When I arrived at Dumaguete's City Hall on the afternoon of the Santacruzan Festival, it was all decked with a stage and banners.

The first order of business was to get "pertyfied" by the make up artist. In this photo I'm having a chalky complexion applied to my face.

Yup, he even used lipstick.

Everyone who was in the parade waited in the City Hall for the festivities to start up.

Does it look like everyone in this photo is wearing makeup?

Maila Hermosa and I were matched up to be one of the couples in the parade. Maila graduated from Silliman with a nursing degree and now works in one of Dumaguete's hospitals.

I felt sort of like a celebrity must feel as we walked through the streets of Dumaguete that were thronged with crowds. There were some "real" celebrities from Manila's soap operas, the camera in this photo is probably pointed at them.

The Bell Tower on the main street in Dumaguete was a primo spot to watch the parade go by.

Each couple has a wooden frame on wheels with their names on it and two guys are in charge of scootering the apparatus down the road.

I think some people might have wondered if I might be some sort of tv guy from America (for the record, I'm not).

The guys all wore the formal Filipino dress shirt called a barong; it's the equivalent of a tuxedo back home.

As I passed Dumaguete's Dunkin Donuts, I was starting to get the hang of my parade waving technique. By the way, my swanky Barong Tagalog was a going away present from my friend Kenny Mendez, courtesy of www.mybarong.com.

The Dumaguete police kept everything running smoothly.

Even though it was in the middle of a tropical summer day, the parade was really fun. We walked the entire length of the main street in Dumaguete (probably about three miles) in long sleeves, black pants and dress shoes.

Periodically this Dumaguete traffic policeman would force the crowd back with his motorcycle. I'm trying to find a way to get one of those Dumaguete traffic shirts, I think they're pretty sweet.

The guy in front of Maila and I was one of the tv show guys from Manila. I don't really watch any tv here, so I'm not sure what show he is on. The crowd definitely recognized him though.

It was pretty hard to not have a great time at the parade, it's definitely one of the highlights of my time here.

The crowd gathered along Dumaguete's Rizal Boulevard waterfront was packed in all the way up to the acacia trees.

The parade ended with all of the couples being introduced in front of the gathered crowd on the City Hall stage.

This celebrity-type was texting some people while he was waiting to be called up for his interview.

The program concluded with a dance competition.