Tuesday 7th July - All Better Now

UPDATE: I'm feeling a lot better now. It has taken a week for me to get back on here - not just because I have been unwell - as we have all been busy with trying to sort out the catering for the house blessing as well as the arrival of my mum and brother on Saturday, not to mention trying to book a holiday to Hong Kong.

This was supposed to be posted when I arrived from Balibago (a week ago). So here it is now.

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Arrived safe and sound yesterday from my stay in Balibago, but was so tired from the journey that I slept for 12 hours and, alas, did not enter the blogging world to update you with my encounters.
From where we live in Metro Manila, it took us 2 hours to drive to Binangonan, Rizal where we were told that we were to travel by boat to reach Balibago. Now me being me, and the fact that I'm not a very confident swimmer, I wanted to know exactly where we were going. See, I thought that the boat ride would be, at most, 15 mins. Firstly, to my horror, I could not find Balibago on the map...and secondly, I was informed that it would take an hour and a half AND there were no life jackets on the boat. I nearly suffered cardiac arrest.
Boats here, in my opinion, do not look like that they can take more than 30 passengers or travel for longer than 15 mins:

But, I was proved wrong as 100 or so passengers clambered on to the boat which, in turn, endured 2 hours of travel - intact.

Anyway, we finally disembarked at the port in Balibago to be greeted by my godmother. I thought St Andrews was small but this village is miniscule in comparison. With everyone knowing everybody else, the term privacy is practically non-existent.

I was taken around the island by Barbie (or Barbs as she is known), my godmother's neice, when I came across some *cough* eccentric characters:


The tour ended at my godmother's summer getaway hut on her farm, and after a hearty dinner and an earful of Videoke I went to sleep.

The next morning was the dawn of Pagoda. Pagoda is a festival whereby the people of the barrio (borough) celebrate their patron saint(s). The day consists of going to Mass, eating heaps and heaps of food, throwing water at one another, sweet-giving (and eating), playing games (such as trying to hit a piñata) and attending a party on a boat. In other words, it is one big binge on holy-sweet goodness.

I didn't take part in the celebrations on the boat for reasons I explained earlier, but I did watch the procession of the statues of St Peter and St Paul from the my godmother's still-under-construction house.



I also took a stab at hitting the piñata...
..I missed.

Here are some of the photos I took whilst I was there. The views were just - breathtaking. More or less what I would expect from the Philippines.

1 comment:

  1. I think when you read these all back at the end of summer you're going to find them really funny! I understand completely about the boat thing; you know that Robbie Williams offering to lift me on board would not make me less optimistic. However; glad your feeling better, take care xxxx.

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