What a journey it has been...

Jheng, Dennis and Emcee at Bethlehem Beach
Resort in Bicol

April 20, Wednesday night when I started to pack my things. ahah! What shirts to bring? what shoes to wear? Should I bring shorts, slippers...where's my toothbrush, my toothpaste, my shampoo, lotion and so and so forth…

We’ll be having our outing and pilgrimage at Bicol…we left the office at 9 pm and began our journey from Manila to the wonderful sights of Bicol.

It was my first time to go to Bicol so I was really very excited…It was a long and very tiring trip …got a headache and I felt dizzy…promise! I really don’t feel comfortable in the bus…aside from the fact that I cannot concentrate to sleep, I also cannot stretch my legs (poor Jheng!) But anyways, I had with me my seatmate ate Flor who’s very patient with my uneasiness. We had stop overs and had good time making (weewee!!! Hehehe)…and I loved the taste of that hot and delicious mami soup…YUmmY!

We were in Naga City just before 6 in the morning and what a great time for stretching and walking…and finally we had our breakfast…hot coffee and pandesal…

The Pilgrimage began when we had our mass presided by Fr. Sanny…afterwards we had a beautiful talk by Fr. Wilmer, a professor from Ateneo de Naga about Mary and the Eucharist. As soon as the talk was finished, we went our way down to Bethlehem Formation House where we spent our time overnight to rest, sleep, eat, chat, etc.

We recited each mystery of the rosary in every parish that we visited. Basilica of Our Lady of Peñafrancia, St. John de Baptist Parish, Cathedral of St. Gregory Magno, Our Lady of the Gay Parish (from here I clearly saw the Mayon Volcano…indeed it has a perfect cone!), St, John the Baptist Parish in Camalig, Parish of Santa Porta Baga and the Cathedral of St. John the Evangelist. The structures and materials of these churches revealed how old they really are.It doesn’t matter how old the church is or how beautiful it is….what matters most is that…the church has always been there to unite the people of God in faith, peace, hope and love…

That was the pilgrimage…

What about the outing!

It is really summer time…its hot! Very hot and we’re all perspiring (hahahha)…getting ready for the waters in the beach!After having our lunch at Bethlehem, some of us sleep, rest and a few had a wonderful “chikahan.”

At 4 in the afternoon we were allowed to go to the beach and swim. But hey…the Morales Beach Resort was 15 – 20 minutes away from Bethlehem. It was a long walk…(it seems I walked from Arzobispado to Sta. Cruz or even up to Binondo Church). I really got tired. We reached the beach past five in the afternoon and we embraced the inviting water with our swim wear! The water was clear with its black sand. Some were not delighted to swim so they bored themselves sitting on the sand eating the most famous Piatos, Nova, Oishi and Pringles…

just after 6 pm we said goodbye to the water and headed our way back to Bethlehem.It was very dark outside and can’t help but to walk fast…I imagine a “mumu” blocking our way or a “mananangal” running after us. I was with Ate Flor, Dennis and Shane…the others were at our back walking slowly under the moonlight.

When we reached Bethlehem, we immediately bathed ourselves and had dinner…the story continues at night when some of us grouped ourselves making “kwentuhan”, ‘okrayan” and everything…

The following day, we left Bethlehem at 9 am and headed our way going to different places like Bacacay, Tobacco, Daraga, Camalig, Legaspi and so on…We also visited the Diocese of Nueva Caceres and Diocese of Legaspi.

We were also given time to buy pasalubong…I bought Pilinuts, tart, hat, slippers and the famous and delicious pinangat! Guess what? I really don’t eat Laing or food that has gata. But after I ate Laing (really delicious) at Bethlehem…I began to like it and it tastes really, really good.

At 4 pm we were given the time to roam around Naga and at 6:30 pm we have to prepare ourselves in going home. Shane, Eloisa, Emcee, Ate Flor, Randy and I ate at Jollibee for our dinner.

At 7 pm we journeyed back to Manila and had with us the beautiful memories of Bicol!

That was it!