My Sinulog 2017 Adventure ~ hartanbi

Sinulog Festival 2017 is indeed my most unforgettable sinulog event ever!

Cebu City is known for its grandest festival every January of the year known as Sinulog. Sinulog is the traditional and ritual celebration in honor of baby Jesus called Santo Niño. It is associated with religious activities, street dance, colorful costumes, fireworks shows, happiness and party-rockin' (for some young-blood-youth). Everybody is excited about it. But as for me, way back when I was still in college and just newly working in the corporate world, when I heard it, there seemed to be nothing that I feel - no excitement, no adrenaline rush in me, just nothing. I guess because I am not originally from Cebu, or I am not just that much of an outgoing person before. Huhu, now I feel sorry for myself.

Luckily, that changes this year because in general, although there are little not so good happenings too, I have a very happy and memorable Sinulog together with my sister and friends.

The following are the stuff I did:

1. Henna tattoo on my arms.
I know some people got an eww reaction towards this because it is dirty, well sort of. But for me, I opted to have it on my arms because I just want to have a little taste of the tribal tradition we had before. Plus, it is better to have this fake tattoo rather than the permanent one because this will just fade and gone after 2 weeks. So, yeah I flaunt my feather fake tatoo, haha!

My henna for this year is gonna be about feathers because HOPE is a thing associated with it. #Sinulog2017

2. Tour at Colon Street.
Most roads at colon were closed so it’s a good time to walk with my sister and taste popular street foods that Colon is famous of.

Same face (sort of) with my sister. She's the one holding the camera.

Ice cream is life!

3. Wanderlust at Cebu City’s Fuente and Jones streets.
There were several small stalls in these streets selling stuff (related to Sinulog and Cebu itself) in a very affordable price. Who wouldn’t want that?

Fashion ring for only 50 pesos each!

4. Paintensity party fever.
Though I was not able to party inside the venue because it was full of party people already, I still managed to sort of blend with the crowd and enjoyed the party at the 3rd floor of the Greenery building. Guess what, I had a 360 degree view of the event! Awesome! (This is before the stampede . Story here.)

Party people wanna do some party rockin'!

5. Fireworks show at SM City Cebu and Ayala Center Cebu.
Fireworks competition and Pyrospectacular fireworks display in SM City were overwhelming. Plus the Dragon fireworks display at Ayala literally took my breath away! I wish life could be this colorful and joyful all year round!

6. Immersed myself with E-commerce summit.
Super thankful to sir Ruben Liceria for inviting us to the said event. This was supposed to be with fee, but since I was one of the lucky bloggers who got invited, it was given to me free of charge. Details of the event can be found here.
This event happened last January 14, 2017 8AM to 5PM. I’m so thankful because I learned a lot during this.

Now, tell me who is productive during this very busy sinulog week? - ME!

7. Sinulog T-Shirt with pride.
Your sinulog will not be complete if you cannot wear sinulog T-shirt. Come on, it is just once in a year. Go get yourself one ;) As for me, I bought my super cute t-shirt at Island Souvenirs in Ayala at a very affordable price of Php199 pesos. It was a struggle buying it as there were also lots of people doing the same, but it was also very fun. I saw happy faces everywhere.

8. Put on fancy head dress.
Because who wouldn’t want some fancy decors in the head during this colorful festival?

9. Survived the paint war at the Baseline.
This was the most fun experience I had. Random strangers putting face paints all over myself- my body, my tshirt, my neck, everywhere! Worst was my sister’s face was slapped with thick blue paints. She almost couldn’t see and she looked so ugly. We both laughed so hard and nevermind it because we may look like chaka or wasted what’s important was we enjoyed.
I was also wearing my sparkling white t-shirt during this and I ended up looking very dirty with paints everywhere. It was so fun. Every memory I had during this experience was really worth it not to mention this was my FIRST time doing this!

The survivors, yeah!

10. Kasadya sa SRP with my sister.
My sister and I almost lost our hearts, our voices and our lungs in Kasadya sa SRP's rides! Whoah so fun and nerve-wrecking!

My sister is happy because she gets libre from ate haha!

11. I prayed wholeheartedly.
Last but not the least, Sinulog is time for our devotion to the baby Jesus. I may not able to go to church due to some personal issues, but I was able to pray wholeheartedly and talk to God solemnly. And for me, that is precious. (By the way, I pray everyday :) )