I find this flow of traffic unusual in this place.
Every weekday, I go to work and must have timed in on or before 8:00 a.m.
I live four kilometers away from my work place. However, I must leave the house forty minutes before 8 or even earlier so I won't be late.
There are two routes to take when going to work but both routes lead to the junction in the picture.
And both routes too are heavy on traffic.
This day, however, there is a scheduled Civic Parade as part of the month long celebration of Strawberry Festival in La Trinidad, Benguet, Northern Philippines. The parade will be in the National Highway starting from the entrance to the Strawberry Farms all the way to the Municipal Grounds so two lanes in the highway were closed, the other two lanes on the left side are left open for two-way traffic.
The assembly for the parade starts at 6 a.m. and the parade is expected to end at around 9:30 a.m.
Office Memo
So, since there is a parade, I already expected that there will be heavy traffic.
Good thing that later in the afternoon before the scheduled parade, our boss issued an Office Memorandum suspending work until 9:30 a.m. due to the parade so we won't be stuck in traffic.
What a relief!
The parade ended earlier than 9:30 a.m.
Since it's still early, I walked around the capitol area.
From the view deck of the capitol, one could see the main highway.
On the left is the national highway that leads to other municipalities and provinces.
On the right is a provincial road.
Straight ahead, it would lead to Baguio City.
Since both roads meet at this junction, it is almost always traffic during rush hours: 7-8 a.m. and after work: 5-6 p.m.
This is the time that I get to work and there is less traffic in the area.
Maybe, because it's past 9:00 a.m. and the people have already settled even before the parade started.
Even my workmates arrived in the office early because they thought there would be heavy traffic so they left for work earlier.
Anyways,we were just so happy we were early for work. TGIF!