Oh My Janey

Holy Week Road Trip

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It’s a tradition in our family every Maundy Thursday to go on a Visita Iglesia. Years and years ago, we just spent the day by visiting the Dolores church then going to Mount Banahaw. But over the past few years, we decided to spend more time in prayer and that’s by visiting different churches across Laguna and Quezon. I know that when you do the Station of the Cross, you have to visit 14 churches since it’s one church for each station. However, we only visited 8. The churches we visited were the parish churches in Alaminos, San Pablo City, Dolores, Tiaong, Candelaria, Sariaya, Tayabas and lastly, Kamay ni Hesus. It was a long punctuated by long car rides. We also prayed the rosary and the chaplet when we’re traveling.  I fell asleep quite a few times.

Just some of my Maundy Thursday musings:

  • I know we’re supposed to be fasting. Heck, we didn’t even eat meat! But it didn’t stop us from binging. We were eating all the time! There’s really no pause from the feasting that happened last holy week.
  • The saint sculptures in churches are usually covered with purple cloth during this time but I was surprised that the ones in Tayabas church weren’t. But I still don’t know why they cover the saints, though. Where did this tradition come from?
  • I have learned tons of prayer when I was still in school, but the only ones I can remember now are Our Father, Hail Mary, Glory Be, and Apostle’s Creed. My religion teacher is weeping.

I have once talked about my faith, and I am happy to say that I have changed since that point. I just kind of think too much and question a lot, and I just have to figure what I really feel and think. Today, I read Roger Ebert’s How I Believe in God. It doesn’t represent where my faith stands now, but it resonates with me. I was born and raised as a Catholic, but growing up I started to question things. Suddenly, my brain cannot wrap itself around things that I could neither touch or see.

My Psychology teacher once said that people believe in God because they need to believe in something. They need to believe that there’s a higher power that started everything. That’s why religions exist, he said. Ebert said the same thing:

“I believe mankind in general evidently has a need to believe in higher powers and an existence not limited to the physical duration of the body. But these needs are hopes, and believing them doesn’t make them true. I believe mankind feels a need to gather in churches, whether physical or social.”

I’m not saying that this statement defines my Catholic faith, but it definitely has a truth in it. And besides, there’s definitely Someone who planted that idea in our minds, right? 🙂

The Dusty Taal Hike

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I promised myself that I would hike once this year, and this is it. It’s probably the easiest hike ever but it doesn’t mean that I wasn’t sweating and heaving when we reached the top! The unathletic me cried.

I’ve been to Taal Lake twice but this is the first time that I went to the crater. If I knew that it looks so beautiful in person, I would have went sooner! Though the Taal lake and volcano are wholly located in Batangas, I always attribute it to Tagaytay City, which is in Cavite, since you can see it from there. Heck, we looked for boat rides near the Rotonda!

According to the most reliable online reference, Taal volcano is the second most active in the Philippines! In fact, we even saw some volcanic activity when we went up. There were smoke coming from some spots (okay, one spot) and I was like, THIS VOLCANO IS ALIVE!!!!!! Instead of running away, I desperately tried to take a photo of the smoke but my photographic capability isn’t enough.

In just 30-45 minutes, you can reach the top by foot, so when the people offering you horse rides tell you that there’s no way that you could do it, prove them wrong! One of the kuya almost ruined my day by being way too aggressive and cunning. I mean, I know you’re making a living but you don’t need to be a douche about it. We all want to support local tourism but please, don’t make it such an embarrassing (and headache-inducing) ordeal for the rest of us.

It’s not the climb that would make things difficult but there were too much sand and dust in the trail! Well, it’s probably volcanic ash or something (obviously I’m just making stuff up) but bring something to cover your mouth. It felt like walking in a desert sometimes, with luscious green on the side of the trail. Good thing we went early so the place still wasn’t plagued with way too many tourists.

This is why the crater truly was a sight to behold (which I uttered even before we reach it lulz)! It was majestic, and that’s the first time I used that adjective in my life. (I’m hoping that I’ll use it more in the future!) Standing on the edge and seeing it a big lake in the middle of the desert really gave me a sort of peace. The water was a deep shade of green. Too bad we didn’t get near the water! I think we should have took on a different path? IDK.

If you have the time and resources, try going on this trip, too. It took us half a day for this little adventure, and it truly is worth the time! Some reminders, though:

  1. There are actually people who are registered, who carry an id with them, to offer boat rides to tourist. Look for them because we ended up going with one with no ID and met one with and ID and it was a mess! They were fighting and it was a turn off, really.
  2. It’s P1,500 per boat, maximum of six persons. We rented two boats and got a discount! We got it for only P!,300 per boat.
  3. They said that a tourist guide is required and will make you pay P500 (for the whole group) for it. RESIST IT. I almost got fight in the center because I couldn’t understand how it’s required? But we paid for one anyone, AND HE DISAPPEARED ON US. So say NO NO NO NO.
  4. You also have to pay 50 or something for entrance fee.
  5. Ride on a horse if you want but it’s really something you can reach by foot. Wear comfortable clothes and shoes, though.
  6. Bring water because they sell the most expensive water and and soda on top.
  7. Have a face mask with you to keep the dust off your nose and mouth.

So despite all mishaps, it was a good hike. Reaching the crater was a nice experience and I’m glad that I went with these wacky people!

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Tagaytay Weekend

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When I was a kid, Tagaytay was synonymous to Picnic Grove. Then I grew up learned that there are cooler things to do than just frolicking on the overcrowded grove.

Last weekend, my officemates and I finally pushed through our Tagaytay trip that caused more headache to plan than possible. To say that I had fun was an understatement because it was a nice escape from the stressful 9-hour desk job we have 5 days a week. It’s a nice escape from the sweltering Manila weather. It was a nice escape from reality.

It was the weekend of long car rides to Taal lake and longer bus rides to and from Tagaytay. It was the weekend of good food (crispy tawilis, pork chop and unlimited bulalo soup!) and loud laughter. We occupied almost the entire floor of the inn and pranced around like it was ours alone. We got creeped out by the fire exit door that opens by itself. We cuddled together because the thin white sheets did nothing to save us from the cold room.

The weekend was too short to do everything we planned. So Iris and I promise to comeback and try Bag of Beans and Mushroom Burger and pretty much everything else we missed this time.

If there’s one thing I’ll always be thankful for, it’s the friends I made in my first job. Not like I already have a second one. But it’s always a wonder to me how I managed to get chummy with people at work, when it took me almost four years in college to do that.

This is my first trip this year, and I’m glad that it’s a good one.

 

The Pico de Loro Misadventure

When my officemates asked me to join their Pico de Loro climb, I immediately agreed. I didn’t even think of my physical unfitness (???) and my inexperience in climbing mountains. I think my mountain climbing adventures back in high school do not count. I was so excited to join the Pico de Loro climb. What I didn’t know was that it would be the scariest thing I’d ever do in my life. I’m still not sure whether I want to do it again. I don’t know. Maybe once every ten years.

We did a lot of preparation for our climb. Des was the leader of the group since she has been to Pico de Loro a couple of times (and she calls it her backyard!) and she’s the most experienced. Do not ask who’s the least experienced. Anyway, we held a couple of meetings and planned everything! But the planning still didn’t prepare me from the hardship I would go through.

The day of the PIco climb (May 26!) came, and I arrived late at our meeting place. Hehehe. But I was only 15 minutes late, okay! We agreed to meet at the 7-Eleven near the bus terminal for Tanza, Cavite. The bus ride took about an hour or so. But it wasn’t boring since we talked a lot and I was talking on the phone. I actually planned to sleep since I barely got any the previous night.

We didn’t go straight to Ternatte (where Pico is), though. We had to go first to Des’s house in Cavite to eat lunch. Heh. (For some reason, it’s so hard for me to narrate everything that happened that day! This will take forever…) Once we arrived, I was forever awestruck at Ate Des’s mansion. It was BIG! It has a basketball court! It has three kitchens! Hehehe. Before eating, Des told the people who hadn’t pitched a tent before to practice. So that’s me, Jinky and Eunise. I didn’t know pitching a tent isn’t that difficult? Well, we practiced on a marble floor so maybe it was easy that time!

After eating lunch, Ate Karen and I went to the nearest Puregold to buy some more things for the climb. We waited for the rest of the gang over there since the bus to Tanza would also pass that way. We went on another bus ride that took about 45 minutes. From the bus terminal, we had to ride a tricycle to get to the DENR for registration. Apparently, it’s mandatory to register first when planning to go up a mountain.

Before starting our hike, we had some warm-up first. Hehehehe.

How to Embarrass Yourself 101

We were told that there were so many people hiking and camping that day. I panicked a little because I didn’t really want so many people to see me struggling. We hadn’t even started but I was also feeling the burden of my heave baggage.

And so one of the hardest challenges I’ll ever face began. Ate Karen, Jinky, Eunise and I were virgin climbers, and Kimpee climbed once already. We put a lot of faith and trust on our team leader, Des, and she didn’t fail us. It’s thanks to her that I’m still alive now. Haha!

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