The Road Less Traveled

This time last year, my PATTS family had gone on a beautiful trip to the North which I had the opportunity to chronicle in my very first post here on blogspot. For our summer outing this year, we decided to go South so that we could spend less hours on the road and more time admiring the sights.

After numerous retreats at the Assumption and even after all my teen-age drinking sprees in Antipolo, this was my first time to step foot at the Nuestra Senora de Buenviaje otherwise known as the famous Antipolo Church. We got there at the break of dawn so it added more to the solemnity of the church.







Next stop was the Angono Petroglyphs in Binangonan. Which begs the question: saan ba talaga kuya? Angono or Binangonan?

The petroglyphs are supposed to be the oldest known work of art in the Philippines. Human and animal-like figures are engraved on the rockwall. It is included in the National Cultural Treasures of our country. It is sad though because right beside the so-called cultural treasures are 'artworks' put up by vandals. How sad! You will see 'Jack loves Jill' with a heart and an arrow pierced through it. I don't think you will see this in places like Egypt where they preserve such cultural treasures. It just goes to show how uneducated some people can be.


After a quick breakfast at Jollibee in Taytay, we were brought to the Blanco Museum in the Angono town proper. The museum is run by Jose "Pitok" Blanco and his 7 children all of whom are artists just like him. What beautiful paintings they had on display! Please allow me to share a few of them.











I am no art expert nor will I pretend to be one but these paintings are exceptional! More so because all the painters come from one family. I would realize later on that Angono is really an artist's paradise. When we had lunch at Balaw-Balaw Restaurant, they had their own pieces of art work on display and also for sale. In front of Balaw-Balaw is the Nemiranda Restaurant, Musuem and Art Workshop. They live and breathe art in this part of the world. If Annika ever gets serious about her art, I was telling Reymond that I would want her to spend one summer in Angono! It was so inspiring to be in a place like that.


At lunch, I was introduced to the Minaluto. It a family dish served in an oversized bamboo trough reminiscent of a siopao container except that its 10 times bigger. The minaluto has a huge hill of rice in the middle and it is surrounded by such treats as inihaw na talong, crabs, crispy cat fish, lechong kawali, fried chicken, calamari, binagoongan na okra, and itlog na pula among others. Sa sobrang excited namin, I didn't get a picture before the meal was attacked by my tablemates. So as you can see, the minaluto was severely demolished by the time I got my camera out.

From Angono, we took the backroads known as the Sumulong Highway. Again, it was my first time in the area. I kid you not! Who would've thought you could get from Antipolo to Laguna without having to pass Edsa and the South Superhighway. I'm sure the people in the North who frequent Caliraya are aware of this route so you'll have to forgive my ignorance. It was a quiet, serene and scenic trip which I enjoyed thoroughly. From Sumulong, we made our first stop at Pakil, Laguna which is known for their products made out of wood shavings.



Our next stop Paete, Laguna on the other hand is known for their wood carving. Under the sweltering heat, we walked through the streets making occassional stops to buy their products (woodcarved refrigirator magnets for me! my dream is to fill up my ref with one from every place I've been to), eat their food (fried miki noodles with suka for P5.00) or to just simply admire the view. Paete is a quiet, peaceful town with friendly people that I wouldn't mind stopping by if I ever find myself on the Sumulong Highway again. Heehee.

I was super excited for our next stop: Lake Caliraya! Yes, yes, I can see your jaws drop from a mile away. Grabeh noh? I'm maybe 2 hours away from Laguna and yet I've never even been to this area. Well, guess what? Di pa rin ako nakarating!!!!! I thought we would stop by the lake and take pictures, breathe the air and admire the view. Eh bakit kami dineretso sa Japanese War Memorial Marker. Nakakaiyak talaga! Technically, hindi pa rin ako nakarating sa Lake Caliraya. I was only able to view it from the left side of the road. Grrrrrrr. So, kahit sad ako, I still took a group picture of my PATTS family. That's only half of them!



From Lake Caliraya (daw), we took another 40-minute ride to Batis Aramin, our home for the evening. The sprawling resort is right in front of the Kamay ni Hesus memorial (more on that tomorrow) in Lucban, Quezon. My good friend Joanna is from this province and I was telling her how green and beautiful my impression of Quezon is. Ang ganda talaga! And Batis was huge! It had gardens all around, a lake running in the middle of the resort, three swimming pools and recreation areas for basketball and badminton afficionados. What a beautiful place to end the first day of our summer escapade.