory bus trip costs around Php430 only. Also we would be fitting 18 in the Urvan so we would be as PACKED as the station we would be leaving. After a few more passengers joined our trip, we left Manila at around 2am bound for Baguio. The van ride was terrible as I knew how much more comfortable the trip would be on a bus. Add to the fact that I carried my camera gear as well as my clothes and stuff on my lap, so the trip was the roughest trip I ever had to Baguio. We arrived at Baguio at around 7am, where I could immediately feel the festive mood. Weather was perfect and you could see that many people were flocking to the city to get a glimpse of the parade. After saying goodbye and thank you to my co-passengers, I made my way to a transient house near Legarda St where I stayed a few times already. Unfortunately, the owners of the transient house have already migrated to Alaska and the place was already fully booked. Cursing my indecision, it was a good thing they recommended another place which was now managed by the son and daughter-in-law of owners. Once I got to Fairview (yes. Fairview, Baguio), I knew that it would be too far from what I originally planned since Fairview, Baguio was just like Fairview, QC (Farview) being really really far from the city center. Staying near Legarda is really perfect for me as I could just walk around anywhere I wanted. But being shy about the whole situation (and pretty darn tired) I said yes to Mike and Bianca of getting a room at their place. Now the room was a double-deck bed for around 3 people with a kitchen, all utensils, hot stove with kettle for heating up water and a TV. Since I really only needed a bedspace, I just dropped my stuff on the floor and took a quick nap as I was already dead tired after such a long trip. Once I woke up, thats when all the fun started.
From Fairview, I took a jeepney to the City Hall then looked for a quick breakfast for my stomach. Of course that quick breakfast was McDo at Harrison. I had a small glimpse at the parade that had already started. Gulping down some hot coffee and longaniza meal while hearing the marching bands pass made me just want to move faster. It would be the first time for me to cover a parade so I really didn’t know how to scout my territory. I just looked for a good vantage point and found it on top of a waiting shed along Harrison road. It lasted a few minutes until a policeman shouted at all of us on top of the waiting shed to get off. Then I started walking up Harrison to look for another good vantage point. I saw a spot on the ground right on the parade line so I took it. Apparently the people behind me seated on a grandstand paid to sit there so I had to sit on the ground. A note for myself next year, apply for an official photographers pass (especially if I am to go alone). Being alone has its disadvantages, one major one is security. I mean a guy (or gal) standing there with an expensive DSLR is just a good target for pickpockets or slashers. I had to be checking my pockets, zippers and bag every few minutes with paranoia. The official photographers had photo-stands right in the middle of the street where they had a good view on both sides as well as good security while shooting. The parade ended before noon and soon I realized just how many people were in Baguio. Movement was really restricted as families, friends and even grandparents roamed around (most of them heading to SM and other tourist spots like Mines View and Wright Park. A lot of them contented themselves in finding a spot on the grass of Burnham Park and just spread a banig for a picnic. Many kites roamed the skies as the kids and grownups had so much space to roam around the field. Street vendors selling anything and everything from candies, popcorn, eggs to sharwarma and balloons. I met up with some Accenture friends who also went for Panagbenga. Bought my ticket home so I didn’t have to ride a midnight bus going home. I passed by Good Shepard with my old officemates in Mines View to buy all the goodies my officemates wanted me to buy. Got some supplies for the night (chips and beer) then took a taxi to Fairview for some R&R before getting a good night’s sleep. The next day was going to be bright and early.
I woke up on Sunday morning really really early to catch mass before trying to get a good spot for the parade. Woke up at 4am to take a bath in the freezing cold and was out the door at 5am. Unfortunately the jeepneys in Fairview didn’t start as early as I did, so I was told by the Barangay Tanod that I had to walk uphill to a better spot to ride another jeepney or cab. Having no choice, it was about a 20min uphill walk but it was so early in the morning that I didn’t mind. I caught a jeepney to the market then walked up Session Road to Baguio Cathedral. After mass, I made my way across Session Road which was already filled with people. From my experience yesterday, I had a spot already decided on getting to. This spot was in the middle of Session Road and Harrison. I saw that it would be a good spot as Session and Harrison would be closed so there would be less people in that particular area. However, when mass ended, Session road was already closed so crossing to the in-between section wasn’t going to be easy. I had to make my way to the pedestrian overpasses near the market just to be able to get to where I wanted. Moving thru the crowd wasn’t something I really wanted to do since I had my gear to protect as well as my pockets. So I opted to take the long route around the nearby college just to walk at my own pace to the pedestrian overpass. It was a LONGER walk but I guess it was worth it. I tried to get into a position where I would be at the front of the crowd right at the parade lines but at 7am, every spot was already taken. So again, I just had to settle for a spot with the least amount of people in front of me. I bought one of the sacks that kids were selling so I could “mark” my territory. As the day got longer, the crowd got bigger and bigger. I guess it was a good thing that the people around me were kind of nice as not to invade my space while waiting for the parade to start. But all bets were off when the parade started as I was shooting in a very awkward position of pushing the crowd back while maintaining my balance. I was probably a head taller than anyone in the crowd which made it a bit embarrassing as I’m pretty sure I block a few people’s view. Still being paranoid about the whole safety thing, I was continually checking my pockets and bag to the amusement of the elderly woman beside me. She was nice anyway so when Jenny Miller tossed a towel in my direction, I was the tallest one so I grabbed it in mid-flight and gave the Lola the prized. The parade lasted until about lunchtime so the agony of pushing back took its toll on me. My back hurt so much that I couldn’t meet my ex-officemates for lunch. I bought some rice and some barbeque and took a jeepney back to Fairview to just lie down. I packed up my stuff and got my bags ready for departing. Since my bus ride was at 10:20PM, I decided to walk around a bit more. Not wanting to lug all my stuff around, I left my stuff to be picked up by a taxi so I could go straight to the station. I walked around town just enjoying the last few hours by watching families play around the Burnham Park and having a good cup of coffee at SM to try and sortout my experience. After a quick dinner, I found a taxi to take me back to Fairview to grab my stuff then straight onto the bus station to wait for my ride. Once I got to the Victory station, it was exactly like the Cubao one, PACKED. I found a corner spot on the floor to drop my bags and just read up on my Dungeons and Dragons Handbook. Got on the bus which was probably my worst Victory bus ride ever took us 7hrs to get home (in the middle of the night I might add) as the bus probably didn’t have a third gear. Anyway, I got home safe and sound with work the next day.
Panagbenga Review
The culminating activities for Panagbenga are held on the last weekend of February. On Saturday, its the street dancing parade while Sunday is the grand parade. I haven’t been to a lot of festivals but I absolutely loved the street dancing parade. On Saturday, all the schools go all-out in costume, preparation, band, stunts and any other gimmicks they might pull out. Quite simply, the energy the street dancers put on is amazing. It won’t take long before you are tapping your feet to the beat of the bass and shaking your head to the tunes brought out by the brass and lyres. Now the dancers weren’t bad either! Having different divisions to the street dancing competition and the winner of each division will get to perform the next day with the grand parade. From little kids to elementary, high school and college you can see that costumes were just incredible and everybody had a big smile on their faces. The day was so hot that all the participants had their own support teams to carry water, towel, spare snare drums, props or costumes which I found real dedication to putting on a great show. Sunday’s grand parade was just that GRAND. From afar, it seems as the floats are just designs put on a big truck. But when it gets closer, you see that the WHOLE float was created out of flowers. The two most impressive floats I saw (but wouldn’t win any awards) were the boat (yes a whole boat) and the tiger made out flowers. Just the HUGE displays blew me away. On Sunday this is where all the stars come out to join the fun. This year, GMA sponsored the event so most of their big stars came out on floats. From teenybopper stars like Jocas De Leon to sizzling hot bombshells like Valarie Concepcion who paraded around town waving to everybody throwing out t-shirts and towels. As it was an election year, some politicians were included in the parade (Vice Presidentiable Jejomar Binay opened up the parade). Other presidentiables were in the area but didn’t show up in the parade (rightly SO!). They mentioned on TV that Panagbenga won best festival of the Philippines for 2009 and surely 2010 didn’t disappoint me. It was THE BEST I HAD EVER SEEN and I intend to come back next year with anybody and everybody as I thoroughly enjoyed myself.
– Gello
Anywhere By Bus 