Fiesta!

This past weekend was fiesta time in our barangay (neighborhood). I'm not quite sure what the celebration is for, but it has something to do with the Spanish culture that was brought to the Philippines during their colozination of the islands. It is also related somehow to the Catholic church down the street. I should google it! Anyhow, fiesta is party time. The week leading up to the fiesta had many groups like the one below going up and down the streets. They're loud so you hear them long before you can see them. They dance some dance routines and bang on drums, making a big ole ruckus. They also hand out envelopes so people can make donations to their group. They tried to hand us one, but we put on our dumb foreigner face (sometimes we manage this look without trying) and they moved on.

On Sunday evening the parties were in full swing. The streets were closed to traffic and people were out in the streets eating and enjoying hanging out. There was a live band playing on the street behind our place. At one point we could hear the band playing and two different karaoke songs going on in two different places. It was worse than it sounds!

The owners of our building had a nice party up on our rooftop (we have a great covered rooftop garden on our building) so we went up to join the merriment. The karaoke was going strong and the lechon baboy (a whole pig roasted) was ready.

Up close and personal with the baboy.

Karaoke provides many hours of entertainment in the Philippines. Filipinos love to sing and perform, so a karaoke machine is a must have.

We had a good time eating good food and visiting with our neighbors and listening to people butcher songs.

I suppose that's an appropriate picture to finish off this post.