manaoag

wanderlust strikes again. it's one of those moments when i just had to break away from my routine.

having just finished my monthly audits to several systems, i had an urge to go somewhere else. this place in Pangasinan suddenly roused my curiosity and i had to see it for myself. Manaoag is a place where Catholic devotees offer up prayers when they have a special need. Vigils are common specially during the Holy Week.

From the main road, the sign says 5km to Manaoag. I took a mental note of how much time it would take me to get there so I can estimate how long i should linger before i head home and before it gets dark. slowly, i rolled down my windows, put on something upbeat in the player, and just began soaking up the beauty of the journey.

Reaching my destination, i was quite disappointed at how commercialized it has become. The town is teeming with followers and the road is lined up with vendors selling their wares from religious articles to local handicrafts to cheap clothing and native delicacies. Where's the reverence in all this?

Amidst the chaos, my eye caught another sign that read "This way to the Virgin's Well". Somewhere, there must be some place more serene. Turning right, the road inclined and the concrete path turned to broken concrete, then unpaved rough road. 3kms later, I made it to the well that was said to have healing powers.

I am no Catholic, and going there didn't mean anything special to me. but it filled the need for me to have a destination so I can have a closure to my aimless wandering. I've arrived and now I need to get back. leaving Manaoag, i have yet again ticked off another destination in my "Places to visit in the Philippines" list.

cows grazing

a barangay of goats

enchanting india

when i went to india 3 years ago, i could never explain in words what attracted me to that mysterious country and what, for the most part, kept it interesting.

today, getting a dose of my blog-reads, i chanced upon one traveller whose post puts it well:

Travelling in India is not an easy or comfortable experience. There will be times when you’ll be nervous, and times when you’ll be thrilled, times when you’ll be freezing cold, and times when you’ll be melting hot, times when you’ll be in awe, and times when you’ll be in disgust, times when you’ll be homesick, and times when you’ll forget where you came from, times when you’ll be angry, and times when you’ll practice compassion, times when you’ll feel lonely, and times when you’ll feel you’re part of a new family, times when you’ll be exhausted, and times when you’ve never felt so alive. It’s best not to go with our first inclination to label these experiences as “good” or “bad” but simply recognize each experience for what it is -- an experience. For ironically enough, it’s rarely the memory of a comfortable couch that we treasure, but exactly those experiences that push us out of zones of comfort and put us on cold and sharp ledges, that transform our lives and perception of it.

www.solbeam.com