incessant rambling

Most fiestas in the Philippines has taken on a very commercial tone with pageants, diskoral, perya as standard activities on top of the usual novena, mass service and procession. A classic example is the Sinulog in Cebu City although the pre-parade activities are usually very solemn. I had the opportunity to join the sakay sakay (fluvial procession) in Naga to honor Mother Mary, it's an old story that i wrote about almost a year ago. nothing changed much, the Lady is taken from her home in Barangay Tuyan and brought to the sea where it boards a boat and sets off to the port of the Poblacion in Naga City where they go on a procession to the main church.  The reverse happens and they end up in Tuyan parish church where they also hold another procession. For those that are not familiar with the story, the image of the Lady was found on top of a floating plank off the coast of Tuyan where the natives brought it in and enshrined it in a small chapel. At one point, th...

we've heard of telegrams, snail mail, email, text messages etc etc. but with available technology like blogger and youtube, it becomes a lot easier to post videograms. the only downside is that you need to be half decent before appearing in one. it's not like answering a mobile phone call in the middle of the shower he he he. To the Del Mar family in London - posting this video of the family in Naga. We all just got back from the 3K trek up the mountain last Good Friday. Good thing videos don't come with surround smell features ha ha ha! Missing you all! (click the video to activate) just in case you're inclined, here's the link in youtube. You can also get pictures of the trip up the mountain via this link . Cheers mate!

I gotta admit, my most recent attempts at climbing is confined to the stepmaster machine in the gym. i haven't even considered going up the tall, reaaalllly tall indoor wall climbing facility in the gym. am skeptical that the ropes tied around my waist is strong enough to stop me from falling. that and the fact that a big, tall, hairy man like me doing the wall thing is too much King Kong for my liking. so, i did the next best thing and went on a trek up the hills in Naga City (Cebu). It's not like i suddenly woke up with a strong desire to climb a mountain - the occasion is Good Friday and it is a Catholic tradition in the Philippines that we normally do the way of the cross as some sort of "pilgrimage" that traces the carrying of the cross up Calvary by the Lord Jesus Christ. Well, without the whips and nailing part - more like, water jugs, sandwiches and endless tsismis in between "stations" where we pause to say some prayers (silent sigh of relief from a...