My First Visita Iglesia

I have been hearing and seeing churches that can be visited during “visita iglesia”, but I really don’t know what it is all about. What is Visita Iglesia? I have read that Visita Iglesia is a Holy Week practice wherein devotees visit and pray in at least 7 different churches and it was introduced by the Augustinian missioners to the Philippines since 1560s. “It can be done in one day, usually on Maundy Thursday, or it can takedays until before Easter Sunday if churches are far apart. Initially, thepurpose of this Holy Week practice was to honor the Blessed Sacrament, whenJesus established the Sacrament of the Eucharist.” 

And since I haven’t done this ever in my life, I asked some friends to join me, but they already have activities with family, so I decided to do it alone. I was quite hesitant for a few seconds, I thought that it would be quite boring and lonely to do it all alone, but since I would really like to do it, I just ignored my hesitations and just decided to go for it wholeheartedly.

My first stop was San Agustine Church which is located in Intramurous, Manila. It is one of the UNESCO World Heritage churches here in the Philippines. I went here before but the church was closed, so this is my first time to go inside the church. The interior of the church is old, yet it is well-preserved.  This is one of the best interior that I have seen ( apart from the Jaro Cathedral in Iloilo City ) here in the Metro.

Inside of San Agustine Church

Entrance of San Agustine

My second stop is the newly renovated and re-opened Manila Cathedral. It is also situated just near San Agustine Church.  I was expecting more for interior since it was closed for nearly 2 years for renovation. But when I entered the church, it was a safe scenery for me. 

Organ on the Second Floor of Manila Cathedral

Entrance to Manila Cathedral

Third stop, Malate Church along M.H. del Pilar street, Malate, Manila.

Fourth stop, Sta. Cruz Church located in Sta. Cruz, Manila. What really caught my attention is the painting of deer just above the altar. It really looks familiar but I can’t remember exactly when was the first time that I saw it. I even asked my mom if we went there when I was younger, but my mom told me that she can’t remember.

Binondo Church in Binondo, Manila is my fifth stop. It was my first time to visit this church, even though I have been seeing it since I was schooling. I was impressed by the interior of the church. It has a pink tone paint of the altar and it has great paintings on the ceiling of the church. I am very happy that I’ve got the chance to visit this church.

My sixth stop was the famous Quiapo Church located in the heart of Quiapo, Manilw. It is well-known because of the Black Nazarene, the patron saint.

Entrance of Quaipo Church

People kneeling as "panata"  inside the Quiapo Church 

My feet is now hurting since I have been walking along Ongpin street, from Sta. Cruz church to Binondo Church and to Quiapo Church. I was looking for a jeepney passing through San Sebastian Church. But I was walking towards the jeepney station, I saw the tower of San Sebastian Church. Even though my feet almost wants to give up, I decided to walk towards my seventh stop,  San Sebastian Church. It is also located in Quiapo, Manila, near San Sebastian College and Centro Escolar University. The architectural and interior design of this church really stands out. It is said to be the only all-steel church or basilica in Asia, and claimed as the only prefabricated steel church in the world. It was also included in the tentative list for possible designation as a World Heritage Site last 2006.

Entrance of San Sebastian Church

My eight and ninth stop  is St. Anthony Church and Our Lady of Loreto, respectively. They are both located in just one compound in Sampaloc, Manila.

St. Anthony Church

Our Lady of Loreto

My tenth and final stop is UST Chapel: Santisimo Rosario Parish Church, which can be seen inside the UST campus.

This entire experience is both new and fulfilling for me. I was able to visit 10 churches today.  I have walked for hours; tired and thirsty along the way, but I am still able to manage to fulfil my plan and reach my target to be able to visit different churches to say my thanks and my prayers. At first, I thought that I would feel alone and lonely since I’ll be doing it all by myself, but after my first stop, I felt fulfilled and renewed after each visit to the church. I was able maximize my time to visit, pray and give thanks wholeheartedly. I don’t know when will I be able to do this again, but I am very happy and thankful that I was able to do make my first Visita Iglesia. 

Bacolod - Iloilo Getaway 2014

I haven't been anywhere in the Philippines aside from my hometown and here in Manila, so I was really clueless of how the Philippines really looked like. I also saw a lot of post of my friends in social media about their travel here and there, and it makes me wonder, when will I be able to go to that place? But aside from when, more questions pooped into my head, like how much will it cost me? How can I go to those must visit places? Will my parents allow me too? ( Yes, oh yes! First, I need to ask for their permission and if that won't work, then I will try my very best to persuade them.) and lastly, will it be worth it? These mind bugging questions kept on and on, my heart really keeps beating hard for the excitement and adventure that awaits in every travel, but my mind would tell me that I don't really need to travel, it is just a waste of time and money. All of my perspective changed after I came back from Taiwan from a 5 month long study. And I told myself, IT'S NOW OR NEVER!

 
Then I got the courage to really wait for any seat sale and book anywhere that I haven't been to, and my first stop - Bacolod! This my first ever domestic flight ( Yup! This is my first!) I was able to book a promo seat sale in Cebu Pacific and I asked my mom to join me in my trip.Why Bacolod? Mainly because I saw my friends's picture of "The Ruins" in her desktop, and I was really captivated by its beauty. Another friend of mine went there recently and she gave me a lot of pointers and advices. I even asked her to check my itinerary plan for any additional pointers. My mom and I are all packed and ready to go! But days before our flight, it had been reported in the news that it would be a rainy week as there is a typhoon approaching. But still, with my fingers crossed, we flew to Bacolod.

 
It was an hour travel time from Manila to Silay International Airport, and we arrived at around 11:40AM. It was rainy so I need to change the tentative itinerary that I made. We decided to just go straight to Bacolod City. You can see vans parked just outside the airport and we asked for the van whose route is Bacolod. We hoped in and it cost us 150pesos/pax. We asked the driver to drop us straight to our hotel ( GoHotel ) located just beside Robinson’s Mall. We palnned to check-in then leave our bags. But Gohotel has a strict policy on their check-in time (2:00PM onwards) so we asked if we can bags since we are staying in their hotel. The staff agreed and so, we went onto our first destination: Manokan County! 

 
Manokan County

I first heard of this place on a TV show - Biyahe ni Drew, wherein they featured that it is a must try places to dine in Bacolod for the Inasal Chicken. We rode a Bata route jeepney ( BTW, the minimum jeepney fare in Bacolod is 7 pesos, which is a peso cheaper than in Manila), and asked the driver to drop us off in the Manokan County. It is located near SM Bacolod, and it is consists of few stores that are all catering Inasal Chicken and others. And since Bacolod is well-known for this viand, so it is A MUST TRY dish. We went inside AIDA'S MANOKAN COUNTY (since it is a well-known establish in Manokan County) . My friend told me that you should use your hands in eating for you to really enjoy the food, and so I did. They have 3 sinks and soaps inside the establishment for public use. I also observed that all the people eating really used their bare hands in eating, so I really don't mind doing it.

San Sebastian Cathedral and Negros Museum

After having lunch, we drop by San Sebastian Cathedral. The Cathedral is simple, old but well- preserved. Then we head out to the Negros Museum that is located in Gatuslao Street. We rode a jeepney going there, I totally forgot the jeepney route sign, but you can ask around. There is a 50pesos entrance fee, and it is only open on Tuesdays- Sundays at 10AM. I saw a blogger that went to the Negros Museum and posted pictures cute collection of  toys from different parts of the world. So in my excitement, I really look forward to take a look of the collection and take pictures as well. At first, we tried to tour around the museum by ourselves, and we saw vintage things from different colonies that colonized the Philippines – Spaniards, Americans and Japanese. You can also see some big paintings of locals way of living before they were colonized. I tried to look for the toy collection but we couldn’t find it, I was about to lose hope and a lady working in the museum approached us and asked if we needed a tour.  While she was touring us around, she asked me if I knew what and why they have the Masquerade Festival celebration. To my surprise, I really don’t know why. And here is WHY. She told me that during the year 1980, a boat sank and there were many Negrense died, and of that same year the sugar cane production went down. Negros Occidental is famous for the sugar cane, and it is their main economy.So the government come up with the idea of Masquerade Festival in order to uplift the spirit of their locals.

Good trivia! After sometime, I asked her if there is really a toy collection inside the museum that I read about. And indeed, there was! It was placed in a big room, located somewhere in the inside. Before we even can go inside, we were told not to take pictures, as those are all personal collections of Mara Montelibano that she had collected while traveling around the world, which she decided to donate some to the museum for public viewing. It was a bummer, but at least I got to see in the flesh of those toy collections. I was really amazed by the number of collections that she had. These are just SOME of her collection. And it is not just a piece per country that she visited, but pieces of different kinds of toys were exhibited. I really couldn’t count how many were there, and the places that she had been through. I remember seeing toys, dolls, and cute stuffs from Egypt, Russia, Monaco, Europe, US, etc.

The Ruins

After we checked- in and rested for a while, we head up to the famous “The Ruins”. We rode a Bata route jeepney - you can ask the jeepney driver to drop you off  in the tricycle terminal going to the ruins, which is located near the Pepsi Cola Factory, and ride a tricycle going to “The Ruins”. It cost us 100pesos/pax for round trip, you can ask the driver to wait for you and drive you back to the tricycle terminal. In order for me to see the changes of scenery view of “ The Ruins”, we decided to go

there at around 4:30PM. The tricycle ride is about 15-20 minutes. Luckily, it wasn’t raining when we got there, just a bit gloomy. We paid the entrance fee of 80pesos/pax. And there we are! I was mesmerized by its beauty. It is also called the “Taj Mahal of Negros Occidental” because of the love story surrounding the structure of The Ruins. After few minutes of  taking picture, Kuya called and gathered everyone and he lead the introduction of The Ruins. He was really full of  humour and funny. Then we sat and looked for a place to have our dinner while waiting for the sunset. We chose the Italian restaurant whose owner and chef is an Italian. We ordered for Bolognese and the our overlooking view is just perfect!

 

It was a rainy morning in Bacolod, but we still push through with our next destination to visit - Iloilo! We chose to go early in order to be able to leave earlier than planned. We rode the Bata route jeepney and get off in SM Bacolod. From SM, we walked for roughly 3 mins and we saw pedicab driver and he offered take us to BREDCO port. The pedicab cost us 20 pesos/ pax. When we arrived in BREDCO port, we saw few ferries that operate daily with Iloilo- Bacolod route. Sine we arrived earlier, we chose WeeSam Express as they have the 8:10AM trip. It cost us 485 pesos for senior citizen, and 585 regular fare plus 30 pesos each as terminal fee. The fare is round trip already, and the return ticket is valid for a year. We ate breakfast in Merci that is located in the port, and after a few minutes, its boarding time!

Since it is a rainy day, the sea waves are quite busy. It was my first time to ride a ferry on a rainy day. I was really a bit scared and worried, but I try not to let it show, especially to my mom. In order to calm myself down. I just put on my I-pod and listen to my music. And now, I can feel the ferry moving. It was really wavy and I can see the waves slamming onto the window of the ferry. I just closed my eyes, prayed and went back listening to my I-pod. I knew that the ferry ride would last for an hour, and I am really hoping that we could arrive in Iloilo, very soon. After 30 minutes, I felt that it was no longer wavy and the ride become smooth sailing. With lots of tensions going inside me, I decided to take a nap. And when I woke up, I can already see the iloilo river wharf -Muelle Loney, and I became excited again.

The weather in Iloilo is gloomy, with slight rain showers, which is way better than the rainy weather in Bacolod. Now, I am prepared to conquer my must see places listed in my itinerary.  All listed were different churches located in Iloilo, and since we will be staying the night, I am more determined to have all the churches be visited.

The Famous Miag-ao

We rode the San Joaquin route jeepney, and I asked to be dropped off in San Joaquin which is my initial plan to visit first. I asked for the fare and I was shocked to learn that it will cost us 120 pesos/pax. Still, we paid for the fare and went on our journey. I really thought that it was just outside the Iloilo City Proper and it won’t be that far, but we had been sitting for an hour and yet we haven't arrived to our destination. I was worried that we might get lost so when we had a stop over to pick up passenger, I asked the barker if we are almost there in San Joaquin, he replied that it is still very far. I suddenly wanted to just back out and return back in Iloilo City, but we had already traveled far enough and from what I saw, there are few jeepneys’ that are heading to Iloilo City route, and even if there is, it is full board already. At that moment, I really thought hard if I would still pursue my journey to San Joaquin for their church or just change my itinerary instead. I asked my mom's opinion, she said that she was already restless in her sit and she asked me if I would still go for it. After some thoughts, I decided and asked for the barker to drop us off in Miag-ao instead of San Joaquin. The barker agreed and returns 20 pesos/ pax. After passing towns after towns and nearly 2 hours of jeepney ride, we finally arrived onto our destination: Miag-ao!



The Church of Saint Thomas of Villanova, commonly known as the Miagao Church, is the Roman Catholic parish church of the town of Miagao in Iloilo Province and was built in 1786 by Spanish Augustinian missionaries. And it was declared as part of the UNESCO WORLD HERITAGE SITE " Baroque Churched of the Philippines" in 1993. It was really a breath-taking scene for me, seeing up-close the details of the structure and how it had been there for years, or for a century, and is still well- preserved. It was windy outside the church and so I sat onto the stone bench located just outside the church, and I take time to inhale the fresh air that is surrounding the church, and appreciate its beauty. It really makes me wonder how it was built during the 17th century, without any use modern technology that can at least aide in construction. It was really one of the best detailed and structured church that I've seen. Travelling to and fro Miag-ao might be tiring, but for me, it was all worth it!

Molo Church  ( St. Anne Parish )

It was already 3PM in the afternoon when we arrived in Iloilo City Proper, and I decided we can still go for one church before heading to our hotel. Next on my list: Molo Church. We asked the driver to drop us off the Molo church, and there we are! It lies in front of the town square in Molo Distrcit.

"The church, which is dedicated to Santa Ana, the mother of the Blessed Virgin Margy, has larger than life images of female saints lined in two rows (eight on each side) inside the church, each standing on a pedestal attached to a massive stone pillar and under the Gothic style canopy. These saints are Sta. Marcela, Apolonia, Genoveva, Isabel, Felicia, Ines, Monica, Magdalena, Juliana, Lucia, Rosa de Lima, Teresa, Clara, Cecilia, Margarita and Marta. At the main altar is the statue of Sta. Ana teaching the scripture to the child Mary with the Holy Trinity at the top. The right side has Sagrado Corazon de Jesus, San Judas Tadeo, San Esteban and Sta. Rita de Casia. As observed by many, while the female saints are kept inside the church, the streets around the vicinity of the parish are named after the male saints, namely San Jose, Antonio, Marcos and Pedro simply showing how the Moleños give protection to the Moleñas.At the ceiling of the dome are paintings of the four evangelists." http://www.thenewstoday.info/2007/07/24/molo.church.her.story.html

Jaro Cathedral

It was Sunday, and my mom decided to have our mass in my next church to conquer: Jaro Cathderal. It was a rainy Sunday. We rode 2 jeepney before arriving in Jaro Cathedral. It is located in Jaro District, Iloilo City. " The Jaro Cathedral, formally Jaro Metropolitan Cathedral and the National Shrine of Our Lady of the Candles ( Santuario Nacional de Nuestra Señora de la Candelaria), is the cathedral for the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Jaro. It is located in district of Jaro of Iloilo City, in the province of Iloilo, on the island of Panay, in the Western Visayas region of the Philippines. It is under the original patronage of Saint Elizabeth of Hungary. " http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roman_Catholic_Archdiocese_of_Jaro

From the outside, it may look like a simple church, but when I stepped inside the church, I was captivated by
it's interior design. The entire mass I wasn't able to understand anything as they were using their local dialect,

but I was kept awake by my amusement of the cathedral's beauty. It may look like that it was newly painted walls, but the color is just vibrant to my eyes. The edges and corners of the pillars of the altar are painted gold, and the rest of the altar is like a bright pistachio green in color. But what really caught my attention was the mural paint on both sides of the altar. Pardon me, but I'm really poor with saint names and biblical events, so I can't really distinguish what or who. But the mural occupies the entire both walls of the altar, and when you look up, there is a painting of saints wherein it looks like they are looking at from above. I was really fascinated by the mural and paintings above that I wasn't able to feel that the mass is already over.




La Paz Church ( Nuestra Señora De La Paz Y Buen Viaje )

After eating batchoy in La Paz Market , we headed to La Paz Church which is a 15-20 minutes walking distance from the market.

" The La Paz Church is one of the many reasons why tourists visit Iloilo in the Philippines. This historical church, also known as the Nuestra Señora De La Paz Y Buen Viaje, was built in 1870 with the help of the Spanish friars. This church is now known as the "Our Lady of Peace and Good Voyage Church", the direct translation of its Spanish name.A temporary church and convent was built in 1847 by Fr. Candido Gonzales. It was made mostly of wood, bricks and tabique pampango. Designed based on a Neoclassical-style, the current La Paz Church stands today as one of the centuries-old attractions in the city of Iloilo. This church, constructed from 1870 to 1874, was made of light materials and had to be renovated several times as the years passed." http://www.markmaranga.com/la-paz-church-our-lady-of-peace-and-good-voyage-church/