Journey of Visiting Sacred Shrine of Simala

Hello again, everyone!! In this blog, I invite you to immerse yourself in the awe-inspiring beauty and spiritual serenity of this sacred sanctuary nestled in the heart of Cebu, Philippines. The Monastery of the Holy Eucharist, also known as the Our Lady of Lindogon Shrine and commonly known as the Simala Shrine or the Simala Parish Church.

As we delve into the Simala Shrine, I'll first tell you about our preparation to travel from Naga City, Cebu, to Lindogon, Sibonga, where the Simala Shrine is located.

I slept with my grandma that evening, so I need to go home and get ready for what I should wear and do my makeup. My auntie even messaged me because I take my time to eat while watching anime. After I read her message, I rushed to go home, leaving my grandma alone. Don't get me wrong; I already told her and asked permission if I could come along. When I got home, they were all ready, and I'm the one who's still got to prepare.

Fast Forward

After those preparations for myself, we were leaving by 7 a.m. because they're already waiting for me, and we started walking outside our alley. And then, we waited for a bus for public transportation and finally boarded one.

At this moment, we were taking a picture to capture our excitement.

We were lucky at that time because the lane that they're excavating was on the left side, and we were on the right side. That's why the driver drove through that traffic.

Later, we arrived at Carcar's Gaisano letting us know that we were nearing the Sibonga.

We're already in front of Sibonga's church the Our Lady of the Pillar.

We got out of the bus and change transportation to tricyle.

The way to Simala was upward path but we safely arrived at Simala, thanks to the professionism of the driver.
 

Along the way to Simala's entrance, we encounter many vendors who sells souvenirs such as keychain, bracelet, tshirt, and many more.

We're already inside the Simala and it was crowded, because May 1 was holiday. But we didn't follow the line, because we were with children and so we just walk ahead.

As you can see from here, the line was long. Also those who are following the line are going to "Haluk" or kiss the statue of saintess inside.

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Inside Simala's church was quiet, but you could feel the joy of everyone. We didn't get in line, so we just peeked inside and captured pictures. There are also granted prayers and board pass papers inside the glass wall to show that they came in here to wish success on their journey, and they succeeded.

Moving on, we buy candles to make a wish.

There was a mini-store inside the Simala, and we buy the candles from them. There are variety of colors of the candles and each represents a wish. They also sell bracelet, it said that it's already been washed of holy water.

I bought two candles, which are green and violet. Green is for success while violet is for achievement. My future's been settled hahaha. Duha ka kandila, para sure ang kaugmaon HAHAHA.

I light the candle outside to this area. I wished for my success and achievement to the future, but I may be greedy for wishing more about our familys health.

After making wishes, I started taking pictures of myself. I also became my auntie's @angelicaura photographer, which was amazing because they hired non-professional HAHAHAHA.

This is all of us who came to Simala, shatawt to @keith-allen15 not your luck

The layout feels like pre-historian era, it was astonishing to see

After taking our time of capturing the view and to ourselves, we then decided to walk outside. While we were walking, @angelicaura's second son gave up HAHAHA. He's thirsty and hungry but thank god he's not throwing tantrums.

We were laughing and his father get him to cuddle. Good thing he chilled out.

The view's so breathtaking, captivating... It's really amazing

We were walking down

Before we reach the exit gate, we captured a picture of ourselves to this hashtag: #I❤MamaMary

As we're walking outside the gate, there's a vendor selling a bracelet. My uncle insisted that we should choose what we liked, and I asked him if I could have a spare one to give to my boyfriend, so I chose one, and he paid for it afterwards.

Before we leave, we ate at karenderya outside the Simala.

Before and After
 
After eating, we finally decided to go home. And so, we rode the tricycle again. We contacted the driver because they gave us a calling card.

Earlier, the path was uphill, and now it's downhill.

The tricycle driver drove us to Sibonga's waiting shed.

We finally rode a ceress bound for Naga, and all I did was sleeping until we arrived in Naga.

That's all for today, everyone. Thank you for reading my blog. I hope you enjoyed it. Keep active, and look forward to my new blogs!!