Touched by the Tacloban mass and the resilience of the people in the midst of the storm.
Amazed by the enthusiasm of the crowd hat gathered every single day in the streets to see Pope Francis. How blessed are we, to have been able to experience all these?
We started the start of the 5 day non working holiday watching the Sri Lankan Airline plane land at Villamor. Unlike PJP2's 1995 visit wherein we waited at Roxas Boulevard when he arrived, we did not do it this time around because the arrival of the Pope was close to evening already.
The next day, we went to Roxas in front of Midas Hotel to try our luck in hopefully seeing a pope Francis. We got a great spot in front of the barrier and the parentals sitting at th center island.
Iba talaga ang Pinoy, everyone was super excited and shouting and cheering as the Pope mobile passed by. Since we wated in place for 2 hours, got the chance to chat the policemen and those standing beside me too :)
During the Sunday mass at Luneta, we walked from CSB to TM Kalaw Cor Roxas Boulevard under the pouring rain. We arrived at 5 hours bef the mass started but by this time, he crowd was already so huge. We were not able to come close and decided to just watch it on tv. Nakakatuwa to see Filipinos from all walks of life walking in the streets for the mass. I have never walked that far since Fod knows when, hahaha. We walked from UN Avenue back to SLEX extension. My feet still hurt until now haha!
It was all worth it, sulit to have been able to take part in this experience :)
It's very different from when we saw Pope Benedict in Vatican few years back.
We were able to go at the Stations of the Cross with the Pope at the Colosseum in spite of just going there few hours beforehand on a spur of the moment decision.
We were also able to even get good seats for the Easter Mass even if we arrived just an hour before the start. That was how organized Vatican's logistics was. The mood then was quite somber and everyone was quiet except for the occasional Viva Il Papa.
The mood in the Philippines is really over the top, where else can you see people shouting, cheering, jumping and smiling even under the rain? Iba talaga tayo :)
