"This (was) four days of fun, culture, food, adventure and sport; all at the tiny riverside, mountain village of Tuno," said Romeo Reyno, municipal tourism officer of Tibiao, Antique.
The initiative came from the people themselves, who took to kayaking and adventure tourism with gusto.
"We see the fiesta and kayaking as our way of preserving our environment and our unique way of life," said Tuno barangay captain, Mendito Amar.
The festival was a welcome departure from an ordinary village fiesta. Gone were the plastic bunting, traffic, styrofoam containers and the mounds of non-biodegradable garbage characteristic of most events.
The village, still without power, telephones and sealed roads, is a pedestrian way, the way it has always been. Guests got a taste of river fish and a range of vegetables found and cultivated in abundance in the foothills of Mount Madja-as, where the Tibiao River rises. Food was served on banana leaves and drinks in bamboo glasses.