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Good Friday Crucifixions, San Pedro Cutud, outside of San Fernando Pampanga, Luzon, Philippines. April 10, 1998

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Good Friday morning I headed to the Philippine Rabbit bus station to catch a bus to San Fernando. The bus station was closed. So was the Victory Line bus station. Everything, I discovered, closes on Good Friday in the Philippines. It's not a good day to have a heart attack.

"I take you all the way to San Fernando for P1200." offered our cab driver. That's about US$30.00.

"Too much." I told him.

"How much you pay?"

"Five hundred pesos."

"No, no. Very long way, I have to drive back empty. One thousand, sir"

"I only paid P600 to go to Angeles City last month. That's much farther."

"Eight hundred. Air conditioned taxi..." He waved his hand in front of the vents to illustrate airflow "very gas, very expensive."

"Six hundred."

"OK, OK, sir. Seven hundred?"

"OK, seven hundred. You take us all the way to where they do the crucifixions, OK?"

"OK, OK, no problem!"

Seven hundred pesos was an expensive trip. An air conditioned bus ride would have been under P100 each. But, I figured, how often do you get to see a crucifixion?

And for seven hundred pesos we got express service. Our driver sped and wove through traffic at breakneck speed. We pulled into San Fernando at nine o'clock in the morning and our driver started asking around for directions to the crucifixion. Lots of pointing in general directions. Every hundred meters or so he stopped and asked another person.

That's the best way to get directions in the Philippines: ask a lot of people. Get a general consensus. Make sure the last person didn't send you in the wrong direction. Filipinos have a very laid back attitude about directions. They deal in vague generalities. "Only there" and point is about as much effort as they will put out. To make matters worse, Filipinos never say "I don't know." Even if they don't know. They smile and point in a random direction. So ask a lot of people, get a general consensus.

After a dozen stops for directions we stopped in front of an impressive looking church.

"The crucifixion starts here at three o'clock." our driver announced.

I whispered to Carmelita "Ask somebody else, I think he is just trying to get rid of us."

"This is the place, let's go." Carmelita had thrown her camera over her arm and was reaching for the door handle.

"Just ask somebody..."

"This is the place. I heard people say." She jumped out of the taxi.

I paid our driver the P700 and I got out.

We walked around the church. There was nobody there. I asked somebody if this was the place where they had the crucifixions.

"Still far. Over there." He pointed.

"How far? One kilometer? Five kilometers?" I pressed.

"Still far. Over there."

"What time?"

"Three o'clock."

So we trudged off. We headed "over there."

[Keep going, there's lots more...]

Almost Leaving Manila April 24, 1998

Good Friday Crucifixions, San Fernando Pampanga April 10, 1998

Return To Coron, Palawan, Philippines March-April 1998

Old Travelog Dispatches from the Philippines (1997)

Dispatch #4; The Early Days in Coron

Dispatch #3; The Boat Trip To Coron, Palalwan

Dispatch #2, Northern Luzon and Manila Yet Again.

Dispatch #1, Arrival In the Philippines and Third World Culture Shock