The Black Nazarene from the balcony on Hidalgo St.

a devotee

The feast of the Black Nazarene is the biggest and longest procession in the country celebrated every January 9 each year. I've heard so much about it so when Mia invited to witness the procession from the balcony of her husband's ancestral home in Quiapo, I immediately said 'yes'. She did warn us though that we may wait long, until midnight.

I was actually quite nervous. That morning on TV, the news reported to expect millions of devotees to join the procession. Honestly, I wasn't sure what to make out of the devotees.

I was told that a devotee performs a panata a sacred promise to do the pilgrimage in exchange for a miracle. This may come in the form of a cure from a health problem, economic aid and whatever they are praying hard for. Their panatas must have been answered since the devotees are growing and now numbering by the millions.

Come to think of it. this devotion is no different from what I have experienced. I am a devotee of the Mother of Perpetual Help in Baclaran. When I was diagnosed with spondylosis (cervical slipped disc) in 1999, my upper left side was paralyzed. It was difficult for me to move. I couldn't bend, twist and walked with difficulty. My left arm was immobilized and I could only do things with my right. I was in pain. My orthopedist advised that I undergo surgery otherwise he said the recovery will take more than a year. That's when I started going to Baclaran every Wednesday to do the novena. In fact, one night, a friend (Rina) convinced me to kneel from one end of the church to the altar to, so to speak, speed up things. Believe it or not, in three months time after doing the novena, I was free from pain relievers and could move.

our view from the balcony on Hidalgo St.

It must be the same faith that drive the devotees - of all ages - to walk barefoot all day during the procession and trample on everyone just to touch or wipe [with a towel] the image. Those that I call 'extremists', carry the wood of the carroje (carriage) or the rope attached to it.

We waited and waited for the procession. I would peek out of the balcony from time to time, to check what was happening, As the crowd swelled, it meant that the Black Nazarene was coming close.

The temperature outside was strangely getting heavy. Mind you, January is usually cold at night, There was also a mix smell of sweat and urine wafting through the air. It was becoming more chaotic outside. One time I checked, I counted  six people who fainted and were being taken away in stretchers by volunteer medics.

a woman trying to touch the image 

At around 10pm, some of the guests wanted to go home.  They attempted to leave only to double back since there was way too much people and they couldn't move past the block to get to their car.

Around midnight, we could hear people howling and shouting "viva, viva, viva.."  I rushed out to the window and was absolutely stunned when I saw the procession. There were two rows of people pulling the ropes and moving snakelike from side to side. I don't know how they can survive being pushed, pulled and squeezed. I thought that only woman I saw in the sea of men was going to get strangled by the rope.

The crowd would mimic the movement and was moving side to side as well. Meantime, there were devotees who were stepping on the devotees, trying to climb up the carroje to touch the image. I've never seen anything like it. It's more of fanaticism than a pilgrimage.

The procession passed Hidalgo St at 12:30 am and arrived at Quiapo Church, a few blocks away at 2 am. The procession took a total of 19-hours. Thank god there were no casualties but at least 1,686 were injured.

Video of the procession from the balcony on Hidalgo St.:

It's time to plan 2014, the list of Philippine holidays is now out!

The government actually announced the list of nationwide holidays early last year. It's just now that I got to post the dates. Unfortunately this year, there is only one three-day weekend which is this January 31 to February 2 and one four-day weekend during Easter on April 17 to 20. The August 21 and 25 dates can be stretched to a five-day weekend. Other opportunities are the May 1 and June 12 dates.

Here's the regular and special holidays for 2014:

January 1 (Wed)   - New Year's Day
January 31 (Fri)  - Chinese New Year (special non-working day)

February 25 (Tue) - EDSA Revolutionary anniversary (only for schools)

April 9 (Wed) - Araw ng Kagitingan (Day of Valor)
April 17 (Thu) - Maundy Thursday
April 18 (Fri)  - Good Friday
April 19 (Sat) - Black Saturday

May 1 (Thu) - Labor Day

June 12 (Thu) - Independence Day

August 21 (Thu) - Ninoy Aquino Day
August 25 (Mon) - National Heroes Day

November 1 (Sat) - All Saint's Day
November 30 (Sun) - Bonifacio Day

December 24 (Wed) - Additional special non-working day
December 24 (Thu) - Christmas Day
December 26 (Fri) - Additional special non-working day
December 30 (Tue) - Rizal Day
December 31 (Wed) - Last Day of the year

The national holidays for the observance of Eid'l Fitr and Ediul Adha shall be announced after the approximate dates of the Islamic holidays have been determined with the Islamic calendar (Hijira) or the lunar calendar.

Happy planning and please take heed of what American author and poet Maya Angelo advised "Every person needs to take one day away. A day in which one consciously separates the past from the future. Jobs, family, employers and friends can exists one day without any one of us, and if our egos permit us to confess, they could exist eternally in our absence. Each person deserves a day away in which no problems are confronted, no solutions searched for. Each of us needs to withdraw from the cares which will not withdraw from us." 

Nakasendo hike from Tsumago to Magome

Explosion of colors along the Nakasendo trail

Absolutely breathtaking! God was truly on our side when we planned our trip to Japan. As early as May, we - Tonyboy, Jun and Bettina - earmarked the first week of November to visit Baby who made Tokyo her home a few years back and to check out the temples in Kyoto.

The trip became a sort of reunion since it was ten years ago that we (sans Bettina) all climbed Mt. Annapurna in Nepal. Of course being mountaineers, we squeezed in a hike in between to Nakasendo.

The timing was perfect! This is the season when the leaves change colors and when the Japanese flock to the mountains and even to Kyoto to see the leaves, particularly the leaves of maple trees, turn red. The practice is called momijgari, which means hunting of red maple leaves.  So, we were lucky that we confirmed early because when we got there everything was fully booked.

Nakasendo or "path through mountains" is the ancient highway used by the shogunate and the samurais during the 8th century to travel from the imperial capital Kyoto to Edo (now called Tokyo). The road is 533 km long and cuts through the central mountains in the Kiso Valley. There are actually 69 stations or posts along the highway.

Since we allocated two days to hike, we chose the popular ancient post towns of Tsumago and Magome which are the 42nd and 43rd stations.

Our entry point was in Nagiso and exit point  in Nakatsugawa (refer to left map). The train ride took about 3 hours, two hours from Tokyo via shinkansen to Nagoya where we changed trains and took the express train to Nagiso in 55 minutes. Note that we purchased the JR Pass in Manila so we could just hop in and out of any JR line.

One of the trail posts to Tsumago

Nakasendo was surprisingly easy to get to and likewise, the path was easy to hike. At first we were afraid that we might get lost with our DIY (do-it-yourself) plan. And considering that I just recuperated from dengue, I was not too sure that I would be able to hike the distance. Tonyboy was kind enough to load my stuff in his backpack as well as load Bettina's and Jun's too (who had some kind of back problem at the start of the trek).

The trail was well marked with sign posts every kilometer or so and trail maps were readily available at the Tourist Information office at each postal town. The first leg was a 4 km hike to Tsumago and the jump off was behind Nagiso train station. The trail led to rice fields and through the forest which was dotted with maple trees.

bumped into Alfonso  

We got to Tsumago in time for lunch. Being one of the smaller postal towns, the restaurant selection was quite limited and after seeing two or three places, we chose the one where there were lots of people. The menu offered three types of ramen - vegetarian, ebi (shrimp) and a very interesting yam concoction. Expect to shell out as much as Y1,200 per bowl.

While we were having lunch, we were interrupted by a Caucasian-looking fellow who asked if we were pinoys. It turned out that he grew up in Manila and coincidentally enough, is a cousin of a friend of mine and attended the same elementary school as TonyBoy. Alfonso. who is now based in Australia, speaks fluent Japanese and guides tourists, specifically bird watchers and photographers around Japan.

Magome trail

After lunch, we headed out for a bit of sightseeing. We spotted a historical museum and several souvenir shops along the road. We then stopped at the tourist information office to get a trail map to Magome, 8 km away.

The first 5 km of the hike was an easy, gentle ascent to the crest of Magome Pass (2,500 feet in elevation). We passed through forests, waterfalls and stopped to rest at a little hut where we were served matcha (green tea). There were some tourists inside who warned us of the steep climb up to our next stop.

True enough the climb was indeed steep. When we got to the peak, we were greeted with a clear blue sky and a fantastic view of the snow capped Mount Ena. Several photographers were there readying their zoom lenses and waiting for the sun to set.

Mt. Ena behind the marker

After a few snaps, we walked to Magome where we spotted more zoom lens-toting photographers along the road. We found out that the town was celebrating its annual lantern festival that week and thus, there were several tourists

Our accommodation in Tajimaya was a typical ryokan (inn) where the rooms were divided by shoji screen sliding doors, futons laid out on tatami mats and the bath and toilet facilities were shared (separate male and female though). The cost of the room comes with a sumptuous kaiseki dinner and breakfast.

Before dinner, I decided to try out for the very first time the piping-hot onsen inside the female bathroom. It was soothing especially after a long hike under the rain. The onsen is supposed to have healing properties. (Tip: best to soak in the onsen, after dinner, before going to bed).

At dinner, we donned the traditional yukata (kimono) and we were served small dishes in small plates - appetizer, sushi, pickled vegetables, tofu, fish, soup and fruits. The gohan (rice) was served in a wooden bowl.

some sake in our Japanese style room before dipping in the onsen

typical Kaiseki dinner

follow the yellow-dotted paved road

The next day, after breakfast, we set off to Nakatsugawa, 10 km away, to catch the train to Kyoto. The hike would take us to the towns of Shinchaya and Ochiai and finally to Nakatsugawa.

Be warned - this section of Nakasendo is not popular among Western tourists. Most of the hikers we met were Japanese and also the trail signs were in Japanese. We would stop and ask the local residents where to go and they would point to the road and say 'follow the yellow-dotted road.' Thank God Bettina who reads hanzi (Chinese) which is also Kanji (Japanese), could make out the characters and led us to the right direction.

The hike was downhill all the way. The first town Shichaya, 2 km distance, consisted mostly of farmlands. We passed several shrines and  gorges along the way to the next town, Ochiai. As we neared Nakatsugawa, it was getting to look more of a city with more cars and flat roads.

one of the Shinto Temples along Nakasendo

Jun posing infront of one of the gorges

If we continued following the yellow-dotted road, we would probably have ended in the next postal town. There were no signs leading to the train station. Jun decided to randomly knock in one of the homes to ask for directions. Luckily, someone came out to help. He even went out of his way to walk with us to the main road, explaining the tourist spots along the way and finally, directed us to the train station.

boarding the shinkansen

We made it to the train station and had time to get some ramen next door. The trip to Kyoto was much shorter, an hour and a half, 55 minutes to Nagoya and 39 minutes via shinkansen to Kyoto.

Note that the best time to go to Nakasendo is when the season starts to change.  However, be warned. From our experience, this is also when the locals take the time out to witness the changing of the leaves (momijgari) and I'm sure Spring will likewise be busy for the hanami when the cherry blossoms from the sakura tree bloom.

Monster typhoon Yolanda (Haiyan)

As early as Monday Novemer 4, I warned my office e-Group of two impending typhoons. The tile of my email was "in case you're wondering why it's raining - Krosa (Vinta) out, Wilma next and another one...".

I am no meteorologist (although I took a Meteorology 101 course in college). I chanced upon the warning when I was checking out the accuweather.com for the forecast in Japan for my upcoming trip. Senior meteorologist Kristina Pydynowski on November 3 wrote ".. another more threatening storm looks to follow this one for the middle end of next week. The nation's capital of Manila escaped being significantly impacted from Krosa, but the city may fare worse next week.... The second of the two systems will likely be the stronger of the two and ... would mean not only a return of the heavy rain, but also damaging winds."

With that post, I started monitoring the system. Two days later on November 5,  Pydnynowski called the approaching system as a 'monster typhoon' and wrote "The expected track of Haiyan will take it directly over the areas hardest hit by a powerful 7.1 magnitude earthquake that killed more than 150 people in the middle of October."

There were storm chasers already billeted in Tacloban and even CNN's Andrew Stevens was there. The last thing I saw that fateful Friday, was the report of ABS-CBN broadcast journalist on the morning show (clip below) saying that the winds were howl, visibility bad, the roads were empty and the water rising. After that, zilch! News blackout.

Monster typhoon Yolanda, packing 314 km per hour winds , is unprecedented and to date, the strongest storms ever recorded in history. In fact, the highest Philippine Public Storm Signal Warning is up to  #4 which is defined as a very intense typhoon with very strong winds of more than 185 kph may be expected in at least 12 hours. Eastern Visayan, particularly Samar and Leyte, were the hardest hit provinces, with the typhoon making its first landfall at 4 am in Guian. Note that my favorite resort in Guian was completely wiped out.  As of today, the National Risk Reduction and Management Council reported 4,000 fatalities and 1,600 missing.

Here is an eyewitness video (12:24min) taken by a storm chaser (icyclone.com):

And here is a rare footage (1:30min) taken by a community development worker of the storm surge that destroyed the house next door in seconds:

Currently there is an outpouring of support from everyone, from all walks of life, locally and internationally -embassies, corporations, celebrities. Even my neighbors have pitched in to help. In my apartment building, there is a huge balikbayan box stationed in the lobby to drop off donations.

It's been two weeks and now the focus is how to rebuild the cities. I caught the interview of Joey Salceda on TV where the interviewer was insisting on fault finding and he said 'move on na tayo.' lets think positive.