In what was generally perceived as a tight match between the Buyogan Festival of Leyte and the Dinagyang Festival of Iloilo, with everybody enthralled by the huge props used in their respective performances, the Buyogan Festival  - grand champion of Aliwan 2009 and Sinulog 2009 (Free Interpretation category) – fell short of reclaiming the grand championship title of the Aliwan Fiesta Festival 2012 and had to settle for 2nd place with the Dinagyang winning the title 3 times in a row.

Lingganay Festival of Alang-alang, Leyte – winner of Leyte’s Pintados Kasadyaan 2011 and Sinulog 2012 – got the third place.

Unlike during the Aliwan 2009 where we got drenched in the rain with the parade lasting till 2 o’clock in the morning the next day, we got sunny weather this time and the parade started much earlier at 1:30 in the afternoon at Quirino Grandstand, and ended at 7PM at Aliwan Theater at CCP Complex.

Now on its 10th year, the Aliwan Fiesta Festival is an annual celebration parade held in Metro-Manila featuring the top winners of the various festivals from all over the country vying for the top prizes – a cool PhP1M for the 1st place, PhP.5M for the 2nd place and PhP250,000 for the 3rd place.

The festival parade started at the Quirino Grandstand then proceeded along Roxas Blvd ending at the Aliw Theater at the Cultural Center of the Philippines (CCP) Complex.

The Buyogan Festival of Abuyog, Leyte at the Quirino Grandstand:

Abuyog Mayor Octavio Traya, Jr. leads the contingent along Roxas Blvd.

At the Aliw Theater, CCP Complex:

Buyogan Festival officials receive their award at the closing ceremonies:

 

 

As I mentioned in an earlier post, we couldn’t help it but head on to Kalanggaman during the Holy Week summer break.

The  family and I have been enchanted by this tiny jewel of an islet.

We love its remoteness, its natural, undeveloped, “uncommercial” state. And although there are a few picnic kiosks, a common cooking facility and public restrooms, there are no ‘theme park’ developments in the islet.

We are not really the type who yearn for a modern mall nor chic restos/bars/cafes by the beach.

It was Holy Week so when we arrived, all the kiosks were already taken despite an earlier reservation we made with the Palompon LGU which manages the place. But not to worry, many were not planning to stay overnight so by mid afternoon, we already had our kiosks and had 4 tents set-up, enough to accommodate us all.

Continue reading »

What a pleasant surprise!

Shortly before we started preparing for breakfast very early in the morning on the second day of our Holy Week sojourn at Kalanggaman Island, we had an unexpected guest who dropped in.

It was the islet’s resident Black-crowned Night-heron, locally known as “lapay” :)

It was actually not our first meeting.

I first met the Lapay during one of my earlier trips to Kalanggaman. I was told by the islet caretakers that there was originally one pair of the birds bred in captivity and released in the islet by Palompon’s local government personnel. The other bird vanished and only this one stayed around.

Here are photos I took of her during that first encounter May of last year…

 

Yes, I know I’ve featured Kalanggaman Island several times already but I just can’t help it. ;)

This time, the family together with some friends, spent the Holy Week break there and were joined by the staff of calle Z cafe for their annual summer break.

I sort of had my own “mission” – my own “adventure” – and this was: to try my hand at doing timelapse photography, while vacationing in the island.

Here’s what I came up with…

© 2012 gerryruiz photoblog mark II Suffusion theme by Sayontan Sinha