Lipa, Batangas: Casa de Segunda, San Sebastian Cathedral, Our Lady of Mt Carmel Church

As if we haven't had enough of old houses, churches, and tons of history, we spent our remaining hours in Batangas roaming around the city of Lipa.

Photo from wikipedia.org

Casa de Segunda

(aka Luz–Katigbak Ancestral House)

Rizal St., Lipa City

Daily 9AM to 5PM

Admission fee Php 50

Casa de Segunda was built in the 1880s, damaged in 1942 during the war, remodeled in 1956, and restored in 1996. The house is named after Segunda Solis Katigbak, considered to be Jose Rizal's first love.

Segunda Solis Katigbak was born in 1863 to parents Don Norberto Kalaw Katigbak, the gobernadorcillo from 1862 to 1863, and Doña Justa Metra Solis. It was while Segunda was studying in Colegio de la Concordia (now called Concordia College) in Santa Ana, Manila, that a schoolmate, Olympia Rizal, invited her to a party where Segunda met Olympia's brother, Jose Rizal. The 16-year-old Rizal was so taken by the 14-year-old Segunda, that he sent her flowers, poems, and sketches. But, alas, it wasn't meant to be for Segunda was engaged to Manuel Luz, who the Katigbak family favored because the family wanted her to marry a local man (Manuel Luz was from Lipa, Batangas and Rizal was from Calamba, Laguna). Segunda married Manuel in 1879, at the tender age of 16!

San Sebastian Cathedral

(aka Lipa Cathedral)
CM Recto Avenue, Lipa City

The San Sebastian Cathedral in Lipa, Batangas was built in 1779 and completed in 1894—that's more than a hundred years in the making! Only to be damaged 50 years later, by the second world war. Restoration work began in the 1950s. And another 50 years later, more work was put into the church to prevent deterioration. This day it stands proud with a fresh coat of paint of two colors, and inside even more colors. The paintings on the ceiling, walls, and columns and the grand pipe organ (the only one in Batangas, and one of 59 in the Philippines) were what caught my eye when I entered San Sebastian Cathedral.

Our Lady of Mt Carmel Church

(aka Monastery of Carmel of Our Lady Mary, Mediatrix of All Grace)
P. Torres St., Lipa City

The visit to Our Lady of Mt Carmel Church came as an afterthought. It was when we were in Casa de Segunda that I saw a page in a book that had rose petals (either a photo or pressed petals, memory fails me) and something about a miracle written below it that my Batangueño friend remembered about the miracle in Mt Carmel Church.

Photo from wowbatangas.com

We didn't go inside the church, but went straight to the place overlooking the garden where the miracle was said to have happened. It was September 1948 that in this garden the Blessed Virgin Mary appeared to a Carmelite postulant named Teresita Castillo. In September, October, and November of the same year, there were showers of rose petals around the Carmelite Monastery. In 1951 the local Catholic Church declared it a hoax and kept the statue of Our Lady Mediatrix of All Grace away from the public. In 1991, a shower of rose petals was again experienced in Carmelite Monastery. The following year, Monsignor Mariano Gaviola, the archbishop of Lipa at that time, ordered the statue of Our Lady of Mediatrix of All Grace be brought out for public veneration.

The story of the miracle can be found here.

Photo by Ramon F Velasquez / Wikimedia Commons

Around the Northern Half of Batangas:
Around the Northern Half of Batangas in Three Days
Back in Time in the Town of Taal
Boy Scouts in Burot Beach, Calatagan
Caleruega
What's in a (Business) Name? Treinta y ocho
The Waterfalls of Laurel: Malagaslas and Ambon–Ambon
Lipa, Batangas: Casa de Segunda, San Sebastian Cathedral, Our Lady of Mt Carmel Church (you're here!)
Where and What We Ate in Batangas

A Bit of Cavite in Between:
Wisdom from the Road #23
People's Park in the Sky

The Waterfalls of Laurel: Malagaslas and Ambon–Ambon

Photo from wikipedia.org

Time was not our friend on day two. From Caleruega, we bypassed Laurel and went to Tagaytay for a short break. Laurel was put off for the next day. I am glad we did, for it gave us more time to spend at the two waterfalls of Laurel: Malagaslas Falls and Ambon–Ambon Falls.

On the third day, when the alarm went off, I slipped on my sandals, went to my friend's house next door for breakfast, and then we were off. I noticed my friend was wearing shoes...were we on for a long hike to the waterfalls? Just a short 20–minute hike, he assured me.

At the jump–off, where the tricycle had deposited us, we were told that it was easy to find Malagaslas Falls: we would cross a bridge and then cross the same river thrice.

Indeed, we crossed a bridge. And at the first river crossing, I stopped at the water's edge, turned to my friend, eyed his shoes, and asked him, "Are you sure?" With a smug look on his face, "These are waterproof." Two steps into the river and, poof!, waterproof no more. His shoes were absolutely waterproof...up to four inches of water! (Evil laugh!) He eventually took off his shoes, went barefoot and an ouch–ouch–ouch with every step, all the way to the waterfalls (the path was covered with tiny pebbles) .

We found Malagaslas Falls not quite deserted. It was a Monday and there was a group of men occupying one of the wooden tables, drinking and chatting. Much as we wanted to cool down in the shallow basins of Malagaslas Falls, the afternoon was turning gloomy, so we decided to find Ambon–Ambon Falls before it rained.

Malagaslas Falls

After another easy 15–minute hike (easy if you have footwear, not so easy for my friend who was barefoot), we heard nothing but water, and saw the upper half of Ambon–Ambon Falls; the lower half was obscured by huge boulders.

Nothing could stop my two friends from going farther to see Ambon–Ambon Falls' basin and its full height. One tried to scale a boulder...unsuccessfully. And one made like Legolas over the log. The one who had unsuccessfully scaled the boulder, tried to be an elf, but was more like a dwarf and so scooted over the length of the log on his behind. I was the bumbling, unadventurous hobbit who chose to stay behind.

Ambon–Ambon Falls

 

Scale the boulder or do a balancing act on the log (left) to see

the basin and the lower half (right) of Ambon–Ambon Falls

While waiting for my friends, I listened: there was only the sound of water and silence. I looked around, observed: the way we had come from was bounded by cliffs on both sides and was blanketed in shadows cast by the trees above. In the shadows, I imagined Gollum crawling over the boulders. Silence and shadows are not good for me.

Hello Gollum

My thoughts were interrupted by the voices of my friends who had come back from their quick exploration. The gray sky prompted us to head back to Malagaslas Falls and spend the rest of our time there.

Around the Northern Half of Batangas:
Around the Northern Half of Batangas in Three Days
Back in Time in the Town of Taal
Boy Scouts in Burot Beach, Calatagan
Caleruega
What's in a (Business) Name? Treinta y ocho
The Waterfalls of Laurel: Malagaslas and Ambon–Ambon (you're here!)
Lipa, Batangas: Casa de Segunda, San Sebastian Cathedral, Our Lady of Mt Carmel Church
Where and What We Ate in Batangas

A Bit of Cavite in Between:
Wisdom from the Road #23
People's Park in the Sky

Wisdom from the Road #25

On checking in for a flight

Web check–in.
Self check–in kiosks.

Use it.

When web check–in is offered, use it. If traffic is bad on your way to the airport, you don't have to worry about making it before the check–in counter closes... you only have to worry about making it for boarding.

When web check–in is offered but you have no access to the internet, worry about making it to the airport before the check–in counter closes. If you find yourself at the end of a mile long queue for the check–in counter, propel yourself toward the self check–in kiosks—which, in the Philippines, is usually devoid of any queues.

For more lessons from the road, please visit Go Learn.