profound bliss

I recently visited Lucban, Quezon with my friend K last month for the famous Pahiyas Festival. (Read about my Pahiyas 2012 experience here .) There’s a Sta. Cruz route but we opted for the Lucena route since I frequent that part and I think it’s the easier one for commuters. Just my opinion, though. We wanted an aircon bus cuz we left so early in the morning and we wanted to sleep through the trip to Lucena but the aircon one would leave at 5:00 AM so we opted for the ordinary bus which would leave sooner. A & B Liner left Alabang at 3:30 AM. Despite the hard seats, K and I were still manage to sleep through most of the trip. We were charged P147.00 each. K could have gotten a discount for being a student but the ticket has already been printed by the time he said “estudyante ‘yong isa.” We reached Lucena Grand Terminal at exactly 6:30 AM and rejoiced to know that Jollibee was open. Past 7:00 AM, the Lucban-bound jeep we boarded in the same terminal departed, and we we...

As a side trip to our Pahiyas Festival 2012 trip, I took K to Kamay ni Hesus. I had been there two years ago but it’s always a good thing to come back and be a tour guide to a friend. It was the middle of the day, the sun was shining oh-so-brightly and I was feeling like fainting. We’re so used to climbing mountains at that level of heat, but it’s really different when you’re up several MASL than when you’re enduring heat in the lowlands. The Noah’s Ark was still under construction when I first visited the place but it was all done now and being used as a retreat house. We didn’t have any tripod and it was a good thing someone asked me for a favor of having their group photo taken. I also asked her to do the same for K and I at the doorstep of Noah’s Ark. Despite the heat, we proceeded in climbing the steps towards the Ascending Christ, which is the third biggest in the world. We passed by stations of the cross along the way but we didn’t pause to pray due to the sco...

Pahiyas Festival is celebrated by the people of Lucban, Quezon on the 15th of May every year. It is in honor of their patron saint San Isidro Labrador (St. Isidore the Labourer), who is also the patron saint of all farmers. Lucban was described as a quiet farming town, and the Pahiyas Fetival started in the 16th century to celebrate a bountiful harvest and to give thanks to their patron saint. The Lucbanons during the early Spanish times used to give an offering to an anito asking for a good harvest. After harvest season, they would gather their produce in a church and they would eat and drink together. Their belief is that this kind of merry-making would please their gods and in turn bless them with good harvest the following season. The celebration has evolved overtime and has become the famous festival foreign and local tourists flock to during the summer month of May. Residents on the designated streets would decorate their houses with agricultural products as well as...

MY NIECE, APRIL, messaged me on Facebook to ask for details on how to get to a certain place in Laguna. I had been there almost two years ago, and wanting to give her the exact info, I searched Profound Bliss for my post regarding that place. And then I realized I wasn’t able to blog about it. Good thing I still have the photos, and the notes of my visit is still intact in one of my many little notebooks. IT WAS IN that rainy day of September 12, 2010. A friend and I first went to Kamay ni Hesus in Lucban, Quezon , but knowing it wouldn’t take all day to tour the place, I brought with me a list of nearby places to visit. By 11:30 AM, we’ve seen all there was to see in Kamay ni Hesus and we’re already inside a tricycle that would take us to the town proper of Lucban to see the old church. We paid the driver ten pesos per head that time, I wonder how much more expensive it is now. The St. Louis de Toulouse Church was built in 1595. It was ruined in 1629 and was rebuilt between 1...

I love dogs, and dogs everywhere seem to love me, too. I was in Pagbilao last Wednesday to revisit my favorite secluded beach Kwebang Lampas. As the caretaker opened the gate, a local white dog came out of the gate to welcome me. No barking. Just a quiet but nevertheless warm welcome of circling around me and sniffing me with no threat at all. Her name was Bulag (blind), taken from her right eye that couldn’t see. I also think there’s something wrong with the right side of her face as her right ear was smaller and her nose was slightly upturned to the right. I don’t remember seeing her during my first visit, though. Alone I might be that time, but Bulag didn’t leave me one bit – stayed not so far while I was swimming, went with me as I walked along the beach, waited patiently while I took pictures, and posed for me when I wanted to take a picture of her. I think the highlight of our meeting was when I gave her one of the two chicken legs I brought for lunch, which she happil...

Posting on Facebook where you’re going proves helpful if you’re looking for a travel buddy. You don’t really have to say you need a company, they’ll ask to come with you. In my case, I actually planned on going to Lucban alone. I just wanted to see Kamay ni Hesus Healing Center in Brgy. Tinamnan, and from what I have read, it’s a worry-free destination even if you’re alone. But a friend named Rachel – who used to be a neighbor - saw the post and wanted to go. Why not? I love going to places alone but it’s always fun to have a friend for company. So we met at the bus terminal in Alabang at 5:30 AM last September 12th. She had this Deuter daypack on her back and a Canon G10 slung on her neck. So posh. A far-cry from the Sandugo backpack and Kodak C813. LoL! Anyway, our bus left Alabang at exactly 6 AM and arrived at Lucena Grand Terminal exactly 9 AM. The trip could have been shorter if not for the stops Manong Konduktor demanded to look at merchan...