Painting the town a little brighter: Laguna Weekend Getaway

After our fulsome meal at Aling Taleng’s, we quickly got up and head on to our next agenda – The Nagcarlan Underground Cemetery.

Just to give you a slight background on this historical landmark in Nagcarlan, the Underground cemetery was built and designed thru the headship of a Franciscan friar Vicente Velloc in 1845. It is actually a chapel with an underground graveyard 15 feet below. Inside of the chapel to the left is the flight of stairs leading to the tombs which housed 36 niches. Buried bodies are that of Franciscan priests, high officials and some elite Catholic families. The underground crypt also served as a safe house for guerrillas around 1896 (Filipino-American war) wherein meetings and battle plans are being devised. It was declared a national historical landmark by the National Historical Institute in 1978.

We were lucky to have been there because the shrine curator was present at that time. After the brief background and some rules while inside the chapel and underground, we began to take pictures of the place (camera flash is not prohibited) including the image of Santo Sepulcro.

the Shrine Curator

image of Santo Sepulcro

the original flooring are still intact

the famous hole on the chapel ground

the original wooden door of the chapel

The eerie and creepy underground crypts were too much for us. So after 5 minutes, we left the underground place and continue of photo opt of the chapel.

the underground crypts

the small arc to the crypt

According to the curator, the reconstruction of the inside chapel was put on-hold because of budget issues. You can also see vandalisms on the walls of the chapel. Too bad considering that this place was declared a historical landmark.

what's left of the original ceiling after the reconstruction

rampant vandalism on the walls of the chapel. tsk! tsk!

At present, the chapel no longer holds regular masses except on the Feast of Christ the King and during Holy Week. The ‘senakulo’ or staged presentation of Christ’s last days during the Lenten Season is also performed here.

No entrance fees are collected and the place is open to public from Tuesdays to Sundays, 8:00 am to 4:00 pm. They also sell delicacies and souvenirs inside the chapel.

souvenirs inside the chapel

We left the place past 4 in the afternoon and made our way to the last leg of our trip, Liliw!

Liliw, Laguna is known to be a haven for shoe aficionados, giving Marikina a run for its money when it comes to shoe industry. The shoes are lined up when we arrived there. They’re like inviting us and who are we to protest! And so, the hunt for the perfect shoe....began!

that's Kufi with my shoes!

After less than an hour, I gave up with just one pair of shoes. Tired but happy, we retreated back to Los Banos....but wait....there’s more!

This is it! The final, final leg of the day - St. Bartholomew Church in Nagcarlan. This magnificent church was first built in 1583. It was renovated in 1752 but was partly destroyed by a fire in 1781. In 1845, it underwent reconstruction adding a choir loft to its original design. This project was headed by Reverend Vicente Velloc, who also built the Nagcarlan Underground Cemetery. Such a visionary, if I may add!

image of St. Batholomew church

In spite of the rain, we rushed to the entrance of the church hoping against hope that the church is still open. Damn! The front door was closed! But we didn’t give up. We went on the right side of the church and talked with the church coordinator. We requested in our most polite manner and our most appealing innocent gaze (Push in Boots eyes) and viola, we’re inside the church!

The lights inside the church are all out except for the altar. We can’t help but marvel at the beautiful altar in front of us. Of course, we did not forget to utter our sincerest prayer and gratefulness for the safe activity we had that day.

St. Bartholomew altar

On our way out, we were accompanied by an altar boy who graciously toured us to the wide choir loft and to the belfry. St. Batholomew’s belfry is known to be one of the favourite locations of movies and television shows included that of ‘Kampanerang Kuba’. The altar boy even told us stories, both educational and eerie while we were inside the bell tower. But that won’t stop us from doing the never-ending.....photo opt!