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Candaba, Pampanga

Think about a town jam-packed with friendly people, a huge swamp, great floods that happen yearly, Saturday bazaars, a nice cockpit arena, rice fields, and a delicacy called buro. That is the town of Candaba, Pampanga.

It was the 9^th of December last year when our class and three others went there for a community immersion. At first, I was not happy because I thought Candaba is not a nice place to have a field trip, but things changed when we got there.

Our first stop was the parish church of Saint Andrew. It was medium-sized and it looked baroque (although I think it was probably built not less than a century ago). Nothing important about our field trip here, it was just the place where we were dropped off by the shuttle from SM San Fernando and the place where all of us will meet – our section (Psych 1B), Psych 1A, Econ 1A, and Econ 1B.

Our second stop. The houses near the Candaba swamp (or should I say the village near the Candaba Swamp). This is where we interviewed some locals and asked them a psychological question: What are their usual pastimes. It was fun asking them as some were so shy, and some others were not. A part that I won’t forget is when we asked a lola about her pastime and she left us for a while and when she came back, she was already wearing a make-up and she changed her clothes – just for an interview. The houses in that village looked odd, for they were high and most of the houses’ first floor was not as utilized as the second. I asked an ache about it and she said their houses were like that because great floods come during rainy days. The floods were so severe that they have to use boats as means of transportation.

I had a great time watching my schoolmates singing at a nearby videokehan. They sound good. Really. Our instructor joined the fun and sang a Regine Velasquez tune. I even took a picture of him singing!

Lunchtime came. We walked a distance of about two kilometers just to eat our lunch! It was really tiring, but it was okay because the food they served there was great! We came from the Candaba swamp to the cockpit arena my instructor’s relatives owned. It was a beautiful and picturesque place. Makes me remember my tito, because he’s a sabongero before.

After lunch we proceeded to our last stop – a basketball court. It’s a small one and it is adjacent to the barangay chapel. There we hosted games for the kids (one game for each section), gave them goodies, and lastly we watched a basketball game The first two was very arduous, the kids are so difficult to manage as they were walking around the court every time. The basketball game was a fight between Candaba and UP. At first we were supporting our schoolmates but when they were already losing we supported the other team. Haha. Candaba won. I remember some quotable quotes (from us,) like Tambak ang mga taga UP! Quiz Bee na lang kaya? Go Candaba! It was nearly sunset when we decided to leave Candaba and go home.

All in all, the trip was fun and it was really worthwhile. I enjoyed everything. It made me thank God for the blessings I received. Our house is better than most of the ones I saw (the houses near the swamp looks like a squatty), and our house never gets flooded. No offense to the people who live there, but I think I cannot live in a place like that. But that does not end everything. If ever I get the chance to go and visit Candaba again, I will be happy to.