If my birthday doesn’t fall on the day of our town’s fiesta, it falls a few days before or after the celebration held every first Thursday of February. I spent some hours during the day in Sta. Maria, Bulacan last February 7 before going to my late afternoon class and took it as an opportunity to stroll around and take some pictures.

Traffic in the poblacion, and in the highway around the Bocaue area is terrible whenever it’s fiesta day. Ambulant vendors, flea markets and thousands of pedestrians are all over the streets. It can get pretty frustrating, especially when you’re driving into and out of town, but it actually makes the environment feel quite festive.

After my late afternoon class that always last four hours into the evening, I invited some friends to come with me back to Sta. Maria and have dinner at our place. As expected, we were stuck in heavy traffic on our way. However, watching the spectacular fireworks display that went off while we were on the road made the wait in traffic and the frustrated hunger bearable.