Pahiyas Festival Tour Part I

Celebrated every May, Pahiyas Festival “Masaganang Ani” is one of the most famous festival in the Philippines which is being held in Lucban Quezon.

Lucban Quezon, is a 3 -4 hrs away from Metro Manila and this year the Grand Celebration happened last May 15th.

Commuting or bringing car is an option but we opt to avail a travel tour to avoid the hassle of parking and PUV transfer. Moreover, it will be my first time to travel with my Mama and Brother. Joining us on the tour are my aunt and cousin.

We chose, Pahiyas Travels and Tours because they provide buses instead of van which tend to be packed. Aside from the Pahiyas tour, the agency provide the following:

• Side trip to Kamay ni Hesus,
• Free breakfast and buffet lunch,
• Souvenir
• Transport (Round trip Lucban and Manila)

All for only ₱1,500.00 (regular seat) Senior citizens are discounted but for a cheaper option there is a ₱1300.00 for aisle seats.

TIP:  If you’re sure that you’ll attend the next year’s  festival, you may buy tickets as early as now for they provide ₱500 off the regular price. The earlier you buy the ticket the cheaper it will be. 

Around 4:00 AM in the morning, we went to the meeting place in Shell, Jupiter St. Makati City. The buses fetched us there.

We slept while in transit. Supposedly  we’ll arrived in Lucban around 7:30 AM but we caught up in traffic. Good thing we had small breakfast to cover our hunger.

IDs, food stubs, souvenir straw hat and Itinerary were distributed in the bus. They also explained everything before we disembark.  The bus parked inside Kamay ni Hesus Shrines which means we need to ride a tricycle going to the town proper.

 

Kamay ni Hesus is a 5 hectare shrine built last February 2002. It’s a pilgrimage site and a healing church.  

 

 

But before we tour the place we had our breakfast first to avoid the surge of people inside the cafeteria. We’re one of the first folks to eat.The breakfast was good. they serve us their famous longannisa, an egg and rice. We had coffee as well. I enjoyed our meal because i was really hungry then. It was just a quick breakfast because we want to let others take our seats afterwards.

We then decided to tour around the site before we do a 300 steps climb towards the 50 foot Ascending Jesus Statue on top.

 

Even it’s  freaking hot, it didn’t stopped us climbing. My mom, at 60 was very willing to do it despite of having high blood and arthritis that’s why I was very concern.

TIP: be careful of your belongings because there  are lots of pickpockets and my mom almost became a victim.

We started climbing and the first to second part of the hike was tiring because the steps are very high. I though my mom will not push though but she was very eager to finish it. We took our time, resting in the middle and fanning ourselves while climbing up.

 

 

Approximately 20 mins we reached the top.  We rested around 5 mins then went down right away because it was too crowded.

 

SUCCESS!!!

It was a fulfilling yet super tiring climb. If you went to kamay ni Hesus don’t forget to do it.