At the town plaza that is!

We were ready to go in search of old houses after photographing various parts of the church of Mulanay, in Quezon’s Bondoc Peninsula when me and Jan got distracted with the red beings at the town plaza.

They were standing, seating, or suspended in the air, in various poses and sizes. These Santa Claus figures were placed in different parts of the town plaza just infront of the church with the belen, the nativity scene, built at the stage. It was rather surreal but provided comic relief to a rather hot and humid noon!

Each corner had a standing Santa. Some were suspended, like riding his sleigh and the other on a rope as if coming down. There was a pair of two Santas lazily lounging atop the makeshift structure built at the side. At the center, was the life sized Santa seated (topmost image).

Mulanay, by the way, is one of the oldest town in the province of Quezon and was evangelized by the Franciscans as early as 1600. From her fold, other towns grew and separated to become new municipalities over the decades.

Elsewhere, the five level old church is one of only four Spanish colonial era churches in the Bondoc Peninsula. It has a simple facade with few embellishments. Made from coral stones, this structure was built by the Seculars starting in 1861.

Curiosly, there were quite a few old houses in the town. Most that I’ve seen are 70′s to the present with quite a few in the 50s and 60s, unlike in Unisan which has turn of the century structures.

Travel to the Bondoc Peninsula is conveniently done by bus trip from Manila to Lucena’s Grand Terminal where several minibuses and passenger vans service the different municipalities.

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