A feeling of thrill, fun and anxious thumped all day to me last April 8, 2010. The day of my visit to the place called “SIMALA” where the “Monghe ni St. Mary” can be found finally came to reality. To give you a little background of the place, SIMALA where the stunning sculptured church is situated is said to be for some believers as an area of miraculous Virgin Mary. With full of faith, good intentions and serious prayers, strong believers felt the healing power.
It was then a decision months ago of going to visit SIMALA after my parents told me about its miraculous things and astounding panorama of the place. I seriously got hooked by those comments and eagerly researched the place. And yeah! It’s true! I was captured and moved. Because of the thrill, I’ve invited more friends to come with me and only one spared time to come and so it was Richel. Morning on that day, around 10am we met up and headed straight to Sibulan Port Negros oriental. We pay 45php for Pump boat that time since it’s cheaper than fast craft which is 55 for students and 65 for regular travellers as of september 2014. We think it was an exhilarating experience as well especially that it was Richel’s first time to go for a pump boat ride (haha) which added excitement to it. We departed 10:30am, stayed in the pump boat silently with prayers in our hearts for a safe trip while crossing the sea. Gladly we crossed the sea around 20 minutes only. I seriously got pleasure from it while watching diverse astonishing fishes in the sea and enjoying the waves of the deep blue seawater. We kept on laughing every time we got flashed with the gesture of the water. Well, it did help us to be awake 'coz we're like so dizzy and groogy. It’s so adventurous and great for individuals who love the beauty of the sea like us. And so after 20 minutes we finally arrived at the port of Santander, Cebu. There, we pay 2php for terminal fee and droved using V-Hire/ Van for 100php, and went straight to SIBONGA, the central place where Simala is situated. It was an hour land trip and excellent because we were able to take a nap and felt rested somehow. Another blooper while inside the Van (haha) because of our position, my friend banged her head on one side of the Van’s glass that made other passengers laugh, well laugh trip indeed. It was funny though painful for her. She wasn’t able to hold her sleepy moment and the road was like a zigzag way. Well anyway, we successfully reached Sibonga, Cebu and as we dropped from the van, there were hospitable guys who offered motorcycle ride going to SIMALA for 40php back and forth. You won’t have a hard time getting a ride as there are available motorcycle like “habal-habal” around the place, swear to god 'coz it's like the main transportation going up. “Manong driver” then drove us to SIMALA for around 10-20minutes. It wasn’t boring at all as the green environment caught our eyes and surely forget our city life encounters.
Finally, we landed/ reached the exact place of SIMALA. I just couldn’t keep my mouth from saying “WOW-WOW-WOW”. The whole time was like selfie here selfie there. But beyond the selfie thing was the beauty ans serenity of the place. It was astonishingly awesome I tell you! The big monastery church that was made like a castle for kings and queens then caught my petite eyes. Normally, we then took pictures of the silent vicinity especially the miraculous huge statue of Virgin Mary facing the church. Just beneath it are small sculptures of birds and carabaos. We continued walking and stopped to this “WELL OF NAZARETH”. As the name speaks for itself, we saw a wishing well and a gigantic bell on top of it hanging. They say that your wish will come true if you make a wish and hit the hanging bell using a coin ans we did it. Moving forward, a not so long bridge fronted a “kubo” with a stunningly made wishing falls in which for me really signifies the journey in life. We went inside their meaningful church and lighted some colorful candles which can be bought at 35php each. Every color has variety of meanings like what I bought which were GOLD (HEALING- good health, recovery, spiritual and, family tree), YELLOW (PEACE- courage, strength, hope, heart and mind), RED (LOVE- unity, friendship, engagement, homelife, sweetheart) and GREEN (PROSPERITY/SUCCESS- exams, study, financial, business). Inside the church, we silently had our personal prayers and offered all ours problems, sufferings, thanks, and achievements. After that, we came into an area where we had to take off our foot wear and walked around it. They’re very strict when it comes to your clothing. So I suggest wear appropriate attire, something that’s not show off most of your skin. We saw this museum of miraculous Mama Mary. We were able to see several cabinets where lots of significant letters, pictures, crutches, certifications, artificial hair “wig” in a plastic, and nursing and military uniforms. Those things only showed how Miraculous Mama Mary affected them as they felt the spirit and blessings in their life. One person said there in a letter thanking her for healing his left injury and others for passing board exams. We wrote a letter as well and dropped it in a box underneath Mama Mary and had a glimpse of some of her beautiful clothes and rosaries. We bought some rosary necklaces and pocket book as a memory and have it blessed. Truly if you believe in her spirit and offered everything to God’s kingdom, miracles and positive outcomes will come in your life.
As we went out from the vicinity, we brought home a heart full of memories, courage, hope and determination. Lucky enough “manong driver” waited for us outside and drove us back down to the central place. We got hungry so we went directly to the next city which is Carcar city. Actually if you are on a tight budget you can eat around the area because 12hrs eatery are present but we opt to travel far and headed straight to Gaisano mall. Carcar city is just a small city but progressive enough to have abundant resources. I salute the officials behind the great development. Everything was really first time and perfect. And as we watched our taken photos of the place, we’ve decided to go home as the sun sets. We ride through bus directly from Carcar to Liloan port for only 107php, an hour and a half ride. We talked and slept and reminisced what we’ve been through that day. It was dark then when reached the port around 7pm. Fortunately, we were able to got the 7:30 last fast craft trip for 60php and again crossed the sea. Since it was dark, we just slept and rested ourselves. We arrived safely back to Sibulan port at around 8pm. We arrived and went home full of good memories.
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