Exploring Philippines 110 - Taal Volcano Crater (Post 2 - Around Taal Town )

If you are in Taal town, your eyes will feast upon the old structures left and right.  And it is really a tall order to maintain old structures like they are new.  But the return of this effort would mean an identity of the place and the influx of visitors which is good for the business.

Anyway, we found ourselves from one historical building to another.  It was like stepping into the history books and the era before us.  The furniture, utensils, peripherals, and the way of life of the people who lived in those grand houses were simply awesome.  It is good that the government is funding the maintenance and protection of these historical places so that people like us will be aware and be educated of the culture of our ancestors especially our Filipino heroes.

After sometime, we visited the nearby church of Our Lady of Caysasay.  We didn’t had any idea of its distance from the historical house of Leon Apacible and when we asked the locals, they will simply point to us the direction of the road as if the church is just around the corner.  Don’t be surprised if you are new to a place, especially in rural areas, because people are used to walking and when they say the place is nearby, expect to walk some distance in order to get there.

We reached the church of Our Lady of Caysasay under 10 minutes of walking.  When we got there, the place seemed busy.  We found out that there will be a healing mass afterwards. For this reason, excursionists and devotees from other provinces flocked to this church.

We asked for the direction towards the “apparition” site which is known to be Sta. Lucia wells.  We learned that a pilgrimage to this church, devotees don’t want to miss the opportunity to visit these wells and offer their prayers.  It is believed that the water on the wells and the nearby stream had some numerous healing accounts.

After returning to the church, the healing mass had started.  We were asked to participate in the said healing mass but we were not spiritually prepared that time.  Even though we did not participate in the healing mass, we spent some time inside the church to pray and to witness the ongoing healing mass.

Upon our return to the town proper of Taal, we entered the house of Marcella Agoncillo.  Marcella Agoncillo was the one who prepared and sewn the Philippine flag which was later used by General Emilio Aguinaldo in proclaiming the Philippine independence at Kawit, Cavite in 1898.  As we stepped into a museem like this one and learned some pieces of our history, it makes us proud and our being Filipino is slowly completed.