Last Monday, Matthew's school had their yearly educational trip. Mommy and I went with him. This time we go North- Pampanga and Zambales/Bataan. We departed early because we need to be at Ocean Adventure in Subic before 9 in the
morning so we can catch all the entertainment shows.
Who can still
remember the town of Bagong Pag-asa and their mayor Enrique Rodrigo? How about the inspirational conversations of “Bro”
and “Santino”? These are from the ABS-CBN’s Teleserye “May Bukas Pa.”
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First Stop: San Guillermo Church
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Most of the scenes in this teleserye were shot in
San Guillermo Chruch in Bacolor, Pampanga which is our first stop. Actually,
the house of mayor (Albert Martinez) is just beside the church.
San Guillermo Church is
also known as the “Sunken Church”. It was buried in lahar after the eruption of Mt. Pinatubo in 1991 where the top most part of the church remained.
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San Guillermo Church, Bacolor, Pampanga
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Proof that this church is
sunken is very evident. The roof is not high, I can even touch some of the
wooden trusses of the roof. The openings on the wall touching the floor are
actually the church windows before the Mt. Pinatubo eruption.
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| Photo of the church before Mt. Pinatubo Eruption |
There is a mini-photo museum that shows
how the church looks before and after it was sunken into lahar. Works of some local painters were also shown in the museum.
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| One of the paintings in the museum |
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| Photos inside the museum |
The main area where the
mass is being held is previously the ceiling area before the disaster. It was renovated
and raised a bit to make it usable for the church goers.
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| Church interior |
Though we stayed in the
place for a limited time (about 15 minutes only), we never let go of our chance
to kneel and pray.
By the way, I would like to commend our tour guide, Tony G., for making the entire trip as lively as possible. While on board, he was like performing on a comedy bar making everyone laugh as he threw jokes and punchlines. He is comedic yet informative. He has lots of knowledge not only about the places in the itinerary but other places along the road as well.
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| Toni G., Our guide (Sorry for the blurry photo) |
Next post will be our
next stop or the main part of the itinerary – Ocean Adventure in Subic Bay Free
Port Zone.
Here are other random photos during our short stay in the vicinity of San Guillermo Church.
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| Matthew doing morning stretch |
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| Matthew and two of his classmates |
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| Matthew and Mommy at the altar |
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| Matthew and I on the same place |
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| Matthew, Mommy and I |
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| Matthew with "Bro" |
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| Cross at the altar |
Have you been to San
Guillermo Church?
