but first, a backgrounder. The Pahiyas festival is celebrated every may 15 in Lucban, Quezon in honor of the municipality’s patron saint, San  Isidro Labrador (St. Isidore the Farmer). To participate in the festival, residents decorate their houses with vegetables, fruits and kiping, leaf-shaped paper-like decors made from rice. (Kiping can be eaten raw, by the way.) the best decorated house will win the Pahiyas contest.

Big Group

It was The poor Traveler’s first time to join the country’s many colorful and many dynamic festival. and I will tell you exactly how much this trip cost me.

The poor technique for this trip was to choose a big group. As you all know, the much more travelers, the less expensive the cost. There were 14 of us. (I know, big group, yeah. but I love them all so it was not a problem.) I initially wanted to commute but I kinda predicted how horrible traffic would be so I chose to choose friends. This way, even if I got stuck in a hopeless traffic situation, I would have pals to lean on. Naks.

The group chose to just rent a van. The rate was P7000 per 24 hours including gas, chauffeur fee and toll fees. Number is important here. much more people implies much more people dividing the cost. just make sure the van can accommodate all of you.

Since there were 14 of us, we only paid P500 each.

The Pahiyas Experience

We left at around 3am and arrived in Lucban, Quezon at 6am. It was a wise choice to leave early morning to avoid traffic. We had breakfast at Mustiola’s in the heart of the town. The poor Traveler purchased Lucban longganisa meal and embotido meal, each at P70. It wasn’t the best embotido and longganisa in the world but for P70, it was decent, good enough for a hungry traveler.

We proceeded to the church, prayed a little, and roamed around the town, taking pictures. It was an amazing experience. The festival was lovely. Although the sun was a bitch, the bright side is that sunny is better than rainy so we endured it.

We got hungry but didn’t wanna spend much more on food so we took advantage of the “free taste” booths all over the place. Seriously, I got totally free snacks and totally free booze! (The Bar had a booth and who was I to refuse a persistent promotion girl? LOL)

Kamay ni Hesus

I’m not religious, but my pals are, so they kinda forced me to check out Kamay ni Hesus, a spiritual site in Lucban, Quezon.The place is a few kilometers from the town proper and isn’t really part of the festival, but because we were already in Lucban, it would be a shame to disregard this place. After all, it’s only a trike ride away.

Tricycle ride, yes. because we had a hard time finding a vehicle parking space when we arrived in Lucban, the group chose to just take a trike to Kamay ni Hesus so wouldn’t give up our vehicle parking space.

By the way, Kamay ni Hesus Healing Church is a serene place, ideal for those Catholic pilgrims who want a moment of tranquility. Warning, though: if you wanna see the entire place, prepare for an uphill battle. LOL. It was dead tiring climbing the steep hill.

Lunch at cafe San Luis

Finding a place to have lunch during lunch hour was such a pain in the ass. That’s why I suggest that if you’re at the festival, take an early or late lunch. There were so numerous tourists yet only a few restaurants and all of them are packed.

After much more than 30 minutes of waiting, we finally got a table at cafe San Luis. I purchased “Inalamangan.” It was like binagoongan but they added turmeric. generous serving for P100.

Plus coke.

Finding Souvenirs

After lunch, we continued our walking tour. We stop every now and then to purchase drinks, take pictures and purchase souvenirs. finding souvenirs wasn’t so hard. Souvenir stores were all over the area. t-shirts range from 150-200; keychains at 20-50.

I purchased a t-shirt for the one I lobe and four voodoo dolls for those I hate. LOL.

GETTING OUT OF LUCBAN

The many challenging part of the trip was leaving the area. traffic was terrible. really terrible. That’s why if you have an iPod, PSP, or whatever, take it with you. I swear, it was really terrible.

EXPENSES

Here’s the breakdown of the expenses for the Pahiyas trip:

Transportation – 500

Breakfast – 70

Lunch – 112

Souvenirs (1 shirt, 4 dolls) – 380

Drinks – 30

Trike ride – 16

Dinner – 100

TOTAL: P1216.

Oops, that’s P200 above the target. If you’re really strict with your P1000-limit, just cut down on the souvenirs. For example, if I didn’t purchase voodoo dolls, I wouldn’t even reach P1000. 🙂

I hope this can guide you for your own Pahiyas trip next year!

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