Aliwan fiesta 2008: Covering the event rain or shine

Covering Aliwan Fiesta is an adventure in itself. I arrived early at the Quirino Grandstand at around thirty minutes past noon. The sweltering heat of the midday sun is just so unbearable. Upon arriving at the assembly area, I hurried myself to the cafeteria right in front of the Manila Ocean Park for a quick cold refreshment. I had a glassful of icy cold ripe mango shake. Minutes later Nina arrived and she too ordered mango shake.

After finishing our cold drinks, we then headed towards the area where the gigantic floats are parked. We took shots and awed at how creative these people in creating their masterpieces.

Who could’ve thought that corn leaves, mung beans, and garlic can be transformed into a calesa. While coconut leaves where magically made into a large peacock.

Of course Boohbooh wasn’t just left behind. He was with me all throughout the day. I have to make sure he too has photos with the floats and the festival dancers.

And minutes before 4PM, the scheduled start of the Aliwan Fiesta Streetdance competition, heavy rains poured down as if there’s no tomorrow. Luckily, Nina and I were already inside the cab during the heavy downpour.

We arrived at star city at around fifteen minutes past four in the afternoon. And all crowd we all packed at the Star City area. The food stalls are packed too. So Nina and I decided to just pay the 60-Pesos entrance fee at the Star City amusement center just to avoid the chaos outside and to find some place where we could eat. After our heavy snacks when then bought some more foodies that we could much later during the event.

But going to the pressbox is a challenge. The area where the dancers will be performing and the area reserved for the press is flooded with water. We need to wade through inches of flood water just to get inside the reserved area.

And what’s even more irritating is that almost half of the people inside the pressbox are not even there to cover the event. Most of them are just kibitzers or in plain and simple Filipino, usisero. If they wanted to watch the event, they should’ve gone to the bleachers allocated for the general public.

Nina left early like after the performance of the fifth group, while I stayed the whole night with some friends. We had dinner at the Harbour Square then went back to the Aliw Theater for the announcement of the winners.

It was a tiring Saturday afternoon of May 3. Got tanned by the noontime sun then got drenched in the rain in the afternoon. But I still enjoyed covering events like this. Until next year!