Moriones Festival in Marinduque

At last I was able to visit Marinduque again after eleven years have passed. I left Manila on Good Friday because I knew that thousands of tourists go to see the Moriones Festival held on Holy Week in the island. So I figured out that it is best to leave when all are already set into a place of festivity. Although there are few ports available for disembarkation in the island, travelling time from Lucena, Quezon to Balanacan, Marinduque would take approximately two hours. You'll get to know once you arrived in Balanacan because the first thing that you would notice is the statue of the Blessed Virgin Mary which serves as a landmark as seen while approaching the island. My late grandma Asuncion Bunag Madrigal was a native of the island and she used to serve as Recamadera of The Virgin for Our Lady of Biglang Awa from 1949 to June 1973.

The trip exhausted my energy as the summer season jives with my body temperature making me enervated throughout the day. As the festivity's taking place, I was able to catch up with some of the activities and as usual, aside from my cellphone, there are two things that I don't miss out to bring - my laptop and my camera. These electronic devices are as important as my cellphone as it becomes my habit by using them as often as I want.

So I hanged out in a Cafe fronting the court and opened my laptop to upload some of the photos I have taken during my trip.



I spent my dinner at Casa de Don Emilio-one of the place's fine dining. They served me "Binusog na Pusit", a squid stuffed with onions and tomatoes. So when I got my bill, they've mistakenly charged me with the foods I didn't placed to eat which was way up high from what I have ordered. Although the foods are not expensive and the staffs are friendly, I left the place with disappointment as some of their desserts are no longer available aside from mistakenly charging me of the bill that wasn't mine.

But if your travel destination is at beside the sea, it is best to try sea foods as we know that most of them are likely fresh from the water.



If you happen to visit the place, your travel will not be completed without going to the sea as Marinduque is rich when it comes to beach resorts. And one of them is Poktoy White Beach, located in Torrijos, a two-hour drive from Boac if you are taking a jeepney ride. The beach itself is quite isolated since it's a far depending on your destination and what place you have stayed in the island. Because it happened to be Easter Sunday, the resort was quite populated, but not as crowded as some of the beaches in Marinduque.

There are many good reasons why Marinduque is one of the best place to visit. And one of them is said to have an almost zero crime rate, and no one will ever snatch away your cell phone while using it in the public place. But it is best to visit the place during Holy Week as Moriones Festival where cultural practices or folk history is taking place in the island. So colorful and it is where masked and costumed penitents who march around the town for seven days. During May is the season for Santa Cruzan where parade of beauties in the streets can be seen.