Jun Camacho and his family said they are “killing time” in the area since they don’t have electricity at home.
“It’s better to hang out here so the children can fish and swim because they have nothing to do in the house — there’s no power and no television,” Camacho said. “ ‘CUsick’ is giving us headaches with all these high power rates and outages,” he added, referring to the Commonwealth Utilities Corp.
The young members of the Camacho family sleep in their tent in the evening, their father said.
He said it was a coincidence that they and the Torres family secured exactly the same spot where they set up camp last year.
The Torres family has 30 members camping out near a pavilion.
“This is not just for the parade, but we also teach the kids how to swim, fish, dive and snorkel,” the mother told Variety.
They also celebrated the birthday of one of her siblings.
For the first time, the Lee family and its 19 members are camping out and they’re enjoying it.
They pitched their tent in the area on Monday night.
“Our kids came here to swim and visit the carnival,” the father said.
The 40-member Duenas family set up camp yesterday.
They thought there was no longer a spot for them but they still found one in a shaded area.
Just like the other families, they are “doing a lot of things.”
“We always come here every year because this is a traditional activity,” one of the family members said.
Regarding the parade, the Duenas family member said they want to see the “customized cars” and “new and different things.”
Because of the economic crisis, a Torres family member said they are not expecting a colorful parade.
“But we’re still hoping to see nice parade despite the economic hardship,” she said.
The head of the Lee family said “we’re hoping that there will be more floats joining the parade.”
Jun Camacho wants to see a “lively” parade this year.
On Friday, the stretch of Beach Road from the Microl intersection in San Jose to Horiguchi Building in Garapan will be closed from 12:30 p.m. to 6 p.m. to make way for the parade.
All secondary road intersections along the way will also be closed off until the end of the parade.
The parade will start at 2 p.m. at the National Office Supply and end in front of the Kristo Rai Church in Garapan.
