Viaje del Sol or "The Way of the Sun", this is the term used to describe the series of interesting stops along Laguna, Batangas and Quezon. My family and I decided to try out this "wonderful journey" over the Holy Week.


First stop was Ang Tahanan ni Aling Meding, in San Pablo, Laguna. This was where we stayed, and it boasted a spectacular view of the Sampaloc lake, with a view of Mt. Makiling and Mt. Banahaw. It was beautiful! The weather was exceptionally pleasant, and the rooms were cozy and clean. The pic above is of Mt. Banahaw from the veranda outside our room.

We had lunch at Kusina ni Salud, and I'll tell you one thing, their seafood kare-kare is awesome! You should also try the hot crispy hito, the turon and their pandan flavored coffee. Yum!

Then, we went back to Tahanan and Maitz, Tere, Sweet, Gabby and I went swimming before going to the famed San Pablo procession. Then, had dinner back at Meding's. Since they didn't serve much seafood, we had no choice but to break abstinence and try out their crispy pata and liempo...(hey, we did charitable acts as penance).

Next day, breakfast at Meding's... and I was completely disappointed with the sloooow service. Food was average (I had the tocino), and it took them an hour to serve it! What's more (and this I can forgive for a famed Filipino hotel and restaurant), they had no brewed coffee and no hot chocolate! All they served were instant coffee and Ovaltine, and it took them twenty minutes to serve that! Disappointing.

We checked out and headed towards Ugu Bigyan's. Famous potter. It was a large compund that had several items on display, for sale and under construction. It was a nice place to visit, because there was also a large garden where you can just relax and take pictures. :)

Lunch was back at Salud's but this time we wanted to try their non-seafood specialties, and we weren't disappointed. Their ribs were great! And of course, we had our fill of desserts... I don't remember the other dishes we ate, but I do recall we pigged out on the ginataan and the turon. :)

There are so many more stops along Viaje del Sol, but we only got to visit 3, and passed by 5 (including Casa San Pablo and Villa Escudero). Maybe we'll be able to go to some other stops in our next visit.

We ended our Holy Week trip with a visit to Southwoods to meet up with the Espiritus and the Picars. We went swimming again, and my aunts and uncles were impressed about how Gabby was enthusiastically playing in the water (maybe he'll take after his ninang when it comes to swimming).

Maitz and I spent time doing laps in the pool, and this time, it was Bea's turn to be pressured by my dad to do laps, since she's the one taking up swimming lessons in the summer. I can still vaguely remember when Maitz and I were very young (and we were into competitive swimming), and my dad would stand at the edge of the pool and make sure we did our laps. The pressure!

Don't get me wrong, now, I'm in absolutely no shape to swim competitively, it's just recreational swimming from now on. :)

That's it for my Holy Week escape, I'll write about Baguio in my next post.