I woke up to a rainy Saturday morning and received an SMS from Zan saying: “It’s raining hard. Can we reschedule?” Our plan was to go to Caleruega and Tierra de Maria that day. It was 6 am and we were supposed to meet up at 7. Given that I got home late the night before and still wanting to sleep, I replied: “Sure. Let’s resched.” And then, I went back to dreamland.
Around 10 am, I was awakened by my phone, notifying me of another SMS from my friend. The weather had a complete turnaround by then and Manila was back to being its sunshiny self. This time the SMS said: “Let’s go. I’ll pick you up in an hour.” And so I hurried down the stairs, drank some coffee, and showered quickly.
A month has passed since we planned this trip and I wasn’t excited about the destination itself but more so of the journey. We would be cruising down the roads with 90s music on the radio - the music of our teenage years – happily musing about the scenery, the recent happenings in our lives, and our plans for the near future. I was with my two best girl pals – Melai and Zan- and I knew that that day would be awesome. Of course, our constant boy friends (Ivan, Nick, and Patrick) were surely missed, but, sometimes, girls need to have some time alone with their girl friends, right?
The weather was crazy. When we got to Nasugbu, we were greeted by overcast skies and knew that soon the rain would fall. Luckily, the rain held on until we reached Caleruega. If you’ve heard about the place, I’m sure most of what you've heard are beautiful reviews of the place. And I agree, the place is beautiful but I think it’s kind of overrated. I think churches around Metro Manila (i.e. San Sebastian, Manila Cathedral, San Beda) are equally beautiful as Caleruega. Minus its bucolic setting, Caleruega loses its edge. To be honest about it, I was sort of spooked by the place. Blame it on the gloomy atmosphere with the wind whistling its angry song in the background. A goose walked over my grave when I walked down the dark corridor inside the visitor center (I’m not really sure if that’s what they call that building but it’s the building in front of the parking space, the one that greets you once you enter the premises).
Rain started to drop as we made our exit to Caleruega. We drove back to Tagaytay to visit Tierra de Maria. An enormous image of Mama Mary, 50-feet to be exact, welcomed us there. You can also check out who’s your patron saint based on your birthday there. Mine is Saint John of the Cross. Our visit to Tierra was very brief because it was already 5.30pm and the church was closing down. There were still many visitors, though, and each was falling in line to say a prayer to the Lady of Manaoag.
We ended our Tagaytay-Nasugbu cruise by having dinner at Mushroom Burger. It was my first time to eat there. I ordered the Pinoy burger with cheese, mainly because it was the one variant with no veggies on them (hehehe). It wasn’t 100% mushroom but a mix of longanissa and mushroom. I’m not a fan of neither mushrooms nor longanissa but, surprisingly, I liked it.
It was a great day. I don’t know when our next road trip would be but I’m already wishing I could fast forward time to that day. I am always thankful for these simple days when I spend time with my friends because they always help me rediscover myself. They know me better than anyone else. Hmmm…maybe even better than my parents do *wink*.
*Sorry, no pictures for now. Will post some later. :)
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