The Travel Bug: San Guillermo Parish

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Bacolor, Pampanga
Central Luzon
28 January 2012
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For my first entry, I was supposed to document our little sight-seeing moments up in Mt. Pinatubo's crater lake, but unfortunately there was some sort of military activity in the area. We arrived at the base camp at around 9am, and trekkers were only permitted to go as early as 4am and descend at around 8am, so it was already too late for us either way. It was really disappointing but, as what I have learned a long time ago, things happen for a reason-- and most of them happen for a better cause too.

Despite our spirits getting dampened by that experience, my two buddies and I decided to search for an alternative. A few minutes of driving later, our "alternative route" presented itself (quite unusually, since we're not really the type to drive miles and miles away from our comfort zone in Makati or The Fort just to see churches) in the form of an old sunken-in-volcanic-ashes church: San Guillermo Parish, Pampanga.

Not quite Pinatubo, but hey... we're stepping on something that CAME from it at least. XD

Face-palm moment: Filipinos, remember that cute kid whom we all came to know as Santino from "May Bukas Pa"? I just recently found out that they shot the sitcom here. Silly me. :))

Anyway, after all that travelling, I was beyond annoyed by the fact that we couldn't go to the crater. It was pretty much too late to plan for anything else at that time, so we settled and took our cameras out.

didn't turn out quite the way I wanted but... haha. XD

What. I think it's pretty. D:

A church isn't a church without the call bell.

To the church's right is a house for the priests, I think; and for some reason, it didn't occur to me to take a picture of the house. Now I wish I did, but what's done is done. After exhausting whatever scenery was present in the outside-perimeter of the church, I decided to join my friend inside.

Entering...

Having come from two Very-Catholic learning institutions, it was tradition to offer prayers and wish for something --anything-- in front of the church's altar if it's your first time to visit the place. So I did, and then my eyes roved the place for a good quick look. At that time, the aisle was lined with flowers and a red carpet was set in the middle; I think they were prepping the place up for a wedding.

The Altar

It was modestly huge and it's not as grand as the churches back in Manila, but it has this solemn/sad/ancient feel to it. Not really sure if it's just me, but it probably has something to do with the place's tragic history when Mt. Pinatubo erupted back in 1991.

Memories.
I'm not entirely sure if this was once a window but it wasn't hard to imagine at all if it indeed was. Looking from the inside you just can't help but picture how horrific that eruption must have been.

We were already lingering by the doorway, preparing to leave to join our other friend outside who was bidding his time in taking pictures, when an old wooden archway caught my eye. People were coming to and from it, carrying flowers and stuff until curiosity got the best of me.

Naturally, I peeked in.

What do we have here...?

Beyond that wooden archway were statues, paintings, furniture, creepy-looking rooms that --swear-to-God-- you do not want to be stuck in come nightfall, and a lighting condition perfect for taking pictures. :D

My friend and I walked through the frame and explored the area; barely a second later, he was already on trigger-happy mode, while I was still in a state of discontent because I didn't like most of the statues. They all looked creepy to me, and there was this one particular statue of the Virgin Mary that gave me goosebumps because it felt like her eyes were watching my every movement. @_@

No offense, but... See?

The angels were okay though...

... most especially this one.

Funny thing was, while I was grumpily walking around the parish thinking that we traveled miles away only to end up here, I happen to stumble across a beautiful old statue that made me stop on my tracks and reevaluate the implications of today's events.

PICTURE OF THE DAY
And all of a sudden, I found myself helplessly drawn...

It's hard to find the wisdom in things on-the-fly, but... you know, stuff happens for a reason, right? And, just like that, I was grumpy no-more.

There were three more rooms within that archway to explore: one looked like a mess room of some sort which, come to think of it, was probably used when they were shooting some of the scenes in that TV series; the other one was like a museum dedicated to the Church's and the Municipality's history. While looking at photographs and paintings on the wall, I was slightly disappointed to know that they failed to take a picture of the church back when it wasn't yet submerged in volcanic ashes.

Fans of little Santino: familiar? :D

Paint it gold. Or bronze.

View from the inside.

The last room was a small adoration chapel. I took some shots but I didn't like how it turned out so I had it removed. Hihihi. Sorry.

Anyway, here are other pictures taken before we left. I'm not a professional photographer so pardon my picture-taking abilities; and yes, most of these were edited via Instagram, in case anyone wonders. :)