Don't just travel for travel's sake. Travel to seek adventure and feel alive.
I could not recall the last time that I traveled to any destination for the sake of leisure and exploration. So, as soon as I accomplished my resource speaker duties last September 13, I took the weekend off to catch up on sleep, and reward myself with a solo out of town trip last September 15.
I chose to travel to Tanay for a couple of other reasons: First was to escape the familiarity of the place where I am in, and to reciprocate someone's effort after braving the distance of having to travel for two hours just to see me in person a month ago.
The last time I visited was in January 2020 -- just months before the pandemic placed the entire world at a full stop from everything. But even if four years have passed, this return trip never failed to give off that "probinsya feels". At some point, it provided me with that nostalgic feeling of driving to my dad's hometown in Quezon province with all the sights and sounds of the surroundings.
I left Angono at 6:30 am because the travel time would take a couple of hours. I also wanted to arrive on time because I committed my morning schedule to attend an activity organized by a non-governmental organization in that town.
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| Mandatory photo at San Ildefonso de Toledo Parish |
My first stop was at the town's church, San Ildefonso de Toledo Parish where I arrived just in time for the 9 am mass. I have always wanted to visit this church since 2016 when I was doing a series of travel diaries called #TheOCProject, where I would go on weekend trips to nearby towns to visit old churches. My mentor and former journalism professor (who is also a legit Tanay resident), Ma'am Cez arrived together with Ciljon, Rose and Arvin minutes after the mass ended.
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| Their version of an ecopark has a lighthouse! |
We continued with our road trip right after the event that we attended in a public high school. Thankfully, the sun was up before lunch time so we were able to visit a number of places including the schools where Ma'am Cez spent her elementary and high school days, and some of their town's landmarks, like the Parola situated in the lakeshore baranggay of San Isidro. This place resembled the ecopark that we have in Angono -- minus the lighthouse. The place also has a viewdeck which has an ideal spot if you're a fan of watching the afternoon sunset.
We also made a short visit at the Tanay municipal hall. Next to the places of worship, dropping by the seat of local government is one of the things on my to-do list whenever I travel to places because it gives me an idea on how a town or city is being governed by its officials. And as luck would have it, we even met one of the town's incumbent official, Vice Mayor Rex Manuel Tanjuatco.
I concluded my weekend trip to Tanay with a request to Ma'am Cez if we could visit the resting place of her parents, Tatay Cleño and Nanay Aging. They were part of my core memories as a college student since they would accommodate me and my fellow publication staff writers like their own kids whenever we would attend activities in the main campus of URS in Tanay. Given that I am already in their neck of woods, it was a chance that I simply could not allow to pass.
At the end of the day, despite coming home tired, I realized that going on this trip was worth it. If there's a genuine lesson that adulthood is teaching me, it's the importance of investing my time in creating memories. Leaving my hometown for a day to explore someone else's rewarded me not just with a well-deserved mental health break and breathing space. It also provided me with cherished memories, and a good number of significant learnings that I can eventually impart to others.
(Photos courtesy of Ms. Maria Cecillia Rañola-Villegas)
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