On Saturday, Chelsea and her friends came from Albay to watch enjoy the Penafrancia fiesta with me and Hunter in Naga. The majority of the main roads in Naga City were closed down to traffic to accommodate the massive crowds that had infiltrated Naga for the fiesta. All the streets were packed!
Fiesta decorations flew overhead on every street!
Here's a little glimpse of walking through the crowded streets. As you can tell from the audio in this video, it was really windy all day- probably from the huge typhoon that is/was passing by the Philippines.
We walked down by the river to get a good spot to watch but there were already huge crowds of people there even hours before anything was set to happen!
The river was crowded with lots of long boats full of men waiting to escort the Ina (image of the Virgin Mary, 'Ina' means "mother" in Bikol) down the river. There were no women on the river. I was told a few days before by another volunteer that women are not allowed on the river for this procession because every time were before, something bad happened. For instance, one time many years ago, one of the old bridges collapsed under the weight of all the people trying to see the Ina.
I love this shot with the Filipino flag flying!
Once Chelsea and her friends and I met up with Hunter and our new site mate, Candy, we were the main attraction! This was the first of the paparazzi action. It'd be interesting to know how many pictures were taken of us throughout the day because, it seemed at times, everywhere we looked someone was taking our picture.
Lots of people found look out spots in the market. Basically every balcony like this along the procession route was crowded with people.
Chelsea sporting our headgear for the day: "Viva la Virgen!"
Hunter, Candy, Chelsea, me
Chelsea and her body guards/boyfriends/barkada
ABS/CBN... the news!
Lots of gambling games were set up in the plaza. This one is some sort of checkers strategy game played with bottle caps on a painted board.
Candy and Hunter stopping to get some mani (peanuts)
Crowds!
More people crowded along the river banks!
We stopped in at SM because some of the other new 272 volunteers were there with their new host families. Even SM was overflowing with people!
We walked back towards the river because I really wanted to get a glimpse of the fluvial (river procession) and in addition to the heavy winds we had been feeling all day, the sky had taken on an ominous gray tone. I love this picture of men high atop a building next to the river with the dark sky behind them.
Some kiddos hanging out on the top of a trike!
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