Day 1 - visiting with kuya bert in Pampanga











arriving on late saturday, I went to Pampanga with my nephew Raymond who is working towards a degree in Nursing in Manila. When I arrived Kuya Bert's house in San Matias, I finally saw my nieces who have grown up quite a bit since I saw them two years ago. Rishia and Roseanne just had their junior senior prom and they delayed returning their rented gown so that I can take their pictures. I was glad I took my gear with me and we converted the front room into an impromptu studio using some old fabric as part of the backdrop. Before I left, I took a picture of our group in front of the ancestral house which is slowly falling into decay. I hope my brother, sister in law, my nephew and nieces and of course Bing my sister in Australia will like the results.

You should pass by Guagua on the way back to Manila.

I remember Guagua as the stop where my mother and I would get off on our way their home in San Matias. We would go to Tondo to board the La Mallorca bus that would pass through each town along the old Highway. This was before the North Diversion Road was built. During those days, it took three hours to get to Guagua. My mother would insist that we rise up early in the morning and board the jeep to Azcarraga (now Recto) and board the wooden seats of La Mallorca to go to Pampanga. I would know we would be near once I smell the foul air from the sugar mill near Betis then it would not be long before we get to Guagua. From there we would ride a jeep to go to Santa Rita and then into Becuran or San Matias.


Guagua has since been bypassed by the big highways as so many other quaint towns in Bulacan and Pampanga. I still remember the bakeries where we would go to before we headed back home. So on this trip we passed by Guagua. The two major bakeries are still there and still seem to do brisk business. Apung Diung is the older one dating back to the late 1800’s while La Moderna had been around since the 1930’s (making it more modern in comparison to Apung Diung) Unfortunately Apung Diung ran out of pastillas de casuy so after paying for the arrowroot biscuit, Raymond, my nephew took me to La Moderna across the street. Yes they did have some Pastillas de Casuy. They also have macaroons and empanaditas (which is so delicious that if I get the chance to go back there, I would get some more of these) I hope their business continue to do well because their sweets are really delicious. Should you end up passing by Guagua, La Moderna is located across from the statue of Rizal in the Town Plaza and Apung Diung is somewhere to his right, on the same side where the Baliwag Transit terminal is located (which by the way was the terminal of La Mallorca in Guagua in the ‘60’s).



On the way back to the highway, Raymond decided that we should go by the longer way. I am glad this happened because we passed by the old houses. I saw that the church of San Miguel in Betis is still as it was before. We even chanced by a parade as my sister was calling Nardo’s cell phone to see how we were doing. The trip did not take long. But then when we hit Edsa, the traffic was bad and it was already getting dark when we got to Makati. Not too bad though because we still made it in time for the 6PM mass at the greenbelt chapel. I had dinner with Raymond and then afterwards he went back to his dorm in the University belt.