Regina RICA

 Sampaloc Tanay Rizal

April 18, 2014 – Good Friday

As for spending the holy week, I’ve decided to go on a trip to Tanay, Rizal to visit the Regina RICA that became popular nowadays especially during Lenten season.

It has a big statue of Virgin Mary on the top of the hill and I must say that going there is really worth going.

Filipinos has a large percentage of Catholic religion and going to places like this is a very ideal one to strengthen our faith with our Creator. Yes, I am a Catholic and going here is one of the best ideas on how to spend worthwhile my holy week vacation.

Regina RICA is a 13.5 hectare land runs by the Dominican Nuns. It is a very sacred place where in you can deeply pray and communicate with God or even with Mama Mary.

These are the places and things you can do inside Regina RICA:

On top of these activities is climbing the hill up to the Golden Statue of Mama Mary. It’s a    feet tall and has seventy plus angel carvings on the foot/base. There’s also a prayer room or mini chapel inside the statue which they called as Bulod.

The place also has a candle room where you can offer candles.

The Church/ Chapel.

Some function rooms under the Chapel.

A columbarium.

The Labyrinth.

A big dining area.

The Station of the Cross .

The garden going up to the feet of Mama Mary.

As for our activity:

We meet at Shaw Boulevard at 5 a.m. and rode a jeepney going to Tanay Rizal. Fare as of this time is Php.53.00 per head.

Travel time is approximately 1-2 hours including the traffic.

Right after we reached the Tanay Public Market, there were tricycles and jeepneys going to Regina RICA. We decided to hire a tricycle going there. By the way, we were four in the group and it cost us Php. 50.00 per head.

Since it is holiday, tricycles were not allowed to go down at the main entrance so we have to take a short walk.

When we got there, there’s already a lot of people and private vehicles. What can you expect on a Good Friday? This is one of the best days to go here since it is holiday.

We have to line up and wait for our turn for the orientation. Yes, there is an orientation first before you can do the activities here.

After the orientation that lasted for about ten to fifteen minutes, we headed our way to Mama Mary up on the hill.

There are two ways to reach the foot of Mama Mary. First is to take the Station of the Cross and second, go up the garden.

We chose the second option. As we go up, the view is pretty quiet. Aside from the mountains you can see afar, is the garden with sunflowers, calamansi and other plants that will lead your way up the hill.

Okay, today is holiday so took us so long to reach Mama Mary because of large volume of people. We have to line up again and wait for our turn to get inside the statue of Mama Mary plus there’s also an orientation again before climbing up the statue.

We have to take off our shoes/slippers/sandals as we get inside the statue. We offered a short prayer as we reached the top then walked down again.

My two friends offered candles, while we took the labyrinth. The labyrinth is somewhat similar to a maze wherein as you walk towards the center, you can offer a prayer. Most likely, praying the rosary will be a fine activity here and once you reached the center, it feels like you’re already reaching God.

Our next stop is the chapel. But it is looks like a common church already because of its size. The nuns are giving us oil on the palm and forehead. There are also masses going on here but with the schedule. Here’s their website so you can check out the time.

*insert website*

After that, we ate for lunch. There’s a pile of cottages with different sizes that can be used. There’s also a canteen.

I also wanted to share their rules that are being strictly followed.

*insert rules here*

And please, if you will go here, refrain from littering. As I see some places there, there were trashes like empty bottles, candy wrappers and the like. It is a sacred place so we shouldn’t throw garbage on sidewalks.

There are also some souvenir shops inside the place.

We went home at past 1 p.m. and the people were just coming as we see.

I may say that this place is really a good place to go, even if you’re with your family or peers. You can have a picnic right after you did the activities there.

And for me, I think I will enjoy this kind of place if there would be lesser people so I can pray deeply and talked with God peacefully.

The place is really a solemn one and of course you can only feel it’s solemnity with lesser number of people.

There is no entrance fee so I guess it’s one of the reasons why it became a tourist spot.

But then, donate some if you have extra money for the maintenance of the place. In that way, you already helped God. As I watched a movie about the life of Jesus, He once said that we can give what we have (riches, money) to other people or to church so we can be welcomed to the Kingdom of our Father.