Way of the Cross up north

THE joke goes something like this: One lent, an old lady was praying the Station of the Cross. But for some reason she started it from the opposite end, when Jesus Christ was nailed to the Cross, and was thus going the wrong way.

And when somebody informed her that she got it all wrong, she quipped: ``So that's why Jesus gets stronger and stronger...''

Of course He would. Because Jesus would have been up and about by the time the old lady reaches the last station.

I first heard that joke from the great Joey de Leon many years ago, and just recently I heard him crack it once more in Eat Bulaga. I guess just like beaches and mangoes, that joke comes in season.

Well the reason I used that as grabber is that we're again planning a long drive to Abra next week, Holy Week. I enjoy road trips with the family especially on the long, smooth country lanes of Ilocandia. But my chief concern is traffic.

Based on our experience last year, travelling anywhere out of Metro Manila around that time is almost like doing the way of the cross in itself.

Last year we left Marilao 6 a.m. of Maundy Thursday and arrived in Tayum 6 p.m. We caught the tail-end of the gridlock near Sta. Ines exit and plodded from then on. We hit Luisita in Tarlac where we had breakfast at 9:20 a.m. after only covering 95 kilometers!

The whole stretch of Tarlac was by then the traffic ground zero. We only reached Rosario, La Union (where all Baguio-goers stop) at 1:20 p.m. There we had quick lunch and freshened up. By then we had travelled 191 km. After one hour and 10 minutes we refueled at a small gas station in Bangar, La Union's last town going to Ilocos Sur.

We were already logging on 357 kms on our mileage when we came to Narvacan Junction at 5:15 p.m., which offered a fork to the right if you're heading Bangued and left if you're going to Vigan. But just when I thought it would only be a few minutes to go, it took us another 30 kms and 45 minutes to finally reach Tayum.

On the way back home, we took off 3 p.m. Easter Sunday and made it home 3 a.m. the following day.

The drive back home was even rougher because everybody was asleep. We took many layovers to recharge and keep awake, including one last time in a gas station along NLEX where I had a coke and a chocolate bar. I also did some stretching while the wife and kids were in dreamland. But the eyes couldn't stay open and my thoughts wandered. So I had to take the slow lane all the way and not make unnecesary risk.



It was like taking the penance for all the sins I have committed the whole year.