By 2PM, we had reached Paete. The glare from the sun must had been set to
maximum level. Hats and sun glasses did little to make a tour around the Santiago Apostol Parish
Church,
another national cultural treasure, a breeze.
another national cultural treasure, a breeze.
By this time, my camera’s battery was reaching dangerously
low levels—after taking a gazillion pics.
I took it as a sign to spend more time contemplating instead of
“kodaking”.
In
order to conserve the little energy left in my camera’s battery, I took the
opportunity to just seat and be quiet. It was nice and dim inside
the church after the glare outside. My eyes moved slowly around the interiors of the church: the Craved Last Supper on the base of
the altar table; the dove hovering on the ceiling atop the altar; and the
covered statues.
Slowly I moved from one huge painting to
another that were hanging on the walls.
One depicted the works of the missionaries in collage format; another,
depicted a scary scene of The Last Judgement.
Part of the painting showed gruesome torture methods employed by devils
in hell and how dead babies were categorized: those who were baptized before
they died from those who died before being baptized. I understand that paintings of these sort of
teacher’s visual aid in a time before white boards and projectors.
Now whoever was in charge of covering the
statues seem to have overdone himself. Each
of the stations of the cross was also covered with a purple cloth. (!) Of several huge paintings hanging on the
wall, what caught our attention was a painting of St. Christopher holding onto a
coconut tree with the child Jesus on his shoulder. The saint looks like a giant
shirtless Filipino farmer with a bolo tied on his waist. We were told that a European rendition of the
same scene had been on top of this
localized version. The “pinoy” version
was only discovered when restoration works were being undertaken on the European
version. The European rendition was all
boarded up at the time of our visit.
As I waiting for my friends to come out of the church, I
noticed four young boys dressed in white shirts and black pants. They had with them a miniature Saint mounted
on a pedestal. Later on, as my friends
and I walked around the town, we would witness a procession of similarly clad
boys holding up miniature versions of Saints. It seems like a good training program for the young boys of Paete.
A short walk from the church were shops over-flowing with
wood carvings of Saints, angels, knick knacks and everything in between.
Unfortunately, we could not linger to check out other crafts of interest as we
still had more towns to cover. A pity.
But we were soon consoled when we reach Pagsanjan at 3PM—
not that we wanted to shoot the rapids but because of the halo-halo made famous
by Aling Taling. Razons of Pampanga has its
yema balls while Aling Taling has its kondol
(candied wintermelon). The make-shift
restaurant was packed with people with the same search for a delicious cool
treat. By now my camera bid me good-bye
with this last message: Change battery pack.
Luckily, my generous friend, J, has allowed the use of pictures she
took.
As the sun was now slowly making it’s way down the
mountains, we hurried on our way to the town of Liliw or Lilio to visit the San Juan Bautista
church.
The red-brick church was very pretty and made a striking
picture against the background of the setting sun and mountains. Unfortunately, we felt a bit harassed by a
group of well-meaning and enthusiastic volunteers asking for donation at the
entrance of the church. Their constant
chatter was not conducive to prayer.
Nonetheless, this did not diminish the beauty of the church.
Liliw is also known for being the sandal town of Laguna. We could not let the opportunity to bring
home a pair or two or three sandals, espadrilles, slippers and ballet flats pass
us by. The shops were just on the side
of the church—so convenient. Besides
footwear, there were ambulant vendors selling Laguna treats: pako ferns for salads, keso puti, grated
santol with salted shrimp in coco cream, the tiniest mangoes, native sausages,
and more. Also admirable was the restrain maintained by the vendors and sales personnel to pitch their products. It
made for a pleasurable experience.
It was now 6PM and much as there was still a lot to explore in Liliw, we had to
move on to our 7th and final church.
A full moon was already midway in the skies when we arrived at the San
Bartolome Parish Church at Nagcarlan.
The surrounding darkness made for an ethereal feel.
There were a few lights open inside the
church that threw dark shadows on the walls and corners. As there were hardly any visitors, I sat
myself down by the side of the main
door. There were teenagers nearby practicing their bike skills; two vendors
were putting their wares away; an older sister was chasing after a younger
brother pulling a kite. All these were
happening as the full moon got on her way to her place in the dark sky.
My friends and I declared that the day was finally done and
it was time to head on home. But not
without stopping for supper at RSM Lutong Bahay in Calamba— a few meters away
from the South Super Highway.
It was now 8:30PM when we hungrily moved our tired bodies
into a brightly lit carenderia-like restaurant.
We chose their specialty: Morcon.
We paired it with an eggplant salad. One bite, one word: delicious. It brought back childhood memories.
Now that’s a clear sign of home cook goodness.
On the toll-way, I marveled at how quickly time passed
by. So much seen and tasted and still
the need to come back again for things missed. I also realized that all the
prayers and supplications lifted up during the church visits seemed diminutive
compared to the bountiful blessings received.
There is much to be discovered. But even more importantly, there is still a lot of praying to be done.
---xoxoxoxox---
The day after our road trip, my friend V sent me a plateful
of “Paco (fern) Salad” with a mango dressing to go with it. And we are in luck as she graciously allowed
me to share her recipe which follows below.
V’s Very Yummy Forest Fern Salad
Zap the following in a blender until smooth:
Pulp of ripe mango
2 T vinegar
3 T olive oil
Salt and Pepper
Adjust seasoning to your preference and zap again. Transfer dressing to a small bowl and place
in the fridge.
Salad Ingredients:
2 bundles of paco (fern)
Thinly sliced onions
Sliced tomatoes
Strips of green or ripe mangoes (depending on your
preference)
Singkamas sliced into match sticks
1 salted egg (Itlog Maalat), sliced
Wash the paco and remove any wilted leaves and hard stem. Place in a bowl and blanch with very hot water. Drain and set aside to cool.
When ready, toss in the rest of the ingredients and chill in
the fridge until ready to serve with the dressing.
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