San Pedro Cutud Lenten Rites - San Fernando, Pampanga

Known to be passionate about religion, Filipinos take into heart the Holy Week celebration. Several traditional activities are practiced like Pabasa, Visita Iglesia, Senakulo, etc. The most famous is The San Pedro Cutud Lenten Rites.

The San Pedro Cutud Lenten Rites is a Holy Week re-enactment of Christ’s Passion and Death which takes place in Barangay San Pedro Cutud, City of San Fernando, Pampanga in the Philippines. (Source: Wikipedia.com)

This is also my first destination for my first ever photo-walk experience.

Following the annual tradition, a passion play culminating with the actual nailing of at least three flagellants to a wooden cross atop the makeshift Calvary is conducted. A dozen or so penitents - mostly men but with the occasional woman - are taken to a rice field in the barrio of San Pedro Cutud, 3km from San Fernando, Pampanga and nailed to a cross using two-inch stainless steel nails that have been soaked in alcohol to disinfect them. The penitents are taken down when they feel cleansed of their sin. Other penitents flagellate themselves using bamboo sticks tied to a rope. (http://www.etravelpilipinas.com)

Disclaimer: I do not approve these acts; I'm not even a Catholic. I believe that Jesus died on the cross 2000 years ago to save us from spiritual death and to let us live a full and abundant life, and that nobody needs to suffer like his suffering to be forgiven for sins. When Jesus said to his disciples to carry their cross and follow him (Matthew 16:24), he did not mean it literally. To carry your cross means giving your whole life to God and never be ashamed of it, even if it means being mocked or death.

It was hard to keep up with too much crowd and only using a 18-55mm lens for my Nikon D5100. I promised my self to purchase at least a 55-300mm for my next festival visit. Anyhow, please excuse me for my not-so-beautiful-i-am-only-a-beginner photos.

The man carrying his own cross where he will also be crucified afterwards.

People following the procession.

San Fernando Public Market full of people waiting for the procession to pass by.

On this photo, you will see a blue Samsung cellphone covering the face of the man lying above the cross. Naman kuya, di ko alam kung ikaw yung wrong timing or ako!!!

San Fernando Church.
Even if I am not a Catholic, I really love how the old churches in the Philippines looks like.

Being very afraid of blood, I find it hard to look at this man, and all the others doing the same thing as above, but hey, for the sake of experience, I decided to move a little closer.

Next thing I know, I was hit by one of the flagellants -- here you go!

Here's the "man who can't be moved". I almost wanted to ask him "Kuya, sure ka na ba magpapapako ka?" when he passed in front of me. But of course, he's sure. He's been doing it for 26 years now!

We asked a local what time will the crucifixion be and he said it will be around 1PM or so. But since it was already pass lunch time and our stomachs were growling, begging to be filled. So we decided to leave the procession and eat first in a nearby Chowking Branch.

Here's my boyfriend, Mark, on his gutom-na-ako-kasalanan-mo-to-sobrang-init-look.

It was around 1:00PM and we somehow knew we will be late for the main event, so we decided to take the wheeler instead. We asked a "Wheeler" driver how much will it cost if he will bring us to Cutud, the crucifixion place, and he offered 150Php, saying "mura na yun!" That was a fre*king lie!  After we had our lunch, we asked for the help of the Security Guard and Crew of Chowking on how much the fare is for a wheeler to Cutud SHOULD BE. They did not say how much exactly is it but instructed us to walk past the bridge near San Fernando Church where the wheeler station is. They said the drivers will charge us the correct amount there. 

This is how a wheeler looks like.

The road to Brgy. Cutud

They were right! We only paid 40Php! From the drop off-point, we walked for about fifteen to twenty minutes to the crucifixion place.

The walk. The heat. The sun. The crowd. IT WAS CRAZY! Good thing we brought umbrellas, somehow it protected us from direct sun.

By around 2PM, we arrived on the field and too many people were already there.

Foreigners on top of the truck they brought.

Special place for Media Men from all over the world.

Some other people.

It was hard to be in a perfect spot. The place is too crowded and media equipment were around the hill where the three crosses stood.

I'm not quite sure if these two were teenagers. But they appear to be, yes. Don't worry, they were not really crucified.

It was definitely an exhausting day! But it was a bumpy experience I will never doubt to have.

You may want to visit this site as well for more amazing photos and videos.

Thank you Jesus for dying on the cross for me. I promise to continue living a happy life you gave me. I know you are always there, watching over and keeping me from harm. I love you, always and forever.

Mt. Daguldol - My First Mountain and Night Trek

We planned about this trip for a month. Well... it’s not actually “planning”; the news just started to spread and we left all else to that. Everything that happened just went on quite accidentally, by chance and because stars wrote down our fate. We turned out to be a group of 9. It’s the first time to most of us; two has amateur experience, but still is nothing to be really proud of. Bottom line is we do not know anything—just the fact that it’s something new in our list. It just came to my senses that this trek is gonna happen the next day. So I packed my bag, prepared my tent and browse for Mt. Daguldol in the internet just to make sure it’s a mountain. It’s there that I learned it’ll be a three-hour hike—that’s all that I read; I was on a hurry. “Easy!” I thought to myself.

8AM – I was already in Cubao (the meeting place) with Wana; because it’s the time we agreed to leave Manila, arrive in Wana’s house in San Juan, Batangas by 1PM to eat our lunch and cook our mountain food, begin our hike by 3PM and settle down on the summit by 6 to 7PM approximately. But due to fortuitous events (like over-sleeping, late back-packing and made-up traffic), we left Cubao at 11:00AM.

Alps bus to Lipa. That's my boyfriend beside me.

WHICH WAY TO GO.

We boarded Alps bus to Lipa near Shopwise in Araneta Center because it’s a wi-fi zone, which is always necessary, you see. They also offer buses straight to San Juan, Batangas on the other terminal of Alps along EDSA, but it’ll be a long walk from our meeting place.  I don’t have the schedule of their trip leaving for San Juan but I supposed they have it only in the morning; last trip is 10:30AM. But you can always board a bus bound to Lipa. One-way to Lipa is 132Php.

1:00PM – We arrived in Lipa, Batangas near Star Toll. We rode the jeep nearby and got off across Robinson’s, walked towards the road between Robinson’s and McDonald’s, past Lipa City Bus Terminal, turn right to the UV Express Terminal going to San Juan. This was my first time to ride the van to San Juan (it’s my third year in a row here but the first time I was, we rode the jeep instead; the second time, we were on a private vehicle). We paid 70Php each.

Back-ride in the tricycle.

2:30PM – I was on a deep sleep from Lipa and was forcefully awaken by the others when we arrived in San Juan, across Puregold Jr. We bought necessities in the grocery, including water and tissue, went to the public market to buy chicken, eggs and hotdogs for the planned overnight-meals. We rented two tricycles to take us to Wana’s house. When we arrived, we had our lunch (prepared with ♥ by Wana’s mom) and prepared chicken adobo, fried hotdogs and hard-boiled eggs. Our total contribution for food and other miscellaneous fee is 200Php.

5:00PM – We left Wana’s house and head back to the public market, boarded the jeep bound to Brgy. Hugom. We were now in doubt if we will still be allowed to hike because it’ll be dark and hard to keep the track. Fare is 40Php.

Sunset in Laiya Beach.

6:00PM – If you know La Luz Resort, then good! But that’s not your destination; it’s almost there. We paid our hiking/environmental/tour guide fee in the Brgy. Hall (750Php for an overnight stay; 350Php for day tour), and began our hike at around 6:30PM. Maybe we were all so excited; we forgot to buy flashlights (a very dim-witted move). Manong tour guide (sorry, I’m very bad on names) led us past La Luz, Palm Beach and other resorts to the foot of Mt. Daguldol. The tour guides are residents of Mt. Daguldol and they are used to trekking up and down here. By around 7PM, darkness covered everything. Good thing some phones can be used as flashlight (I used my iPhone 4s camera flash) and others has flashlight on their lighters. But it’s still hard to see! Very, very hard to see in fact! But we still know were walking right along the edge of the mountain and one wrong move, you’ll end up rolling in the deep (Adele singing alongside). Eventually, there are a couple of houses we passed by and you can pee here in their restrooms for 5Php. The water is cold and fresh considering it’s natural from the mountain itself. I won’t discuss further what happened to us but my friends already know when I say “wag niyo naman akong pagtawanan”. The supposedly three-hour hike to the summit became four hours just reaching almost half-way of it.

Since I do not have a handy camera that's very
light to carry for a mountain climb, I just had my
iPhone to work for all my photos. And this is the
only photo I had during our night trek. I will,
therefore, invest on a digicam next!

10:30PM – We reached the chapel and had dinner. We finally had light because there is electricity on this part of the mountain. We wanted to continue the trek because we really want to see the sunrise the next morning but our tour guide does not recommend this. He said the trail will be even harder than the starting trail, plus our flashlights may die any time soon. We then decided to let the night pass, pitched our tents and bade our good nights to each other.

4:00AM – I’m not sure if I was the first to woke up but because it’s earlier than our call-time, I just spent my time playing Candy Crush hehe. Soon enough, the others woke up and we had our breakfast, gathered our tents and continued our delayed journey by 5:30AM. We decided to leave some of our things in the house nearest to the chapel and only bought our personal belongings (phones, money, etc) and water. True enough, the trail is much harder the first. There are 30 to 45 degree trails we have to climb for a straight 30 minutes. It was heck exhausting! My legs began to hurt like crazy!

7:30AM – We finally arrived on the summit! The breeze is very cold but not too much. It was beautiful! All the hardship, challenges, trials, problems were forgotten. Weh? Haha! Over-reacting lang! It was simply breath-taking. This is why I always wanted to climb a mountain; it offered me a much fulfilled sensation and even if I knew from that time what body pain I will experience the next day, it all pays off. It’s a dream come true!

My favorite photo! Thanks Junel!

I can never imagine life without a beki friend. Hehe

My iPhone worked well with my photos eh? :)

My boyfriend was playing with the aluminum wrapper of the Kitkats I brought, placed it on his teeth. So bata!

8:30AM – We hiked down together with a group of mountaineers who spent their night on the summit. They were quite impressed when we said we took the night trek, considering it was our first mountain climb ever. I know, right? We stopped by Tatay Narcing's kubo and bought freshly picked buko for only 20Php! Very refreshing after a morning of hiking! 

It was around 11AM when our feet finally set on the flat ground! Oh boy! How I missed it! We walked back to the Laiya Beach and had the best lunch in my entire life! I was d*mn starving!

We didn't had the chance to go swimming because the sun was striking on it's hardest to let us know he's hot! We just headed back to Wana's home to take a bath and go back to Manila in the afternoon.

ADDITIONAL NOTES.

• Tour Guide is somehow mandatory. But if you really don't want to spend for a guide, you may do so. Anyway, the trail is very easy to follow if you will trek during the day.
• Last jeepney trip from Hugom to San Juan Market is 12NN. After that time, you have to ride a tricycle first to Balakbakan and ride a jeeney from there. We missed this last trip so we just rented a whole jeep for 750Php.
• If you are not yet very exhausted, you may want to go to Naambon Falls. Just tell your tour guide you want to visit the place.
• Last trip of Alps The Bus from San Juan to Manila is 5:30PM.

EXPENSES.

132 per person -- Alps The Bus (Manila to Lipa)

   8 per person -- Jeep (Star Toll to Robinson's)

  70 per person -- Van (Lipa to San Juan)

100 per tricycle -- Tricycle (San Juan Market to house and back)

  40 per person -- Jeep (San Juan to Hugom)

200 per person -- Food and Tour Guide Contribution

(750 per group -- Tour Guide Overnight)

(350 per group -- Tour Guide Day Trip)

750 per jeep -- Hugom to house

  50 per tricycle -- house to San Juan Market

188 per person -- Alps The Bus (San Juan to Manila)

All in all, I only spent 1000Php for the trip, including my personal things, food and water.

WILL I COME BACK?

I have not yet decided on that. It's my third year in a row on San Juan, and I know I will come back to the place. I just don't know if I'll climb Mt. Daguldol again. It was hard, mind you. But considering it's my first climb ever, maybe I'll give my self a "good job!" after all. If I have decided to climb a mountain again, I'll spend it on another mountain to have another experience on my list.