Homecoming and fiesta time

The third week in January is one of big celebration. It is a fiesta to the Santo Niño de Cebu, the patron of the island, and so many people show up. This year, as the 30th anniversary of the festival, it was bigger and better than ever, with so many international travelers. I arrived last year for this same festival and it was grand then, and even more grand this year. For the final parade last year over 2 million people showed up to watch, but this year, there were 8 million! That should give you a sense of the amount of people pouring on to the island, and I had a lot of family members here as well, some which I haven't actually seen since the last time I was here in the Philippines. It's a little odd really, that I have family members in the US that I don't see, except for in the Philippines. But there were parties galore, lots of food to be eaten, and a lot of traffic.

But still, this festival is a celebration of the Cebuano people, the people I have come to love over my 5 trips here. They never cease to amaze me; in their religious devotion, walking 6 km in the rain; in their fearless attitude towards crowds of millions; in their love for food and guests, always finding anything and everything to feed me; in their friendliness, always smiling and dancing. These people are not ashamed of their poverty and it is very apparent when you visit, but it's ok, and I don't mind it, I only wish all the millions of dollars that I'm sure the city has made with millions of people enntering the city were used to do something about it, instead of keeping it in the hands of the powerful and the greedy.

I do love it here. And each time there's something to see. This visit has brought a trip to Bohol to see the world's smallest monkey. And of course, seeing all of my favorite family members, eating the most delicious fruits I've ever had, and continuously being called ma'am. I've also spent a considerable amount of time explaining to people the history of this festival (remember I wrote a 33 page paper on it), which has been tiring, but also nice.

In the last 5 days, I'll just visit family (as I now write on my immigration slip instead of checking tourism for my reason for entering) and get updated on what's been happening since I was last here. The best part of course, is that my parents finally returned to the Philippines after 15 years, and much to father's dismay, he has learned that I'm more famous here than he is. They have been introduced to people, who nod generally, but when told that these are the parents of Liz, they say, 'ohhhhhh.' I think I've started to solidify my place here, finally.

Soon it's back to Japan, and after being in this city, I'm sure the shock of it's cleanliness and quiet will hit me again and I'll yearn for home, wherever that may be, again.