Hello Readers! I’m sorry for this super delayed post about the 2012 Dinagyang Festival. My ever trusted laptop was broken. Haaaay! “Just when I needed you most”…♪♫♪♫

OK! Here we go…

I never imagined that I’ll witness a real street dance parade ever in my life.  Akala ko sa TV ko lang sila makikita! Hahaha! But…Just this January 2012, we flew to the city of Biscocho Haus (for me, they make the best butterscotch ever)! Iloilo City!!! We flew there with a mission. 1: Join the Dinagyang Festival…as a dancer? How I wish! 2: Try the original La Paz Batchoy (OMG! we did try it and it’s heaven)! and 3: Go to Guimaras Island (home for the sweetest mangoes in the WORLD)!

At the airport

We arrived at the Iloilo City Airport early morning and we were amazed by how the airport looks like. It’s pretty big for a provincial airport. Until we discovered that it’s not provincial. It’s international!

The casts of this trip are Zuring, Justin and moi! While at the airport, we took every opportunity to start enjoying!

In the middle of “us havin’ fun”, a young lady aproached us and ask if we were dancers for Dinagyang and with a curious face almost saying like “e kasi you’re wearing those costumes e.” Hahaha! The costume was displayed at the airport by the management to encourage people to take photos wearing it. The young lady introduced herself. Her name is Nikka Sotelo. She says that she’s working for Mr. Ralph Recto and they were planning to see the performers. Then she goes, “Ilan kayo?”…we say “kaming tatlo lang po”.

“Aaaah…Let’s exchange numbers and I’ll check if I can get you guys passes to one of the judging sites (Freedom Grandstand).” And so, we did.

Zuring

Justin

Carl

Pride of La Paz, Iloilo

We left the airport even more pepped up to dance in the streets of Iloilo and with the hopes that Nikka will give us passes.  In all the excitement, our tummies got excited too! Hahaha! And we all have one food in mind…BATCHOY!!!

We went straight to the city looking for a food stands/restaurants who serve batchoy and we found Deco’s.

They serve one of the best batchoy in town. They also serve them in 3 different sizes. Zuring got the “regular”, Justin got the “special” and guess what I got… “EXTRA”, the biggest size of all!

Street Dancing!

At this moment, we’re all prepped up and ready to go to the see and join the real festival (still waiting for Nikka’s text bout the tix)!

So, while waiting for a text or a call from Nikka, we met some of the street dancers who already danced at one or two of the judging sites…OMG!!! We’re missing all the great performance!

He’s one of the characters in a group’s performance. Can you guess what their peg was for this year? Hmmm…I bet you can’t with all those feathers huh? LOL! Well, here’s another clue. Don’t worry I’ll reveal the answer later as we go along. =)

The dancers are still enthusiastic about what they were doing even though they’re being soaked under the scorching sun! WOW!

I think now is the good time for a little bit of refreshment. Whatchatink? Oh, look! Manong Ice Scrambler?! O’course, we didn’t the opportunity to iskrambol! =)

And then, finally, a text message and a phone call from Nikka! She’s got us tickets to one of the judging sites! GREAT! Not just any tickets, mind you. Wait for it…V – I – P! How great can this trip get? So, lemme show you how it feels to be in the VIP section. Not to mention the peg they used for this festival. =)

Tribu Atub-Atub

Tribu Aninipay

Tribu Angola

Tribu Bantu

Tribu Pan-ay (The Defending Champ)

The answer to the riddle and one of the reasons why they became the champion. Yes. The bird or the Philippine Eagle. And, it’s crazily HUMONGOUS!!! Big enough to have those girls carry its EGGS under it’s WINGS!

VIVA SENIOR STO. NIÑO! VIVA! VIVA! VIVA!

DI – NAG – YANG!!!

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