Talisay,Batangas Town Fiesta 2010

My wife Lolit and I were invited last Fevruary 10, 2010 by VW Vic Degrano and wife Lalaine, to celebrate with them their town fiesta in Talisay, Batangas. It was in honor of the towns' patron saint Sn. Guillermo.Hl Mercy Viajedor with her sister HL Jovit with husband Norving who was driving the car also came and we rode with them. Bethzy and Bevs with husband Mhike together with their kids Mikay and Mikoy also went in their cars. We all took the road to Tagaytay and passed thru a zigzag road leading to Talisay.It was a very exciting trip especially when we were already passing thru the zigzag road going down from Tagaytay to Talisay. It was very,very steep and the road is a little narrow.It's about more than an hour from our place to VW Vics' house. We arrived at around 11:30 am, but we had a little difficulty in parking our cars because there were a lot of cars already and the street was full, and it was only with the help of VW Vic and a kind neighbor who showed us a place to park.When we reached the house we were immediately treated with some merrienda and cold drinks. A little bit later PGRM Lyn Altares arrived with his driver. She also found a hard time parking her car and it took them some minutes before they could find a spot. They were also served with some refreshments.

After I had finished my drinks I proceeded to the town plaza and to the church to pay homage to Sn. Guillermo and at the same time took some photos and video recordings of the place. The church is very beautiful and relatively clean in spite of the fact that it was fiesta time.An image of Sn. Guillermo stood at the center of the main altar and a monument also stood in front of the church.The retablos are very prominent with gold lift designs.People goes in and out of the church to pray and give thanks to the Lord and also to pay homage to the Saint.The old traditions of wiping ones handkerchief to the statues of the different Saints and then wiping it to some parts of the body that requires some healing, were still very much alive.Outside just infront of the church were stalls of different merchandise being sold ranging from candles ,foods, birds, clothes,flowers,fruits,drinks and even bolos,knives and some garden and farm implements.

There was one street just across the church,about maybe less than a kilometer long that leads to the public market,and this was filled with so many stalls and vendors that you could hardly walk with ease due to so many people buying and some were just looking around. There were also some stalls with games of chance and here lots of people young and old were gathered.

After quite sometime I went back to the house and lunch was served. It was a very sumptuous and delicious meal. It consisted of fried tilapia and ayungin, chicken in pineapple, beef caldereta, pork and chicken adobo and mixed vegetables and of course some rice.Desserts and sodas were also served.After this we were served coffee and enjoyed every drop of it.

After a few minutes of talking and relaxing, the ladies wanted to go to the market and so we went there and I again took some photos and videos. They bought some fruits, sweets and suman. The market is very near the lake and I took this opportunity to take picture and video of the lake.

It was already 3:00pm when we went back to the house and there was already a prepared merienda of suman and cold drinks. The suman(rice cake wrapped in coconut leaves) is very delicious and as we were told, it was cooked by the niece of VW Vic. After a little while we bid goodbye and thanked them for a very wonderful experience that we had. The food was excellent and the place is very beautiful,it was the mountain on the other side and then just a little further on the other side was the lake. The warm hospitality of the hosts, VW Vic and wife HL Lalaine was extraordinary.

We will surely cherish this very special occassion and hoping to go back there again.