Iloilo, Philippines - January 29, 2006
Not sure what to think of the Festival. We've waited for the last few days for the weekend. Saturday morning we woke up, turned on the TV, and suddenly around noon they announced it was finished for the day. We walked around, and saw lots of other activities, but the dancing/drumming competition was over by noon! Surprising.
We also went to see some famous live musicians from Manila play in the streets of Iloilo. However, the setting up of it was all messed up. It was held on a narrow streets, and had tons of plastic chairs and tables everywhere near the stage. Meaning if you were able to get a seat there, you'd have hundreds of people standing in front of you anyways. In addition, it was incredibly crowded, so no one could see anywhere. If you stepped back a distance down the street, there was some other music playing drowning out the famous Manila musicians. Very poorly organized. So we just went home.
Got up again this morning, but realized we couldn't see any of the performances either. Yet another small viewing area so no one could really see. We ended up going back home to watch on the TV again. Just feels poorly organized all the way around. On the plus side, people still make it festive, and start their own little parties all over streets. So I guess its just as good.
I haven't seen that many foreigners around which is surprising. It is festive, but feels very local. Lots of people shout out 'hey Joe' which I can't stand. Lots of people stare and look at the foreigner, as well as get overly excited at the prospect of selling me some boat or water or whatever it is they are carrying around. In other words, its not really all that much fun for me as a foreigner. If I were local, the place would be a blast I'm sure. Particularly if I was a native and knew a lot of people and such. Its also family-oriented for kids. I was surprised that I haven't seen anywhere that sells any alcohol anywhere. Then again, I don't feel like I've yet to have the full-on experience of the place. Walking around with a girlfriend kind of means you don't really interact and socialize to the same extent as you would otherwise. So maybe I'm going home to early on the events.
Back in the hotel, watching the TV on the festivities, it looks amazing. There are people coming from Manila - famous celebrities, foreign ambassadors, even President Arroyo herself of the Philippines. Why the spectator stands are so small is beyond me though. No tickets were sold to the people wandering the streets, that I know of. I heard its basically invite from the sponsors of the event. Its televised nationwide and a huge event. But even just some tourist walking around will essentially just be walking around without seeing the main event. Fortunately however, the people around and in the streets make up for it with lots of music, drumming, and dancing. Plus the dancers of the event do walk around in the streets, so even if we don't see the actual performance itself, you can still feel the energy and everything else.
Well, anyways, tonight I'm going to take a boat to Bacolod one hour away on a different island. So all of Iloilo will soon be a memory. One last thing about the Philippines. Interesting listening to the radio in the Philippines by the way. Always in English, makes me feel like I'm listening to the radio back home.
More on the Philippines..
January 30, 2006
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