Wednesday, February 04, 2015

Holy Mountain

There is no really easy way up. And we prove it again during our visit on the church in the "Balaan Bukid" (Holy Mountain) right after we went to Trappist. This is still in Guimaras. We walked the Stations of the Cross (Via Crucis) as we ascend in the mountain. Going upward until we reached the 14th cross was indeed memorable and very rewarding. Our feet ached as we trailed upward. I almost crawl my way up. We can't breathe properly. We almost lost our breath.We really did pant our Way to the Cross. The proof is having no picture taken during our way up. There's no picture of every station we passed by for I cannot almost handle myself. I gathered every force of myself to achieve my goal of reaching the top. But that almost one (1) hour of hiked was rewarded by a breathtaking view also. We can see the Island of Panay up there. As soon as we reached the top, we rested ourselves, breathe every air we have lost, ate our lunch (from Mini Stop), and took a lot of pictures in the surroundings. I hope that the photographs here can testify the beauty and solitude I found up there.



Can you see the birds?

  Okay, maybe, you all wondering why you still haven't seen yet the church. So here it is! The church above the mountain of our local calvary here. Hence, the Calvary Church. Well, its just a chapel, not really one of those big churches. But what makes it special is because of its location. Every Holy Week, thousands of Catholics visit here to commemorate's the way to the  cross of Jesus. According to my research, the chapel's name is Chapel of Ave Maria Purisima or the Ave Maria Shrine.


My first time to see this church was when in High School, together with my 3rd year adviser and classmates. I got the chance then to go up in the giant cross which is located just outside the church yard. Unfortunately this time, the giant cross is closed for visitors for some precautionary reasons.

I search my adviser's facebook and I found our old photos during our trip then in Balaan Bukid.
We're so glad that Sir Pedz (our adviser) loved to document then every journey that we had together. We have there few photos in the giant cross. Thanks to Sir Pedros.


That's my now and then in Balaan Bukid. I hope you all enjoy this post as I enjoyed so much reminiscing.

This picture was taken on our way from Trappist to Balaan Bukid. I captured that building because of the Mango Pizza they sell. Recently, they become famous because of  that mango flavored pizza. I haven't eat there yet, but had the chance to try their pizza. It has mangoes on top of its crust. Note that Guimaras is also known fro its Mangoes.

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