My grandparents used to bring Mama and my uncles to Antipolo. At 3AM, they would ride the green Antipolo Bus from Recto. 2 hours of sitting in the ordinary bus. Meralco Building was their halfway marker. They could see it from a distance. It was like one of two buildings in Ortigas at the time. Everything else was grassy undeveloped lands.

People selling medallions of Our Lady would come up to them and pin one on their clothes. Some medallions looked like gold but were plastic, engraved with "Our Lady of Good Voyage". There was also another version with a laminated picture of Mary enclosed in a red frame.

They would pray inside the church and eat lechon afterwards in a nearby food stall. And then they would visit Hinulugang Taktak for a picnic.

Devotion to Our Lady

The pilgrimage to Antipolo starts in May. However, Mama, my cousins, and I had our own simple visit in January. This was the first time in a long while when we were all together again inside a church. We are now living quite far from each other, and our schedules did not always meet. So this was a very special event for us, especially during The Lord's Prayer. 🙏

Mama remembered it as a more simple altar, but now the interior of the church was literally golden. It was amazing to look at!

Amy's Store and Pasalubong

A guide helped us get a parking space inside the chapel grounds. He did not ask for payment, but he invited us to check his mother's store. His mom sells the usual pasalubong from Antipolo.

When Mama was a child, our grandpa would buy her one of those red horse paper maches being sold outside the church. A kid could ride the toy horse. Oh also, a pair of bato-bato (Zebra doves)! Those birds were easy to take care of. Not sure if those are still being sold here. I only saw Sanrio balloons 🎈

They also bought delicacies like puto seko, kasoy (cashew nuts), kalamay, and suman (glutinous rice cakes). Interestingly, they learned the mangoes being sold there were just from Divisoria. 😅

Mama also brought us to Antipolo when we were kids. I distinctly remember getting the brown triangular kalamay. It was sweet and nutty and a different flavor profile from the other kalamays we had back in Manila.

I researched the cathedral. Pope Pius XI granted a Pontifical Decree of Coronation to Our Lady of Peace and Good Voyage. It was The Most Reverend Michael J. O'Doherty, D.D., Archbishop of Manila who executed the coronation of the revered image in 1926.

I stopped at the name O'Doherty. The late Archbishop founded my school. As a kid, I remembered him as the founder depicted in the painting that hung in our school. I never thought his works were so woven into our lives, even touching my grandparents' generation. The more I researched, the more that I found great men and women who were connected with institutions and communities we were so blessed to be a part of. 🙏 Just wow.

Also, Mama and I discussed these. It was funny how we remembered the same place so differently. 😅