Well, sort of.

“Solo” in a sense that there were two buses full of people who went to Bataan with me, but I didn’t know anybody of them.  Our local parish church, Christ the King, arranged a Visita Iglesia – the Lenten activity of visiting seven churches and reciting the Stations of the Cross at each one of them – last Saturday and since the fee was extremely affordable (1,500PHP), I signed up.  There’s just something about the intricacies put into the church altars that get me.  Also, churches usually have unusual looking light fixtures, which I’m also a big fan of.

We left Laguna at around half past four in the morning and we arrived in Bataan a little bit past eight.  Our first stop was the Sto Nino Parish Church in Mariveles.  It wasn’t an old church; I think it’s a little bit over ten years since it’s been built, but I did like the high ceilings and the patterns of the beams.

A plated breakfast was included in the fare and after the prayers we were whisked off to Romalaine Seafood Restaurant and Leisure Park to for our silog and instant coffee.  The meal wasn’t anything to write about but I found it cool that I could see Corregidor island from where I was eating.

Our second stop was the St. Francis of Assisi Parish Church in Limay, which was one of the older and bigger churches of our tour.  Floors and columns were made of grey marble and their sculpture of Jesus was sort of jaw dropping.

Up next was the San Isidro Labrador Parish Church in Nagwaling.  It wasn’t the biggest or the grandest church that we visited that day but it was my favorite because it was situated next to an open field and there were no walls to hinder the breeze from circulating inside.  I think their altar is still in the process of being finished though.

When I saw the next church, I actually went “wow”, because it was one of the more architecturally advanced churches I’ve seen in my life.  The Divine Mercy Shrine of Diocese in Balanga was a cool mix of modern (the shape) and native (the banig like decorations on the ceiling).  Heck, even their church bell structure was interesting.

It was a little bit past one when we stopped for lunch at the Pan Resort and Events Place in Abucay where Gerry’s Grill prepared a buffet spread for our group (also included in the fare).  Unfortunately we were all ravenous so I didn’t get to take pictures of the food.  I was able to, however, take pictures of the Thai inspirations that littered the place.

After lunch we proceeded to Orani to visit the Our Lady of the Most Holy Rosary Parish.  Unfortunately since it was a Saturday afternoon, the church was being used for the confirmation rites of the locals.  We were ushered to the church museum where we received an impromptu history lesson on the miraculous Virgin Mary of Orani, which was a life-sized image.  The museum also had on display the different outfits that the image has worn during previous parades.  Some of those vestments were over fifty years old.

The next church, the St Peter de Verona Parish church in Hermosa, was only a few minutes away by bus and because it was already past four, the sprawling church grounds was empty.  For the second time that day, I exhaled a “wow” when I stepped inside the building, because just look at how grand that altar is!  Crazy detail was put into the stone beams because each block was etched with some sort of design.  Above the altar there was an alcove of sorts, which I personally cannot fathom what it is for, but I did find myself wanting to go up there and just take in the view.

Our last stop was the San Jose Parish Church in Dinalupihan, which, we were informed, was the only fully air-conditioned church in the province.  It was a small church and our group of almost a hundred people easily filled most of the seats, but the church had a homey vibe to it.  Since it was the last stop, the huge altar served as the backdrop for the mandatory group photo.

All in all it was a fun trip.  I did meet a couple of people from our subdivision, which was cool.  Also most of the parish priests took the time to introduce themselves and their churches, which helped a lot in making me appreciate the buildings even more because it was made clear that each small item in that church was placed there purely because of community effort.

That was a nice way to get into the Lenten spirit.