17th Philippine International Hot Air Balloon Fiesta's 4th and Final Day

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Clark,Pampanga-- The 17th Philippine International Hot Air Balloon Fiesta held its 4th and final day yesterday, Sunday, February 12, 2012. Taking aside the delayed entry (for those with VIP and Photographer's Passes) and  overcast sky, Lawkatsera and I, together with three Lakwatsa buddies, had another fun time witnessing the annual festival for the second year in a row.

One of the new balloons that participated this year

The Philippine Hot Air Balloon Fiesta has been around for 17 years and it got me curious on how this annual event came to be.

Three years after the devastating Mt. Pinatubo eruption in 1991, then and former Tourism Secretary Mina Gabor together with foreign businessmen and aviation enthusiasts engineered the Philippine International hot air balloon festival to help jumpstart the local economy and spirit of the Central Luzon region with the commitment of developing hot air ballooning as an aviation sport in the country and making the Philippines one of the leading sports aviation and travel destinations in the Asia Pacific region. Thus, in 1994 this colorful festival was born and officially began with 21 balloon pilots from 10 countries and one entry from the Philippines. The rest, as they say, is history.

For the second time in a row, the photographer's passes Lakwatsera and I  got were scheduled on the last day of the event. The weather was gloomy and  a bit uncooperative so we had to make a few tweaks on both our cameras to make up for the absence of the sun and the clear blue sky that every photographer was hoping for on that day.

Sundae: another new balloon on this year's event

Nonetheless, the gloomy white sky, did not stop us from having fun while taking our photos. I only saw Lakwatsera while we were inside the huge hot-air-balloon launch area a couple of times. We both minded our own businesses of taking  photographs of the balloons and never really bothered with each other's location while inside the launch area.

I am not sure if our photos did justice to this year's celebration of the Philippine International Hot Air Balloon Fiesta. Still, we would like to share to everyone our experience on this year's event with some of the photos we took.

Panda: new participant

My Island Trek's Lakwatsa buddies having a grand time

Lakwatsera with her  lakwatsa buddies

Side notes: 

One of the guidelines to this year's PhilHABF: Media/Photographers/ VIPs will only be allowed to enter after all Chase Crew vehicles are safely positioned.  It doesn't say "after 3 hot air balloons have been inflated! " ANOTHER DELAYED ENTRY  for photo pass holders.  It was a good thing it rained a little bit that morning, otherwise photographers would have been furious on missing another photo op during "break of dawn".

A lot of Aeta sell hand made,indigenous products outside the event area each year. It wouldn't hurt to buy something from these people to help. We bought this hand-made whistle from an Aeta kid who was selling it outside of the event area for 20 pesos. If one of these people approach you when you go to the event next year, please don't dismiss them. Buy something. Small things help.

Click here to view the rest of the photos.

left: a photographer holding the signage: PAPASUKIN NYO KAMI   right: hand-made whistle bought from a local Aeta  kid

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