Gasan, Marinduque Trip - Day 1

I wanted to visit my grandma(my mum's mum) since I got back from my UK trip but I couldn't find anyone to go on a trip with me.  Everyone is busy with work and I couldn't take Luke with me since I don't know where to stay there.  Luke wants hot shower, enough said.  :P  

My grandma has dementia.  She is the sole reason why I visited Marinduque.  When I saw her for the first time in years, I introduced myself but she can't recognised me.  She asked what my surname is and she said that I am not from that area.  Gasan locals surnames starts with S.  I told her that my mum is called Champoy, her daughter and she recognised the name at first.  After a minute, she asked who my mum is again and denied ever knowing anyone called Champoy.  It is heart breaking to see her in that state knowing how strong her personality was.  Having dementia brought her good and bad things.  Losing her dementia means losing her bad memory.  She looks more at peace now.  She is more approachable.  I still remember being scared with her growing up.  Too strict, to disciplined - complete opposite of my granny(dad's mum).  My grandma had horrible mood swings whilst I was on my visit.  She was approachable on the first day, difficult to deal with on the second day and was shouting on the third day.  She is still healthy though and can still walk.  :)

I haven't been in Marinduque in ages and I can't remember spending Holy Week there.  I do know about Morions though.  I was surprised how traditional they are.  They had Aglipay procession on that Thursday.  Karos were beautifully decorated, the life sized statues dressed in colourful gowns and the devotees followed their karos - they prayed the rosary whilst walking.

My lola.  I couldn't take a good photo of her.  My broken DSLR is slow.

These people were at the start of the procession.  My first thought was, KKK.  My cousin Bochok thought of the same thing.

The following were selected photos from the procession:

Oh BTW, I almost didn't visit my grandma. I had to go to Philhealth to sort my final work requirement.  I will start work tom again.  :)  It took me almost 12 hours from Novaliches to Gasan.  We left Cubao at 3PM and arrived at 4:30AM the next day in Gasan.  Went swimming later that afternoon.  My cousins swam whilst I stayed in a big floatation device.  Please, can somebody teach me how to swim?  :P

Follow my blog with bloglovin