bisita iglesia (part 4)

After our experience at Longos, the following churches paled in comparison. (It probably also didn’t help that we were getting tired and churched out.) Like many of the other churches, Lumban Church, the next church we visited, has an old stone façade with a more modern inside. This church added a newer sculpture of the crucified Jesus atop its belfry that just detracts from the beauty of the church facade. Here, the façade has what appear to be wooden paintings covering the windows. The side windows are made of stained glass.



After seeing seemingly older and older churches, our snobbishness came out when we saw the newish-looking Pagsanjan Church. (Perhaps, there's a reason that the town is primarily known for its river, rapids, and falls.) The church was actually closed but, as some workers were going in the door, we asked to go in as well. Like the other churches, the altar is full of gold. It features a statue of the Virgin Mary that the store pictured for Paete says they made. You can see the bustle of the community through the windows.



We then proceeded to Cavinti, where the streets were narrow and mostly one-way. We had difficulty finding and getting to the church, especially as there was basketball tournament that was just starting. The church was locked, so we couldn’t see the inside. Like Lumban, the windows are covered by wooden paintings. We roamed around the grounds where I saw this display of palm leaves, probably from Palm Sunday, a week earlier. We also saw that they had a gated section with sculptured Stations of the Cross.



After Cavinti, we actually passed another church—that may have been Liliw Church—but I was tired and I just wanted to go to Majayjay Church, which is one that I really wanted to see. But before we got there, we got a little bit lost and almost ended up at Lake Caliraya. That wouldn't have been so bad, but it was getting late. On the way to Majayjay, we saw signs for Majayjay Falls. Wish we had time to see it, but that wasn't in the itinerary.

Though it had already been a long day and we were a bit churched out, I did not want to miss Majayjay Church. I called this the pink church because it looked that way to me in the picture in the book on church façades, entitled Philippine Church Façades, that we looked at at Fully Booked. The church is actually made of brick and only looks pink in pictures and from a distance. By the time we got there, it was probably after 4pm and church was in service. The church is a sight with its reddish hue and the palm trees in front. It has a nice plaza in front.


Right alongside the church was a market with stalls selling all sorts of stuff. This picture of a mossy-looking tree is taken there. According to a marker I read, the town is also known as the place where Emilio Jacinto, one of heroes of the Philippine Revolution, died.

We were supposed to go to Nagcarlan Church afterwards, but we were tired and we decided to skip it. We could also have gone to the churches of Lucban and Tayabas in Quezon Province, but those were out of the way. Maybe a different time.

We hit traffic on the way back to Manila, especially as it was the Sunday after a long holiday weekend. We ended up skipping dinner and got home around 9pm. The poor driver--not only did we have him driving all day, but we didn't even feed him dinner. I hope he doesn't hate us. It was an extremely long day--11 churches in 1 day!--but it was fun. Nothing like a road trip.