Relaxing & Picturesque Place
I have heard a lot about Simala, but didn’t realise how amazing it was till I actually went their for a trip. Simala, a Monastery of the Holy Eucharist is a church in Sibonga, Philipines for the Marian devotees. Its a pace for people who believe in miracles. My friends who are with me for my engineering review in cebu had tried to go to Simala before and pray for the success of our upcoming review exams, although I have never considered myself visiting it since I did’t know how to get there. My friends again planned to go there today, which also provided me the opportunity to join with them. We were trying to make this plan since a month, and finally it materialised into reality.
The Departure
All of us prepared ourselves to wake up early and leave at 5:30 am but as usual our plans didn’t take place according to how we had imagined it to be. Originally we were suppose to catch a Van for hire in colon at about 6:30 but it was not before 8 am we made our way to Simala. That was an almost 2 hour delay from the original plan. The fare for the van is P100.00 for one way. I had kept a budget of P500 for the whole trip which was suppose to include the lunch and some snacks. Since I was just going there for sight seeing, it didn’t make sense for me to bring any more than that.
When we arrived at the church at 10 am, the crowd was overwhelming and the queue at the entrance went all the way from the gate down to where our van had stopped. While we queued up we saw sellers selling all sorts of stuff like t-shirts, sarong, necklaces and bracelets. The weather was too hot, so it is highly recommended that one should take a cap or umbrella (fortunately I didn’t need to buy one). One can also buy a fan for P25 or P45 in case its too hot.
Inside the church short and revealing clothes are prohibited. We already knew about that and we didn’t need to worry about having short clothes on. People who were wearing shorts, leggings, tattered jeans and short skirts were not allowed unless they got long skirts outside which can be rented for a few pesos. Alternatively one can also buy dresses in case some wants to wear elegant dresses instead of a long skirt. The idea is to make everyone look a lot more decent since it is a church.
Getting past the entrance, my Catholic friends starts queuing up for kissing Mama Mary’s image. The queue was so long that one can never guess where it ends. Inside there is a place where one can light candles of different colours for their petitions. These candles can be bought in the church itself.
Me and my friend Zar decided not to queue up and wait for our other friends, however while waiting we got to know we can explore the place without queuing up so we went up and looked around. We took some photos for remembrance of this really picturesque, peaceful and relaxing place. Someone also told us that if we wanted to have a more relaxing place where we can meditate with fewer people around, we should visit the place on weekdays and not weekends.
When my friends were done kissing Mama Mary we went nearby to eat. Food wasn’t a problem there since there were lots of eateries around, though just a little pricier than the rest of cebu. After finishing our food, we rode a motorcycle for P20 to where we could get our Van for hire and finally made our way back home.
If we all had more energy we would have definitely roamed around a lot more, especially in the other parts of the church which we missed since we were already very tired. On and all it was a really nice experience that we all will never forget. If I have an opportunity to visit Simala again I will go back on a day with less rush when I can observe and completely appreciate all the beauty of Simala. I am sure with lesser number of people it will be a great place to meditate.
Below are photos taken from Simala.
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