A Visit to Kamay ni Hesus Shrine

Before we we attended Pahiyas Festival on the town proper of Lucban, we went to Kamay ni Hesus first to visit the place. We were already walking the road there since the traffic was very very heavy and we are not moving anymore. It was just a 10-15 minute walk from the area we stopped.

The place is crowded with people at that time. It was mainly because people also go here before or after going to the Pahiyas. It is a large place where there are a lot of life size statues of saints and a hill, where there is an image of the risen Christ on top. You need to go up 300 plus steps just to reach it. At its bottom stands the church where, at that time, a mass was being celebrated.

Entrance to Kamay ni Hesus

At the gate, you will notice that there are different life size statures along the way to the hill, at the back of it all is the pretty view of Mt. Banahaw. It is so beautiful that it looks like a backdrop in a photo studio. As you go to the back of the church, there is a place called Garden of Eden where there are life size statues of Adam and Eve. The place is crowded so we just passed by it. Besides it is the Noah's Arc where the children plays. It is a playground for the small kids. There are life size animals here and some playground stuff that kids usually enjoy.

Noah's Arc

 At the far end of the Noah's Arc is the entrance to the hill where the stations of the cross is located. A guard said I couldn't enter because I am wearing shorts so I need my scarf to cover the rest of my legs. I am really pissed off since it was really hot that time and the area doesn't look like a sacred area since a lot of people had already been there not giving due respect. He should have not let those people up while they do that and I was there to respect the place. Anyway, so that our group could continue, I obliged and used my scarf. I just remove it on top because it is really really hot there.

The hill and stations of the cross

View of Mt. Banahaw

The church on the hill's foot

The 300 plus steps is not that tiring since every ten or twenty steps, we get to walk across the other side before continuing up. After a while we reached the top and it has an amazing view of the land below. It was pretty but we opted to stay under the shades of the tree since the heat of the sun is really making us tired. We just admired the place for a while before deciding to go down because we couldn't enjoy the area because of the crowd.

A few steps before reaching the top

View of the land below

We went down on the other side of the hill and at the bottom, we had refreshments to cool off the heat. We waited under the shades for a while before continuing to the Pahiyas.

It wasn't a really nice experience there at that tome because of the crowd, but if ever I get to go back there again, I'm sure that I'd appreciate it more. I just hope that the people who go there would respect it more and don't leave any marks behind.