Our Province is Getting Lively Again

It's been more than 2 years when we have been at home most of the time because of the pandemic. Now, that the lockdown was already eased, and most places are already at Alert Level 1, tourism is now gaining more revenue. Our province, Pangasinan, is taking advantage of that being coastal, which means it has a lot beaches. In fact, its capital Lingayen (the town where I live) is also often visited because of its beach.

Since it's summer season in the country (mostly in tropical areas), our province has been a hotspot for tourism. In fact, last April 5 is the foundation day of our province, and also serves as the start of its "Festival of the Seas". The said festival has been in a halt for two years. The last time it was observed was in 2019. During the start of the pandemic, the festival is supposed to kick off in 2 (or 3) weeks but it didn't push through.

The province is now open again, and even livelier. Many people are flocking the northern part of our town, and it seems the Covid doesn't exist anymore. I don't really take part in such festival but it's an opportunity to look for cheap stuff because of the Expo which has recently opened. Besides, the exact date of the festival is May 1.

We went to the Expo yesterday, though there aren't that much to offer compared to 2019 and backwards. It's because everyone are still recovering from the effects of Covid. Still, a good sign that we are going back to the better days.

There are no exhibition at the gallery this time, and no landscape competitions too. However, there are so many plants being sold at the Expo. I think this is the first time in years, and it may be the replacement of exhibition of landscapes. It is to encourage everyone to plant which is good for the environment. During the years of the pandemic, many people became plantitos and plantitas. Those individuals are the ones who collects plants (plant enthusiasts). That's actually the best habit people has turned to during the pandemic. Plant prices went up that time, and that even those which are considered as grasses became plant collections.

At this time, prices of plants went down already, and happy to see those plants in Expo here in Pangasinan. Common plants are sold from Php40 to more than Php100. Some rare plants are sold at Php600 or even higher.

Aside from plants that will beautify our yard, there are seedlings being sold as well.

Trees bearing fruits are sold here but I'm not sure if some of these can thrive in our place. Papaya, chico, and katuray will surely grow here but the others, I'm not sure.

So many succulents being sold as well. The prices aren't too high. Though I'm not sure if these will grow here. We bought some succulents from Baguio City before but it didn't take long, and they dried up. It might be the climate or proper care though.

These are common plants, and we have some of them already as taken cared of by my wife @Shuls14 . We just skipped them instead of buying one.

Of course, there are colorful flowers too. We already have the last one which is Marigold. Eventually, we ended up buying nothing because my wife and I planned of swimming at the beach (actually just drenching ourselves in the water). We will buy when we'll go back because the Expo will continue until May 2.

At the bazaar, different kinds of goods are being sold including foods. We bought foods to eat at the beach.

Many people are in this area but I took the picture where there are few people. We're heading to the beach here.

We are very close to the beach. Excited to drench on the water. The waves are still strong so we didn't go to the deep areas. Probably knee-deep is fine. I expected the water too be cold but it's lukewarm. It's summer so that's already expected.

Glad that I'm able to bathe in the sea again after several months. It helped me get a good sleep.

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