Ilocos Norte 1.0 - May Himala!

First week of May, I received a call from a friend connected with Ilocos Norte Provincial Capitol inviting our local photography group, Shutter Revolution to send some delegates to cover the event, LO-FI style. To say I was ecstatic to join is an understatement. 

The event Himala sa Buhangin was the culmination of the week-long La Virjen Milagrosa Festival of Ilocos Norte. Himala is derived from that infamous line uttered by none other than Nora Aunor, "Walang Himala!" (There are no miracles!) which Ilocos Norte took as a battle cry yelling "May Himala"  (It's a miracle!) instead. 

The star of the event is a massive art installation, "Chrysalis," aptly named by its artist, Leeroy New. In science, chrysalis is that material covering the pupa of a butterfly. I can only guess at Leeroy's intention but I suppose this is in reference to Ilocos Norte as a budding tourism destination that as of now is still covered by its Chrysalis but by night time will be symbolically burned to signal its emergence as a full-pledged butterfly. However, seeing that the installation is such a magnificent work of art, they decided not to burn it and instead create another in its stead. Hence, the one above named Galleon. 

Overlooking the installation is the tent city composed of two VIP tents reminiscent of Moroccan nights complete with colorful mats, pillows and scented smoke from hookahs and a dozen or more tents that houses the food concessionaires. Faithful to the Moroccab vibe, there's even a camel and an elephant (?) out back for photo opportunities. haha.

One of the tents houses the murals depicting two of characters that are specially close to the heart of the Ilocano. First is a mural of Nora Aunor and her trademark pose when she uttered "walang himala" and the other is of Lam-Ang in the epic Biag ni Lam-Ang. The murals were made by the Gerilya Artists Collective. (There will be a separate post about this. haha) The murals were commisioned to be finished the day before but they were still painting Lam-Ang on the day of the event itself. I think this made the murals so much more interesting anyway. It was fun seeing the painters collaborate and flesh out the Ilocano hero right before your eyes. 

Himala sa Buhangin was held on the enormous expanse of the Paoay sand dunes, an adventure-nut's paradise. It is sprawling sand on all sides, some trees on one end and the roaring seawaves on the other end. Sand boarding is the activity of choice but there's also Zorb riding down the rolling dunes, 4x4 leisure driving and a host of other activities. 

On this day though, the event kicked off with some 4 x 4 racing and sand castle building on the seaside. The sand castles weren't visible from the tent city nor from the installation as it is a long aways but when we walked about a hundred meters towards the horizon, the sea opened up and there were the sand castles! Whew! We almost missed it. That one below that looked like Paoay Church snagged the first prize. 

The cool wind and the sea waves were a refreshing sight for someone who has been walking on the desert for quite some time. I couldn't resist the sea froth so I went ahead and dipped my feet. The waves get so high sometimes that they almost got me and my cameras, so a word of caution.

The excitement simmered down somewhat as the sun set so we went back to the VIP tents just in time for a late snack and the start of the concert. :)

Analogue Tips: 

• Any camera really.
• Slide filmsssss! They'll just love the sky, the clouds, the sand, the waves, everything! 
• All weather cameras are preferable to keep the sand off your lenses.