Pahiyas Festival

Got up really early today...as 4 am early.

We're headed to Lucban, Quezon for the Pahiyas Festival.

We were on the the road before 5 am. Fell asleep in the van immediately. When I woke up we were at the Petron station in the South expressway. Decided that I needed coffee to give me a jumpstart for the day. Don and I decided to withdraw first before heading to Starbucks. The ATM machine was flipping out so we decided to head to Starbucks anyway. I got my usual drink. It was too hot though. I think I burned my tongue. I did get to withdraw in another ATM machine in the station. =)

We're on the road again...traffic isn't so bad...ok maybe not. Traffic kinda got bad when we were nearing the toll gate then after that I don't know anymore...I kinda fell asleep again.

When I woke up, the guys were already clamoring for breakfast. It was already past 8 in the morning and we haven't had breakfast yet. We were in Sariaya, Quezon by this time. Some of the houses were decorated with kiping, vegetables and fruits.

It was around 9 am when we got to Lucban, Quezon. Joey parked near what they called 'The Grotto'. We started to walk to the town proper. It was a really hot morning. Midway to the town, we decided to stop at a place and get something to eat. Some of us had hotdog sandwich while others had pancit hab hab.

We asked how far we were from the town proper. According to the lady we're about 5 minutes away. That got us thinking...hmmm...we were in the province...did she mean 5 minutes as in 5 minutes or 5 province minutes which most of us would agree is actually about 10-15 minutes?

We started walking to town. We found out the lady meant 5 province minutes. We got to the town proper after 10 minutes of walking. It started to get really hot. It didn't help that there were a whole lot of people.

We walked around town looking at the houses. Now I know why people actually go here every fiesta. The people who live here really take time out to decorate their houses and join in the festivities. By the looks of their houses, it must have taken them a lot of time, effort and thinking to make their houses look that good. Homeowners there were kind enough to let visitors in their homes to take pictures. Kinda makes you proud of being a Filipino. Here are some pictures of what we saw in town.

By around 10:30, I lost count of the number of decorated houses. By this time most of us already bought hats. The heat was really beating down on us and we had a feeling it was just gonna get worse as the day wore on. After going around town and looking at the different houses, we decided to have lunch. We had lunch at a small carinderia. The food was good.

After lunch, we walked to the church. By the time we got to the church, the service was almost done. We decided to wait for the next one. I was full from lunch and the heat wasn't helping...ended up falling asleep in church while waiting for the next mass. After almost an hour of waiting, we finally decided not to wait anymore and just head back to the van.

We bought pasalubong outside the church. We passed by some stalls where we bought souvenirs. We also bought 'longganisa' for pasalubong. The walk going back to the van was a long one. We decided to take a breather for a while.

We finally got back to the van. We were suppose to go swimming but we couldn't decide where. We figured we could just pick a random resort while driving but again traffic got bad...we fell asleep...so we decided not to go swimming anymore. Since we weren't gonna go swimming anymore, almost everyone fell back to sleep. When we woke up we were the expressway to Batangas. Beng, who was seated beside, was asleep and then she fell over to my side...she was having a nightmare...kinda got us all spooked. She said she was ok. It was a good thing we were there to wake her up. We wanted to have dinner at Rose & Grace so we started to look out for it. Apparently we missed it already.

Traffic stretched all the way to the South Luzon expressway. With the traffic and all, the main discussion in the van was where we were gonna have dinner. After a long conversation, we finally agreed to have dinner at Sbarro's in Festival Super Mall. Hmmm...I realized I haven't gone to that place in such a long time. I would always go to Alabang Town Center but I would usually be too lazy to head over to Festival.

We got to the mall around 7 pm. Joey and Bess decided to skip dinner with us to hear mass in ATC. As for the rest of us, we were off to Sbarro's. I really couldn't make up my mind what to have for dinner. Finally decided to have my usual baked ziti. Augs and I shared a salad. Teehee...Augs left his wallet in the van. Paid for our food first.

The salad had too much dressing and the bacon bits kinda sucked. It was the bacon bits that was so artificial! UGH!!! Anyway, as usual, I didn't get to finish my food. Good thing Mikko was there. =) Joey and Bess picked us up around 8 pm. We dropped off Anet, Augs, Beng, and Don in ATC. They were going to take the taxi going back to Makati. As for the rest of us, we headed back to Joey's place. Mikko and I left our cars there.

All in all, despite the heat and the traffic, it was a great day. We had fun. Now, it's time for me to hit the sack. It's the start of another work week.