Missing Casa San Pablo

Three days without t.v, two hours of wifi, and LOTS of reading time. Quite relaxing, actually. Casa San Pablo's the perfect place to escape to if you want to destress and just lounge around, read, sleep, or eat. Though we only stayed for three days, I brought all my cameras so I could get lots of pictures. I settled with just using our old Canon digicam (which I think will soon conk out on us...I hope it will...so I can finally have a valid reason to buy a new and waaay better one) and Smiley Cyrus--my Holga 120cfn.

These are shots I took on our first day at Casa San Pablo. Enjoy!

...it felt like I was entering a secret garden of some sort

welcome to room#2

our matchbox-filled room

...the door's rustic feel really fascinated me

...even the floor was fascinating! brick and wood

...felt like being artsy fartsy :)

the casitas

the alcantaras' (Casa San Pablo's owners) wonderful home

...hammocks to lounge on while reading a good book

red, green and yellow!

the gorgeous red room

a pretty piece of art that caught my eye in the lunch hall

my brother on the hammock

pretty flowers :)

green, yellow, and brown always look great together

vast space to explore

Haruki Murakami: my "companion" during the trip

view while lying down on the hammock

one week vaca

Since it's a holiday on the 6th (Mon) and Holy Week starts on the 9th (Thur), my boss told us to take a leave on the 7th and 8th. Woohoo! A week without work. This is the first time in quite a while that we're spending Holy Week out of town. On a whim, my family and I decided to go to Casa San Pablo in Laguna next week from April 8-10. I've always wanted to go there, and I was actually hoping I'd visit that place with my friends. I guess Casa San Pablo will still be fun with my grandmother and brother, since we'll be the only ones left here in Manila next week. My mom will be back in the boondocks (haha!) of Bukidnon by this weekend, my uncle and aunt are going to Camarines Sur to go wakeboarding, and my other uncle and aunt plus my cousins are going to visit my family in the province. So that just leaves me, my grandmother, and my brother.

I don't think a lot of countries take Holy Week as seriously as the Philippines does.


Yes, we shouldn't forget what Jesus went through...so Holy Week is not just the time for us to pray and reflect, but it also gives us the time to rest and relax--two things I think we need to be able to contemplate...don't you agree?