All the Fear Of The Fair

Its the start of maskkara which like any festival here is a huge deal. It lasts pretty much the whole month and already the streets are filled with the brightly colored masks that baccolod is famed for. The roads are blocked with markets, eateries and small half bamboo have cola banner bars spill out onto the tarmac. The bars advertise cocktails that you can pretty much guarantee will make you go blind this isn't part of the advertisement just experience talking. Sound systems blare out all the over played chart songs that the residents never seem to tire of. Its a vibrant time to be living in Baccolod.

As a part of any festival or fiesta or vague inkling of a party comes the traveling fair. It is set up in an abandoned strip of land of which there are plenty and so goes up the rickety ferris wheels and spinning spiders. I had taken my cousins and a few friends to the SM mall. Any time i go to these big Americanized corporate mega malls i come out feeling like i have had a prostate exam dirty and violated. I am thirsty for real culture and grittiness. It doesn't get much grittier than a fair where all the rides are run by a 50cc motorbike engine and make of scrap metal. I am convinced that i wont die through wry smiles of eager Filipino friends. Agreeing reluctantly we go in and i decide that if i were to die it would probably be quite an entertaining way to go and if i live it would be a story to write home about. So as you can see i am not one of the people who write there obituary in advance this is not a suicide note i did go to a fillipino gypsy fair and i did survive. Admittedly there was only one ride that lifted of the ground that i deemed vaguely sturdy enough not to be my demise and even the the whole way round i was cursing and swearing blind. I don't usually get scared on rides no more than the adrenaline fear that makes you shout with excitement. although the girlish screams heard on that day were my own and genuinely fearing for my life there was no adrenaline about it and if there was i think it ended up in my pants. after finding myself feeling more religious than when i got on i decided to stay on the ground while the others went of on ferris wheels and the such. i found myself attracted to a stall where you had to shoot rubber ducks of a shelf with a BB gun with a ridiculously wonky aim. I won a packet of peanuts big prizes at this fair as you can see. i wondered the fair taking in the sights and sounds watching the adults belt out karaoke on the machine while there kids played in among the madness.
Despite all the near death feeling and swearing to kill all of them for convincing me to come in here.
i did actually have fun and felt a feeling of genuine innocent enjoyment that had become so lost in all the angst of growing up and fitting in.
each day i feel more and more at home.