Festival Of Lights

Last night some of the other volunteers and I went to the Festival of Lights which happens every year here in Calapan. It is a troupe of people who do dancing with choreography and are holding glass cups with lit candles in them while dancing. It was so fun but when we first got there we couldn't see anything because of the crowd in front of us. And here I thought that most of the people here were short but apparently not because all the tall ones were in front of us! We finally pushed our way up into the stands and found a spot with a semi good view.

 

So here are some pictures from our outing. Be forewarned that they are not of the best quality but hopefully it will give you an idea of what we experienced.

 

 Just arriving in the city.
 

 

I couldn't actually see this at this point. I lifted my camera above my head for this picture.

 



 

Just before the group started dancing.

 



 

It was a lot of fun to watch. By this time we had found a place where we could see what was happening.

 



 

 



 

Spinning around.

 



 

 

This was the last group to perform and they were really amazing! They did the usual dancing with candles that the other groups had done but then they came out with these guys who where swinging fire around. If you can see, in the back there are boys standing on someones while swinging the fire all around and then they walked up to the front. They got a huge response from the crowd.

 



 

After the show we went to an open air market.

 



 

 

Here is some of what was avalible.

 



 

 

The purpose of bringing us here was to try and pressure us into eating Balot. Have you ever heard of Balot? I have to say, I came forewarned thanks to the Lonely Planet video about the Philippines that I watched before I left.

 



 

This poor guy is the one they got to try it first. He didn't realize that he was the only one trying it until he had it in his hand.

 

 

Balot is a partially developed egg that is boiled, in this case it was duck.

 



 

Tanya decided to have some because nobody else was trying it. They (being the 2 staff members) had gotten her to try it last year when she was here. She said we all needed to try it. I declined.

 

Tanya's egg.

 

Then Deborah decided to give it a go. Someone gave her a piece of their egg to try.

 

 

"Oh, not the feathers! I can't eat the feathers! Oh, that's the brain! No, I can't eat that part. Give me some other part."

 



 

 

She said as long as you can get past the smell (which is nasty) and the thought of what you are eating (which I couldn't) it wasn't bad.

 



 

 

However I did try some juice. It was pineapple and was the most delicious juice I think I've ever had!

 



 

This little boy went up to everyone asking for 5 piso.

 

Janelle said he has money but didn't want to use it.

 

We didn't give him any money but Janelle did give him part of her Balot.

 

Poor Hannah was sitting over here trying not to throw up at the sight, smell or thought of Balot.

 

Afterward we went to Jollibee's to have some ice cream. I don't think it's real ice cream but it was ok. Then it was time to head back to Ruel.