AHP Sariaya 3rd Anniversary tour

the first AHP tour 3 yrs ago is a trip to Sariaya, I was not yet active then, 

so missed the tour. I have only been to this town once.  last year when my

pretty bff Jen celebrated her birthday this is my second time to see this town

it was a humble experience. we get to see grand old houses from the successful

rich coco barons of pre-war Sariaya. 

oh, by the way, most of our group pictures are from Ate Annie and ate Mabs  

credits to them...

we departed early, I woke up at 330am, and as I begin to see the huge coconut 

plantations I know we are already in Old Tayabas. this old town is rich in coconut 

products for export back then, Copra oil can be used for cosmetics, margarine, 

and another important discovery then is the ingredient Dinitroglycerin, an 

important ingredient for the making of explosives, so in 1914, they were 

exported for use in World war I. Eu vs Germany. that is how the coconut 

industry boomed and made people very rich. and in the years 1913 to 1934 

copra exportation was in its peak, during these years when the town center 

near the church and municipal building was surrounded by grand mansions 

which are mostly owned by local Copra traders.

most of them were destroyed by fire, in WW2, and what you see now are

the few remaining mansions. we arrived in Sariaya church at 8am. 

I manage to take some shots of the surroundings upon our arrival

 this is my favorite house unfortunately we were not granted access.

 in this tour, we are only allowed to go inside 2 heritage grand mansions.

 the municipyo

Catalina Rodriguez mansion just near the church

Upon arrival Danny our tour guide toured us around the nearby houses of

Sariaya. I thought that videos will always be better than pictures, so

I have more videos today, pls. watch them, learn from our tour guide...

here are our videos

and then we had our early breakfast, (kkb) after our breakfast

we were toured inside an old house converted to a learning center

it is now called CSSB (Collegio de Santo Cristo de Burgos)

this 1930s house was once owned by lola Pacita. 

we were toured around for 15minutes.

  

here is the video.

and then we proceeded to the church again for some picture

taking by our friend  Annie Grace

here are some pictures inside the church

and  look at their artwork

 while a top the choir loft of the church, here is our tourguide
Danny  de Luna talking about the origin of  the church.

 

and we had lunch just at the back of Gala Rodriguez ancestral

then we proceeded to our first ancestral house, the Gala Rodriguez

ancestral house

where we are toured by Eric Dedace

here are the pics inside:

oh by the way, this house has an underground "Jap-exit" wherin the daughter

of the owner hid herself when Japanese forces with the Makapili are doing

night rounds.

when you go down, you could see images of Japanese officers

being drawn by the daughter.

this is the video of what you see underground

some picture taking before we go to the next house

then our next stop is the Catalina Rodriguez house.

this is the video of what you see inside cataligo rodriguez ancestral.

by the way I wont post much picture of the mansion because I have already

made a blog for the 1920s Catalino Rodriguez house.

and here are some pictures

 at the end of the tour we were introduced to madam Tina she talked about

the Sariaya tradition "tagayan"

and she gave us a sumptuous mirienda fit for a king!

 and then we had this photo ops before everybody went back home.


Sariaya deserves a visit, even for a day, to see how the elites of a small town
brought the Philippines and the world to their doorstep and managed to leave
astonishing monuments from a bygone era.

this is your LOVERBOY Dennis signing out.