Second Quarter Activities 2013

I have been swamped with tours all over the Metro That I haven't even topuched my computer since I got back from Coron (btw, that was my last entry before this). Usually I would rattle off activities for the second quarter even before the  first one had ended.

clouds over Coron Island

So here's my feeble attempt to get something in before I disappear again.

March - is of course Graduation season. So to all the Graduates, my congratulations for a job well done. Hug your parents! They did you a lot of good by putting you through school. Thanks them and tell them you love them. While you're at it... thank your teachers too...

image from clipart*

Happily for the young ones, it is also officially the end of a long and tedious school year. Time for vacation and this year is no different. Some have filed for vacations leaves since January to have a week off for Holy Week (25-31 March). If you haven't booked for any destination yet... too late! However you can still enjoy a Visita Iglesia in MetroManila while the others have hied off to cooler if not more exotic destinations in our 7,107 islands. I miyself, might have to do a church tour in Laguna if plans push through.

image from www.boston.com*

April - the height of the summer season. Usually this time of year,  the DZMB radio station stages their annual summer festival.  

image from www.lakbaylente.com*

The Aliwan Festival is a week long celebration of activities from beauty pageants, to drum and bugle corps competitions to the colorful street-dancing competitions of entries from all over the different regions of the Philippines. It is held at the Star Theater complex right next to the CCP. This year, it will be held on the second week of Apri (8-13). Enjoy Food, Fun and Fiesta !

Malcapuya Island, Coron

May - is the month of flowers. The month is usually offered to the colorful rituals surrounding the veneration of the Blessed Virgin Mary. There are celebrations of the Flores de Mayo (literally, flowers of May) where little girls dressed in white offer prayers to the Blessed Virgin and in between decades of the rosary flower offerings are made as songs are sung in Her honor.

local orchids from Coron

There is also the Santa Cruzan. This is the best women-empowered festival  wherein which different women in the Holy Bible are represented by pretty maidens in the local communities as they parade in biblical inspired creations of local designers. The religious procession is actually a re-telling of the role of women in the bible and culminating in the search for the Holy Cross of Jesus which was spearheaded by Queen Helen (Elena) and her son Constantine (Constantino). Eventually, Helen became a saint and her son later to be known as Constantine of the cross as they were believed to have found the cross in which Jeus was nailed to.

image from science city of munoz.com*

So wherever you are with whatever budget and whoever you're with... it's possible to go somewhere and still have more fun in the Philippines!