San Miguel de Mayumo, Bulacan

One of the many charming old houses of San Miguel

 

MVP's October trip focused on ancestral homes in their proper setting--the charming little town of San Miguel de Mayumo in the province of Bulacan. San Miguel is sometimes referred to as a museum town, not unlike the famous city of Vigan in Ilocos Sur. 80-year old Paquito Buencamino, a native of San Miguel who is a journalist and historian, was our guide.

We started off with a side trip to historic Biak-na-Bato. Now a national park, this was where General Emilio Aguinaldo signed a pact with the Spanish authorities that ended the revolution in 1896. We were given a summary and background of the park by Ashley , the Peace Corps Volunteer assigned in the area.

 

Mr Buencamino secured permission for us to visit the ancestral homes of the Tecson-Mendiola, Sevilla-Joson, and Sempio families. In addition we visited the home of Dr Maximo Viola, a close friend of Jose Rizal.

Tecson-Mendiola house

After a tasty buffet lunch at Mr Buencamino's home (the sinigang was delicious), members were treated to a demonstration of paper-cutting with delicate handmade designs which are used to wrap the famous pastillas de leche (milk candies) and preserved fruit-carving, another craft that San Miguel is famous for.

Before heading home, we stopped by the Sevilla family's three-storey ancestral home where members fullfilled their shopping urges--bags and boxes of different types of pastillas were purchased; the ube (purple yam) pastillas were cleaned out!

--text and photos by Sony and Rebecca