Travelogue Essay


   The Pilgrim's Way
   Through an early morning haze, I watched the sun rising on the horizon as the pilgrim bus traverse the long-wide expressway. The breathtaking vast green fields gave us the sign that we are now entering the central plains of Luzon.  It was a new kind of journey because it is my first time to travel in the province of Pampanga, the lantern capital of the Philippines. Not to see the gigantic Christmas lanterns, but because of the visita iglesia. Visita iglesia is a practice done by Catholics during Lenten Season. The main reason of this tradition is that Christians follows the way of Christ in the cavalry by traveling into seven different churches and by praying the stations of the cross, Christians can contemplate, experience, and feel the steps of Christ in the cavalry.
    The company of pilgrim buses stopped at the first church, the parish of San Rafael in Mabalacat, Pampanga.  The church is situated along the mile road of MacArthur Highway.  A mass was celebrated by our beloved priest Fr. Roy as the kiss of the morning sunlight enters the glass windows of the church.  The pilgrim churches we visited are mostly located along the MacArthur Highway that is to prevent any further problems along the way. The churches have different appearances. Some churches are old like the Our Lady of Grace Parish in Mabalacat, Pampanga.  But most of the churches that we have visited are new like the first church that we visited. It was a modern type of church that is unique to the other churches. We pray the Stations of The Cross two stations in one church so that we can complete the seven churches visit. It was an extraordinary day traveling along the highway without any prior knowledge about the geography of the place. I sat near the bus window to see new kind of surroundings. 
     The climax of this pilgrimage was the church, situated on the top of Mt. Resurrection, a part of the Zambales Mountain Range. It is the church where the largest relic of the true cross can be found, the Monasterio de Tarlac. The monastery is a popular tourist destination, especially during the Lenten Season.  It was a long and winding road trip to the monastery as it is situated on the top of the mountain. The curved pathway gave me a slight dizzy as the bus travel up to the top of the mountain. At the top of the mountain and after the series of twists and turns along the road, we arrived at the last church.


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