Pahiyas Festival in Lucban, Quezon happens every 15th of May in honor of San Isidro Labrador, Patron Saint of Farmers.

It's supposedly a showcase of the families' harvest, although I'm not sure anymore if that's still what they do.

Having been a resident of the neighboring Tayabas City for eight years, Pahiyas Festival was not new to the Nada Family, but it was for Popy, Gab, and my sister's boyfriend.

We checked in a boarding house from the 14th. We occupied a room with three double decks. Popy and I shared one. Gab stayed on the upper bunk. The room was warm despite Lucban's cool weather outside. Sigh.

I'm a great planner in trips. I kept telling my parents to book ahead, but we don't seem to be in the same page. The nearby hotels and even the ones in our hometown had been booked way way way back.

We got up early on the 15th and had breakfast in a small restaurant called Pizza Veloce right in front of the Southern Luzon State University. The staff who called us from the street was so entertaining, he convinced us to eat there.

Image courtesy of Pizza Veloce

We all ordered the breakfast set, and we were all full. I wasn't able to take photos of the food. I find that I'm always unable to do this because I'm always always too hungry (even after eating) to do so.

It was a good less than a kilometer walk to G. Cadelina St. where the festive houses start. Mind you, when it's Pahiyas, a long stretch of road is closed to private cars. So we opted to rent a room in Lucban itself and even that took sometime to get to the town proper. Even if you do get to drive into the city, there are no parking spaces. Lucban's streets are narrow, just enough for two lanes (one for each direction). It's advisable to book hotels in advance because they get fully-booked early on.

The traffic, again, was so bad. My sister and her boyfriend went ahead of us to Manila, and the travel from Lucban to Tayabas (which was normally 30-40min) took them 3 hours. 3 hours! Beware! I think, the fact that it was a weekend added to the traffic.

It's a bit hot that morning. Thanks to babywearing, by the way. Khale slept 75% of the entire walk. It was a great thing that there were 6 adults in the group. When he became wiggly and irritated while worn,  Gab and Papa took turns in carrying him.

Another good thing about the festival is that you can go inside the houses and their displays to have your photo taken. And the greatest thing is that people invite you to eat, even when they're not part of the route. I love how they're so hospitable.

Here's our photowalk:



















It will probably be a different trip next year. We're looking forward to it. :)

If you haven't seen Day 1 yet, click here. :) Days 3-5 are coming up soon.

My parents came home to the Philippines last May 5th from Oman. Everything's fast-paced and we are very preoccupied when they're around. Luckily, as I have already given birth, we were able to join them in their trip.

We traveled to Lucban, Quezon for the Pahiyas Festival. It's an annual festivity filled with vibrant-colored houses designed with the families' produce.This is my fourth time to visit the festival because our family used to live in the next town, which is Tayabas. For Khale and Gab, it was their first and, of course, that's always exciting.

Day 1: May 14, 2016

We left Makati at 5 AM and reached Tayabas at 11 AM. We were a group of 7 (Mama and Papa, my younger sister and her boyfriend, and my little family). Normally, it would have taken 3 hours considering that we had a private car that time. There was so much traffic in the Laguna and Batangas area, so it took us 6 hours even after using bypass roads twice.

The majority of the gang: My sister's eyes, me and my Popy, mama, and my husband at the back. Photo credit: Joza Nada

My sister, again, her boyfriend and papa. As you can see, we're wacky types. We got it from him. Photo credit: Joza Nada

Bypass road. I mean, who wouldn't fall in love with this view?

Our first stop was my maternal grandmother's farm. To get there, we needed to walk, maybe, 500 meter or more inside a forest. Yes, a forest! It has been there for a very long time. It was where my mum and her siblings grew up; and where we have spent happy childhood memories that included New Year's Eve, Christmas Eve and monito monita, feeding chickens and running after them, feasting on lugaw and halo halo from my grandfather, waking up to cold foggy mornings, harvesting, fresh produce, eating freshwater shrimp from my grandfather's catch, and playing with ceramic pretend veggies and cookware.

On our way to the farmhouse. There's a concrete pathway (been there since we were kids) until halfway of the trek, and then we get to the beaten path the rest of the way. Photo credit: Joza Nada

Our ancestral home is on the second floor. A tapayan welcomes you on the front porch. It's filled with rain water filtered by a cloth. It's used to get mud off your shoes or feet especially on the rainy days. The entire house is made of wood that we used to scrub with upli leaves as kids.

Here, you just need to shout to call the neighbors.

Front. My grandmother used some paintings to cover the balcony's missing rails.

Side.

The bit of extension pictured is called a batalan. There are random stuff there. It used to hold me or my sister before. One kid at a time. Yeah, we live life in the edge. Lol. The concrete back part is the toilet and bath. It was all bamboo when we were younger.

Entrance. That's my cousin and Popy.

One thing I love about the farm is the silong. I'm not sure how it's translated into English, but it's that space under the house. There used to be a chicken coop because my grandfather was a a big fan of cockfights and he kept his roosters there. He also had a wooden bed for when he comes home late. I can't imagine coming home late and having to go through a forest, but it happened. Right under the ceiling were bamboos that you can stick together and put a short hook at the end for getting coconuts. We have a place for bonfire, too, with the rocks and firewood, which we actually use. I cooked pansit there before.

Not from this trip, but here's the bonfire place. :)

It's quite comfy to sleep there, really.

And we have a hammock! Who doesn't like hammocks?

Le husband loving the farm life.

This is the house's balcony. We have a real dining room, but isn't it so much better to eat dinners here? The sides of the balcony used to have flower pots and a corner for the hen's nest.

The whole family enjoying lunch served in native plates.

Fresh coconut's everywhere. 360 degrees. You can have them anytime. The farm used to house star apple, banana and mango trees. Now, we only have a few pineapples, langka, calamansi, chico and mangosteen.



The woman of the house, my grandmother... Nanay Pita.


After a hearty lunch, we drove to Nawawalang Paraiso for a quick dip.

He cried in his vest, so we let him play in the pool without it. Photo credit: Joza Nada

This made him happy though.

This was at Kamayan sa Palaisdaan. When we still had a house in Quezon, we frequent this restaurant. It's known for the floating bamboo cottages on the fishpond serving Filipino food. However, we didn't bother taking photos of the food when it came, because it came too late. We waited half an hour for someone to come to us to get our order and more than an hour for our food to be served. It rained that night, and the waiters kept making the excuse that they didn't have umbrellas. How awful that they're not ready for such.

So I had an umbrella, which my uncle borrowed so he could fetch the waiter. :( I'm sorry Palaisdaan. You broke our hearts here.


This didn't ruin the whole vacay, of course. More on the trip in the next posts!