Angel's Debut Party
See the entire gallery here . Here in the P.I., a girl's 18th birthday is a Big Deal. A coming-out, it's called a Debut Party and the girl is the Debutante. For boys, it is their 21st. This night was all about Angel. We were invited by Angel's mother, Carmela (Elay, pronounced ELL-eye). You might remember Elay from a year ago when we were doing the Taal volcano refugee relief effort. We had to park a couple blocks away but ended up in front of the house Joelet used to live in. The street urchins quickly gathered around because a foreigner in these parts - especially a white foreigner - is a rarity, a curiosity. I snapped a shot of them after we got out of the truck: When we arrived at the venue (Pines & Palms - FB Link ), the music was too loud for me (ears & hearing not quite what they used to be), so I hoofed it back to the truck to get my ear plugs. Right away, there were my street buddies peppering me with questions, asking my name. I said let's get another...