MVP goes to PAMAPANGA
Pampanga, known for a number of things (Mt. Pinatubo, colorful Christmas lanterns, Clark, furniture industry, Kapampangan food, century-old churches and ancestral homes) was MVPs first (for the current MVP year) domestic trip outside Manila. Departure from Makati was a bit after 7 a.m. We took a different route to North Expressway that wound us through the backstreets of Manila and Quezon City; an alternative to the EDSA mess.
First stop was the Clark Museum,
established 1997 in Angeles City.
The first floor of the museum showcases the past of Clark as a
former US military base and its metamorphosis into a Special
Economic Zone. 
The second floor gave us a
glimpse of Pampanga: its historical past, famous Pampangueños,
and Kapampangan art and culture.
After a buffet lunch at the Tollhouse Restaurant in Angeles City we ventured south to the town of Bacolor. Once the seat of the central governtment (during the Spanish era), Bacolor was half-buried by lahar from the 1991 erruption of Mt Pinatubo.
We went to the Church of San Guillermo and looked around (both inside and out). The main doors (pictured in photo) on Bacolor's church used to be the windows of the choir loft. Many of the town's houses have been elevated and are on stilts. There were a number of houses that had no ladders; the town's vice mayor informed us that this was because the owners' had not yet returned. Perhaps a safety measure to make it harder for someone to loot the house (assuming anything remains inside), or to assure that if and when the former owners return, they won't find their house has new residents.
Next destination was westward, to the town of Betis. Its baroque, ornate 17th century Church of St James was a
crowd pleaser. We all admired (many oohs and ahs heard) the
impressive paintings of scenes from the bible that cover the
ceiling and walls.
Also of note was the superbly carved main doors that depict the Dream of Jacob from the old testament.
After looking around and snapping photos, we moved down the road to our last stop--the Lopez family ancestral home (photo below). Though currently run-down, it was easy to imagine what presence this house must have comanded during the area's glory days.
