It was one of those rare moments that I got to spend quality time with friends from the office, mostly due to all of us having several different weekend activities.  Last weekend was a blessing as most of us were fortunate to have been able to be together for a long road trip.  The primary moving factor: to have their new cars blessed!

For many people of Catholic faith, having their properties “blessed” is of dire importance.  Aside from the obvious religious relics, the list includes their home, business, and even cars.  Normally, cars are blessed on the nearest or most convenient church, but we took this opportunity (or excuse) to have my friends’ cars blessed, at the same time have a long road trip.

Manaoag, Pangasinan was the first on our itinerary.  I didn’t realize how popular its Church was for having vehicles blessed as we arrived with so many others also doing the same.

After the blessing we were on our way to the City of pines, Baguio City, Benguet.  It was a pleasantly sunny day, but that also translated to a bit warmer than desired weather which caught us by surprise.

We really don’t have any specific itinerary when we arrived at the city so we were just circling around, literally, around the city.  In the end we due to our limited time were able only to cover the Mansion House and Mines View Park.  I’ve been to Baguio City twice before but it was my first time to visit these tourist sites.

Panorama from Mines View.

We had to return back to Manila for some our friends who have plans for the following day so just as it was turning dark we were on our way down.  Hours and kilometers later, we found ourselves in an interesting place called Isdaan (literally, fishery) in Gerona, Tarlac.  Interesting because of its popular attraction, the Tacsiapo Wall:

It’s a wall where you may release your anger by throwing items at it like plates, glasses, vases, etc., all bought on site of course!  Even a CRT TV can be thrown at the wall!

Tacsiapo Wall was just one aspect of the place as it’s primarily a restaurant that caters fresh fishes which you may catch yourself if you prefer.  They even have some games around the site, one of which involves balancing a kilo of fish and transporting it through a narrow plank in the middle of a 6-9 foot deep fish pond.  Success means a kilo of fish as prize; losing means swimming with the fish.

It was around 2AM when I got back home, and even if I didn’t drive I felt like I ran 100K.  I realized that I may be an ultrarunner, but I’m in not yet at the level of a long distance driver!

I also realized that sometimes the destination isn’t as important as the travel.  In our case it really didn’t matter where we headed—I was sure to have fun with the company I was with, regardless of where we went!  It sure is nice to have many friends who are crazy, like myself, willing to drive up to Baguio City, about a six-hour drive, and go down on the same day!  And I thought only runners are crazy!