Hubby and I being of the nerdy type, we got the not so usual Baclayon Heritage Tour. It’s not at all touristy so I must warn you that unless you’re a history nerd, don’t book this tour – we actually didn’t go to any tourist spot, except for the Baclayon Church and museum.
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| This photo was taken from the garden of Bohol Bee Farm, but I really love the brialliant color of the flower, which I think fits in more with this post than my earlier one. So random, I know. Hahaha. 😀 |
Now, the last two times I was here, I never got to go inside the museum. It was always either closed, or we were too late. Guess third time’s the charm. I don’t have any photos though since picture taking isn’t allowed but suffice to say that if you like seeing antique Church stuff, then a visit is a must.
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| View from the back of the old convent, since converted into a museum, containing old church paraphernalia such as animal skin bound sheet music (wider than my body!) |
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| Old tiles for the church’s floor, imported from Spain and other European countries when the church was built centuries ago. Looks familiar? They should. San Agustin also has those black and white tiles, same with almost all the Spanish-era churches we have. |
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| View of the Baclayon Church from the viewing deck out in the sea. |
Anyway, what I really loved about this tour was the lazy way we roamed about town, looking at the (very) old cemetery, going to ancestral houses, smelling ylang-ylang fresh from the tree… perfect for a vacation aimed to recover from the stress of city life and to celebrate hubby’s resignation from his first job (can you believe it? I’ve been with six companies in 11 years; he’s been with only one for 13 years).
We had a chance to sit down and have proper hot cocoa and broas right in the church’s backyard, all set-up for us by our kind hosts for the tour. Think of it as the Pinoy equivalent of English tea, except that we didn’t have tea and scones. It was perfect – I could have sat there all afternoon, reading a book. This would have been the highlight of our trip (until dinner that is).
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| You all know how I’m such a sucker for tsokolate – it’s so much better than all the Swiss Miss of the world combined. And now, we found the perfect broas! |
The broas served to us were so good (melts-in-your-mouth good!) that we just had to ask where to get them. And wouldn’t you know? It was being made from a house right across the church – by the same family that’s been making it for three generations.
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| Secret to the broas’ quality and taste? They’re prepared through a very manual process using “pugon” style oven, with charcoals and bamboo sticks. I know it’s sort of primitive and I kind of feel sorry that the makers don’t seem to be very well-off despite making such good broas, but I guess this process is what makes them perfect. |
We went to a local herbologist and got oriented with a dozen or so of medicinal plants. Now, I have very poor memory so I took down notes (yes, nerdy me won over that I actually whipped out my phone to type what she had to say) although I haven’t had time to organize them.
We visited more old houses after that; I even got to see old wedding dresses from the 60’s and we capped off the tour with a very simple but sumptuous dinner care of our host:
This. Is. The. Life. I wish I could live like this forever and 1) never get fat and 2) never have to return to the city jungle. Hahaha. 😀
