I spent this year’s holyweek at the hometown of my friend Jacob in Mogpog, Marinduque. It was my fifth time in this wonderful province, a place of beautiful beaches, scenic towns, of rum and the world famed Moriones festival.
Sleepy Mogpog: A Moriones Tradition in Marinduque
Annual Tradition
It was almost a yearly tradition for me and my friends Jacob and Don to just sit down and while the time for 4 or 5 days enjoying the company and the spiritual boost the place has to offer. But the past couple of years with Jacob working at Dubai and rest of us having conflicting work schedules we kind of taken a few years off from our annual tradition that dates back to 1998 when we were all a bunch of skinnies, punks and totoys during our UST Mountaineering days.
The Moriones Festival
We always visit during the holy week when the Moriones Festival is held throughout the island of Marinduque. Every year the million peso question is always “who will be the Cristo this year” – each year though, someone steps up to the plate and volunteers to play the Cristo. Amid whips to the back, walking barefoot under the sun and dragging a heavy cross – pain is experienced by these brave men who played the part.
The Mogpog Lifestyle
Things we do in Mogpog usually includes; island hopping, exploring caves, camping at a nearby peak and of course chasing women, which most of the time we meet at the beach on Saturdays, a day after black Friday where people converge to enjoy the sun. Those were the days of fun under the blistering sun, a friendly town with a festive mood, a locale where you could do exciting things and not worry about a thing or two from the place you came from.
A bottle of Gran Matador is a friend in Mogpog.
This time, it's different though. Jacob is a newly proud parent of a 6-month-old Fiona and is married to a lovely wife, Gigi. Don is almost engaged to his girlfriend and I am committed to someone as well, so there won't be any skirt chasing happening. Those days are behind us already. But, Mogpog will always be home to me.
I always envy friends and classmates who have a far-away home province of their own; every summer they can escape the harshness of city life and just chill down and enjoy the simple life in their own respective hometowns.
I am glad that through my friend Jacob, I somehow feel that I have become an adopted one and a part of a place far away from Manila, thanks to the hospitality of his family and friends there, the people in general with its own traditions intact (albeit a bit of change through the years), a wonderful setting and a simple life that derives from its own sense of community and relevance to each other, truly creates that “bayanihan” culture among us that has long been forgotten in the big city.
Reflections on Travel
It was a nice escape, albeit short, from work, the pressure of life on the go, the corporate ladder and all that shit, to just spend time with your friends whom you’ve seen grow and become someone you’re proud of and at the same time makes you think about what’s really important in life. Friends, a few booze, a wonderful setting of a place, lively traditions, simple life, family and a swim at the nearby beach.
It is also a wonderful excuse to travel, as we all know that life shifts quickly in paradigms that if spent in a forlorn and idle time rummaging trash of yester-years in one place, we might lose our focus and fall asleep behind a wheel only to meet a 16-wheeler truck head on.
It also washes all the frustrations away, just like J.C., it’ll be enough to keep you alive again and unmindful of all the sorrows, challenges and battering rams along the way. For it gives you something to always look forward to without resorting to ask the help of a rope.
Nomadic Experiences Take
The sun sets in for those always on the lookout, those searching and not just merely spending days and nights under a roof and trivializing the importance of setting forth on different journeys. We MUST not be contented in just digging earth below our feet and calling it as our territory as the world God gave us is almost an infinity for one man to thread and toil and walk and walk and gulp a cold slurpee.
Till next time Marinduque.
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