ThOuGhTs, iDeAs, oPiNiOnS, cHaTtEr

Quezon: Day Two

Like a well-oiled machine, our activities that day started without a hitch.

At 3am, our mobile phones which was set to alarm around that time woke us up. In less than thirty minutes, we (eight of us) were all dressed up in time for our very early breakfast. My aunt, with her househelp, woke up around 2am to prepare our breakfast and some sandwiches to bring along.

At exactly 4am, we are on our way to Lucban via Sariaya and Tayabas.

Lucban Church. (15May2005)

We reached Lucban around 5am. It took us some time to find a parking slot. It has to be on the sidestreets since it was not allowed to park by the main road because of the ongoing festivity. We were able to find one near a habhab factory.

Our first stop is the Lucban Church. When we arrived at the church, we are able to hear a novena, which was prayed before the first mass that day. Since the youngsters are getting restless, it was decided not to hear the mass.

We then proceeded to the houses adorned with kiping, farm produce, native products, etc. Kipings are wafers made of rice. In order to be edible, kipings are first fried before they can be eaten. Most of the houses use kiping as a material for their decor for they can use food coloring (orange, red, yellow, pink, green...) to add attractiveness and vibrance to it.

One can't help but be amazed how these townfolks decorated their houses. Their creativity and their passion stood out. If I were the judge, I would be having a hard time to decide which of these houses will go home (hehehe! what a pun...) with the prize.

Since eating pancit habhab is also part of the festivity, I had my companions line up while eating the noodles without utensils (habhab) in order to have a nice group picture. LOL. Boy, if they only noticed that the other people in the area were looking and smiling at them...

We left the town proper around 9am to proceed to the grotto. On the way out, we noticed that a lot of people are walking towards the town. No vehicle is coming in. When we reached the outskirts of the town, the traffic is at a standstill as vehicles are queueing to park. Thanks for the tip, we are not one of them... c",)

Sacred Heart of Jesus image at "Kamay ni Hesus Healing Church" and "Grotto of Healing and Purification". (15May2005)


Grotto of Healing and Purification. (15May2005)

At the grotto, two of my niece begged off and decided to stay in the van. The driver offered to stay with them. That leaves five of us to visit the Grotto of Healing and Purification and the Kamay ni Hesus Healing Church.

Just a few steps away from the front gate, my aunt also begged off as her feet is already aching. Actually, she is already having a hard time walking when we were still viewing the houses in Lucban town proper. That leaves four of us.

At the foot of the grotto, the view is awesome. I don't think pictures can capture the "impact" of this structure. One can be deceived into believing that one can easily reach the top. Thinking and actually doing it is a different matter. In fact, just on the first set of steps, one of us decided to go down and wait for us. She brought down with her our bottles which we filled-up with healing water. This leaves me and my two niece to attempt to climb the rest of the 252-steps grotto, a Lourdes grotto.

Reaching the top is exhilarating. One, because you made it. Second, the view from the top. In fact, one of my niece exclaimed, "When I become a grandmother, I would ask my grandchildren to bring me here."

Going down is a breeze with our strategy of doing "side-step".

We were back in Candelaria within an hour. My two niece updated their grandma and their mom of what we did that morning. They really enjoyed our short trip, one even remarked that it is much better than going to Enchanted Kingdom. (A compliment, really, for the same niece admitted having a grand time when we went to EK.)

Around 1pm, after lunch, we left Candelaria... a nice end to our weekend vacation in Quezon Province.

posted by ~GFA~ @ 5/15/2005 08:28:00 PM