Day 5

After the very nice breakfast at school, I finally headed to Puerto del Sol station to meet up with Mary and Gustavo. From there, we decided to walk around for a bit then head to the nearest station that would take us near the Cuatro Vientos. My goodness, the walk towards that place was so tiring and it was so hot! Some people would even sprinkle water for us from their apartment windows! Others turn their hoses on so that other pilgrims can cool themselves. There are also those who take advantage of the event and set up shops along the road selling cold drinks. As for us, we decided to sit down.

 Carol, Aims, Kuya, am I back home?

 

 At Plaza Mayor again! 

Can't really believe I've finally seen a place I've only heard before in my Spanish class!

We would have gone on walking when one of the Pinoys I've met there told us that they're waiting coz the Pope's entourage were going to pass here. So we waited and waited and waited some more. 

Finally, we saw the Pope!!! 

(I thought I had it all recorded only to find out that I haven't pressed the record button. Argh!)

Zoom option from Gustavo's camera. You can imagine how close we were! It was so exciting!

Upon arriving at Cuatros Vientos, everything was just so dry and dustry. There were a lot of people everywhere that it was hard at first to find a shade where we can rest a bit. Along the way, we decided to pick up our picnics and had Gustavo do it for us (hehehe). Finally we found a place near the one of the booths that were set up to sell WYD items. As the day wore on, I had to go to one of the WCs. There were lots of WCs set up but the one nearest us had some cubicles that do not have water running anymore, certain places were already flooded and the queue was very, very long! :( The nice thing about it though was that nobody (or not too many) complained about it and were just patiently waiting for their turn. Oh! It was also weird for me to see that others get their drinking water from the WC faucet. Uhmmm... The water must be clean (and definitely cold) but as someone who comes from a place where one should be wary of drinking water from the toilet, this was a bit of a 'weird' moment for me.

 Near the WYD booth when we arrived

 This was how it was only an hour or two...

Our picnic bag has this paper where they suggest what to eat for lunch, dinner and breakfast the next day. This was one of those stuff inside. Yummy!

As the day wore on, the sun was just getting high and it was so hot and we ended up taking our siesta where we were sitting. When we woke up, we were surrounded by more people than before. Later, we decided to move on and go to our designated place. As I am nearer the stage at D, we first decided to go there and try to see if we all can get through the D area but we ended up staying at the concrete space in between G and H. Lucky for us though because later that night, when we were having the vigil with the Pope, lightning and rain came, getting all our stuff wet! Mary and I even had to take cover inside our sleeping bags! How unlucky we would have been if we got into D. Not only would we be wet, but our stuff would be so dirty because the place was just uncovered earth.

Mary and I also got to talk to a girl from the other group beside us who's also from California. We hit it off because Mary also lives in California and the girl is Fil-Am and speaks Filipino. It was a nice treat for us to be making friends, even for just that night, with the other pilgrims. 

Area H at Cuatro Vientos. The stage is so far away that the sound arrives later than 

the one from the radio coverage! LOL.

Around us! So may plastic bags. I thought when they said a picnic basket, it would be a basket. No, it's plastic bag. Hehehe. Imagine the trash that we would all have made by tomorrow!

During the vigil, strong winds also accompanied the rain. Even the Pope's cap flew, halting the prayer for a while. Late that night, under the stars, we tried to sleep on damp sleeping bags. I know I'm kinda getting sick already so all I did was pray that I won't be too sick that I won't be able to enjoy the rest of my trip. I prayed that if ever I do get sick, it will come when I'm back home.

I thought I won't be able to sleep that night but maybe because of the tiresome day we had, I finally fell asleep with all these other pilgrims around me, under the stars, praying with the Pope, saying the same prayers.

I love it!