The Talampunay flower is fast blossoming.
Above photo was taken on Wednesday. Nanay and I thought it would at least be a week before we see the flower in full bloom.
But yesterday morning, Nanay was so happy to see the flower has started to show up:
And this morning, we marveled at how it has three layers. Nanay said those they saw in Tagaytay only had one layer of bell shaped petal.
Nanay’s potted plants have been producing quite a splash of color at the side of our house.
She’s been asking me to take photos of her flowers and it was only this morning that I felt like shooting. Bad timing, though. I should’ve waited for the afternoon sun.
It was hard to capture the bees. And yes, there were bees. Like 10 of them, and one little butterfly that was very elusive to the camera.
But if there’s one thing Nanay and I are excited about, it’s the Talampunay bud that has been getting bigger every single day.
And look, it’s almost out!
I didn’t intend to do so, but reviewing my photos of the recent Pahiyas Festival 2012, I discovered I love clicking people, mostly kids.
Here are some of them.
Here’s a GMA-7 reporter I don’t know the name of. He looks so young.
And I have to include this despite being blurry. He’s PBB Unlimited ex-housemate named Roy. He acted and looked so gay in person. So different when he was on TV.
As a side trip to our Pahiyas Festival 2012 trip, I took K to Kamay ni Hesus. I had been there two years ago but it’s always a good thing to come back and be a tour guide to a friend.
It was the middle of the day, the sun was shining oh-so-brightly and I was feeling like fainting. We’re so used to climbing mountains at that level of heat, but it’s really different when you’re up several MASL than when you’re enduring heat in the lowlands.
The Noah’s Ark was still under construction when I first visited the place but it was all done now and being used as a retreat house.
We didn’t have any tripod and it was a good thing someone asked me for a favor of having their group photo taken. I also asked her to do the same for K and I at the doorstep of Noah’s Ark.
Despite the heat, we proceeded in climbing the steps towards the Ascending Christ, which is the third biggest in the world.
We passed by stations of the cross along the way but we didn’t pause to pray due to the scorching heat. Climbing the steps at that temperature was sacrifice enough, really.
And as a self-confessed photog wannabe, I took assuming shots. LoL! I kinda played around with Photoshop so forgive me for the pics if you didn’t like them.
Pahiyas Festival is celebrated by the people of Lucban, Quezon on the 15th of May every year. It is in honor of their patron saint San Isidro Labrador (St. Isidore the Labourer), who is also the patron saint of all farmers.
Lucban was described as a quiet farming town, and the Pahiyas Fetival started in the 16th century to celebrate a bountiful harvest and to give thanks to their patron saint.
The Lucbanons during the early Spanish times used to give an offering to an anito asking for a good harvest. After harvest season, they would gather their produce in a church and they would eat and drink together. Their belief is that this kind of merry-making would please their gods and in turn bless them with good harvest the following season.
The celebration has evolved overtime and has become the famous festival foreign and local tourists flock to during the summer month of May.
Residents on the designated streets would decorate their houses with agricultural products as well as the famous kiping (leaf-shaped decorations made of rice). Judges would go to each house and the best decorated house wins.
Not all of the houses in Lucban decorate their house during the festival. A certain route is determined and only the houses along the route are obliged to do so. However, some people with houses outside the route choose to adorn their houses out of free will just for fun.
And why the route, you may ask? Because it costs a lot to decorate the houses that it would be so hard (financial wise) for a homeowner to shell a big amount every year.
Most homeowners allow tourists to enter the house, look out the window to have pictures taken with the decorations. Some houses yeterday, however, were closed. An indication that the owner didn’t want any uninvited guests.
Almost all of the houses were grand, but, of course, some were more festive than the others as they try to outshine one another for the coveted title of having the most beautiful decoration this year.
Below are photos of the houses that I found so appealing.
This street was the most-packed yesterday morning, and the house in the foreground was most photographed (also shown third pic from top).
And Jollibee also has a house in Lucban!
Popo was dancing in front of the house, to the delight of kids and kids-at-heart, when we passed by.
This man was having a last-minute touch-up.
St. Louis de Toulouse (Lucban Church), home of San Isidro Labrador, the town’s patron saint.
It was bustling with activity yesterday. So glad I had a more quiet time visiting the place in 2010.
In front of one of the corner houses along the Pahiyas route, a band was playing. I couldn’t actually understand a word in their songs, but they repeat the word “haribon” over and over.
We left a little after having lunch of the town’s famous pancit habhab (because there’s no fork you have to eat it directly from the palm-sized piece of banana leaf) and buco shake. We didn’t wait for the parade anymore cuz Kenneth still wanted to drop by Kamay ni Hesus.
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