Kalibo: The Ati-atihan Experience

It's been a while since I last posted. The last trip was January... Shit. I even forgot.

The recollection that the last day of the Ati-atihan was on the 16th of January brings to memory the days of that week. The dates were January 14 to 19... I think. I'm too lazy to check records.

I forget a lot but I haven't forgotten that Kalibo was CRAZY. :)

++++

It wasn't my first time in Kalibo. In 2009, I turned to the comforts of squatting inside my bestfriend's place in Kalibo as I left the bullshit of Manila office politics after being forced to hand over to my middle-aged assistant the only Account Specialist crown in the now-closed idiot-led company because I took my rest days and allowed myself a sick leave following 14-day and 13-day work weeks.

Yes, my then 23 year old ass didn't know politics the way my 40+ year old assistant did. Her superb backstabbing techniques buried me and my competence and sent me travelling to the Visayas.

Turns out, that was the best backstabbing blessing I have ever received in my life.

I was disheartened and broken that time though. My feat as the arrogant, small and smart leader better coined in the company as the "black elf" has just ended. (Yes, those who I demand excellence from hated me so much they afforded me a nickname.)

I fled Manila for Kalibo; a place I have never been to, and boarded a plane which in my heart I wish would crash - particularly because pinoydaysleeper was beside me asking if I was getting scared of the turbulence.

As a stranger to Kalibo then, I was greeted with a sister's comfort from my bestfriend, warm smiles from her childhood buddies, calm guidance by my bestfriend's old man and a silent yet much felt welcome from the town.

It was amazing how calming yet wild Kalibo can be. The contrast of loud drinking sessions all night and calm and quiet mornings - most probably, because we were all sleeping.


++++++++


This year, I went back to Kalibo no longer as the broken little child. I have grown into this whole other person. Yet, Kalibo did not fail to recognize me. And I did not fail to recognize Kalibo.

Amidst all the changes, the then closed establishments, the streets that I cannot remember, the closed roads that tricycles cannot pass and the new friends that my best friend introduced, Kalibo felt so familiar.


This year was my first time to join the Ati-atihan and the festival made so much sense to me. It relates so much to what Kalibo is.

The Ati-atihan is a tribute to the Sto Nino which shows how locals respect their church and its traditions.

Ironically though, the Ati-atihan is also known for overflowing booze, the loud music and unchoreographed street-dancing.

This contrast, for me, defines Kalibo: a mixture of the conservative and the modern which makes the town a combination of safe and fun.

I wonder,Where else you can dance without fear in the middle of the street without much talent and with senses lost to the booze and the beat of the drums?

I got to Kalibo on the Saturday of the feast and joined my bestfriend's high school friends in street dancing, locally called as "Sadsad."

The Aklanon dialect has always puzzled me so I didn't really get if Sadsad was a verb or a noun, I figured it can be used both ways. Either way, my first night in Kalibo was spent on walking/dancing/running/hopping around the town taking pictures and drinking booze handed over by the more intoxicated tanggeros. (Peace!)

The plaza was crowded and, yes, I'd have to say, kinda messy with all the litter that has been caused by the elaborate costumes of the teams that have passed the trails before us. It was no place for a priss, but I'd think any priss who is invited to be in the middle of this will forget how much of a priss they are and will start to dance.

It's fun to let loose in the middle of the street.

At one point, I stopped moving and realized that I was just standing in the middle of the plaza smiling. It was a great different feeling.