Apo Iro

Apo Iro or Apung Iro is what people in Apalit, Pampanga call St Peter. He is their patron saint and last Sunday, June 28, they celebrated their fiesta. The fiesta's main event is a parade on the river. Dozens of small boats float beside the one carrying St Peter. We went there last Sunday to celebrate mass and to visit the cathedral.
It's special for my family because there are a lot of memories there. My parents eloped and got married in Pampanga. They also asked for me, their first child, when the Fiesta was celebrated way back in 1980. If you count the months... I was literally created after they got home.
I've been there several times before. I remember being able to eat in someone's house, surrounded by relatives I didn't know at all. I remember going there in a bus where I threw up most of the way to Pampanga and we had to go home after we visited the church because I wasn't feeling well.
So when my parents invited me to go their during fiesta, I agreed. I wanted to ask for my baby/babies there as well.
The trip was uneventful at first. I brought Rei (my Fiat Uno car) since Neal's car was in the shop getting fixed. It was a good thing too. The road towards the church itself was a huge trial for us. Shops lined both sides and lots of people were walking on the street. The traffic was worse than EDSA traffic since we had to watch out for pedestrians, cars, tricycles in a one way street. We had to stop using the air conditioning too because we got there around 11am and the sun was too hot. The air was sticky and Neal's shirt was already wet.
I didn't bring my camera because I knew the church was not very pretty. Not to me anyway. It had painted murals and the dome was surrounded by paintings of the 4 gospel writers. Personally, I still like Sto. Domingo's dome better.
We were just in time for mass and we listened vainly to the priest who we can barely hear because of the bad sound system.
I couldn't really ask for a baby/babies. I asked for twin boys like my dad and my uncle. I always wanted one pair of twin boys. Every time I tried asking though, I would cry and I had to stop.
After the mass, we went to a relative's house again. A place I've been in before. It was one of my dad's cousins. We had a nice lunch and we waited till the parade went by. It was the first time I watched a parade on a river and it was nice. A lot of people were there to celebrate the fiesta.
I hope my wish comes true.