A Road Trip On Black Saturday

My friends and I hit the road down south to continue our sort of yearly tradition to do "Way Of The Cross" every Lent. It's just a tradition that we invented for ourselves, where we go to a special Catholic church every year, and recite a booklet of prayers for each 13 stations of the cross. It's also sort of another excuse to be able to catch up and see each other at least once a year.

Usually, Way Of The Cross and Visita Iglesia* are done on Maundy Thursday. Lent is a national holiday in the Philippines, but since my friends and I are all employed by american companies, we didn't get these days off and have to do it on Black Saturday.

I won't bore you to death with religion but here's some photos of interest.

This is the front of Nagcarlan Underground Cemetery, a historical landmark in the Philippines. The cemetery lies beneath the church inside this gate.

It was said to be built by Franciscan monks in 1845. It served as a hide out and a meeting place for Filipino revolutionaries  against Spain in 1896.

Unfortunately, the cemetery was closed when we visited. So all we could do is to take photos from the outside,  not minding the scorching heat of the sun :).

We went to the beautiful church of Pagsanjan to fulfill our mission.

Covering religious statues and the cross with purple cloth on holy week is a Catholic tradition , which is said to help people concentrate and reflect more on the sufferings and sacrifice of Jesus.

We concluded our trip with a nice hearty lunch at Calle Arco in Pagsanjan. Calle Arco is just a big house transformed in to a  restaurant. The house is very traditional of provincial sort. It's an instant Filipino appeal. It makes you feel you are in your grandma's house.