Holy Week is an anticipated holiday in the Philippines, a mostly Catholic country. The holidays usually start on Holy Thursday and Good Friday, and ending with Easter Sunday. For most Filipinos, the long holidays is a chance to travel and go on vacation.
For devout Catholics, Holy Thursday and Good Friday are often spent visiting churches or praying and contemplating in silence. The revelry usually starts on Black Saturday and Easter Sunday, where most go to the beach and celebrate.
Trip to Vigan
For our family, Vigan, Ilocos Sur, was the destination of choice. It was an enjoyable experience, as far as spending time with loved ones is concerned. However, our decision to leave on a Holy Thursday seemed to be a mistake, with the usual 7-hour travel time stretching all the way to 12 hours because of traffic.
Coming from Sta. Rosa, Nueva Ecija, we took the SCTEX-TPLEX loop, which was still the fastest way to traverse the province of Pangasinan and La Union.
Calle Crilosogo
Despite the crowd, we had an amazing time visiting a few interesting places, like the St. Augustine Church in Bantay, and the Bantay Bell Tower. We took the customary walk at Calle Crisologo, and visited St. Paul Cathedral.
One highlight of our visit to Calle Crisologo was witnessing the "Semana Santa" parade of numerous religious images depicting the suffering and resurrection of Jesus Christ.
An Easter Sunday photo
Anyway, for my Easter Sunday photo, I am sharing this somewhat egg-shaped water droplet resting on the leaves of a Bougainvillea plant. The house in Vigan where we stayed has a Bougainvillea plant in the garden.
