Philippine Travel Notes

Still in Taysan, Batangas and all of a sudden we heard a merry beating of drums. I ran towards the window thinking it was the town’s fiesta parade. No it was not. There was this group of dancers clad in costumes like most do in the Sinulog, Ati-atihan or Dinagyang. I watched a while. Even went down the street for a closer look. Soon after they danced, somebody from the house gave them money. Then they went to front of my friend’s house and danced too. I closely watched the friend who fished a hundred peso bill and gave it to the group. Then they moved to the next house, and so on… I asked what that was for. The friend casually answered “Sinulog”. That got me very confused since I was off to Cebu in a few days after this for the real Sinulog and I know it does not happen like this. So he explained, that those people (they were not just little kids, did you notice?) go around town to “entertain” you and your visitors. They expect to receive something in return, usually money. And I said

That is Taysan, Batangas. I went there with an officemate as it was fiesta time in their place. And while we were enjoying the breeze at his newly built concrete porch to let the rain pass before we head out, down came this brightly colored insect and stayed on the concrete floor for as long as we cared to watch it. Am not really sure if I have seen anything as bright green as it is. I probably already did during my younger years, but since I cannot vividly remember that color, I watched it a bit and even took this photo. This insects looks exactly like those brown beetle that we used to play with (beetle fights, remember?) when we were kids. Ah yes, very similar too to those beetles that my grandma and aunts used to fry back in Bangued. The thing is, all of them beetles I have seen (or attempted to eat but chickened out) were colored brown to dark brown. This one just stands out. Those tiny shiny spots are water droplets as the insect probably got soaked in the rain. Would I have seen