From Tuguegarao, I rode a van at the Don Domingo
Terminal, with an “Iguig” signboard. It was noontime and the van dispatchers
were telling me to go to Kambal’s Restaurant in Iguig to taste their Pansit
Batil Patong. It was more than enough carbo-load to sustain my walks.
Then I crossed the street, and waited for a ride
going to Calvary Hills. It took me a long time before I had the courage to wave
my hand to the single motorcycles which ply the road more often than the vans
or jeepneys. Finally, a rider stopped passed me. And I said, “Calvary Hills?”
He said he was stopping before Calvary Hills so I just had to walk to reach my
destination. But since the heat of the sun was pretty much burning my skin,
Eric brought me to the gate of Calvary Hills.
The Calvary
Hills of Iguig, Cagayan Valley is a 11-hectare land of
rolling hills. Enormous concrete statues portraying the 14 Stations of the
Cross stand in this vast green. It is a favorite pilgrimage site of Christian
Catholics during Holy Week.
Also found in this area are historic sites: a well
dating back to the Spanish
colonization of the Philippines, the ruins of a Dominican abbey, and
one of the few churches with buttresses left in the Philippines -- the Church
of San Antonio de Galicia.
There is also another church nearby which draws
believers: Jubilee Cross Chapel, which boasts an authenticated relic of the
true Cross.
To gain shade from the scorching heat of the sun, I
was seated behind the high white wall. I
watched the giant like statues, the abbey, the blue skies, as I reflected and
found peace, after days of trekking, spelunking, and travelling.
When I’m done, I had more vigor to continue on. As
the Cagayan River seems to have been following on, now, I am thinking of
rowing.
Travel
and change of place impart new vigor to the mind. ~ Seneca
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