Actually I misspoke in yesterday’s post. Yesterday was a travel day for those who had to stay overnight somewhere on their journey to Manila, those who couldn’t make the trip in a single day. Most of the people arrived today.
The meeting point was the Baclaran Redemptorist Church, a landmark and pilgrimage spot in the Catholic Philippines. The church made a big hall available for gathering and registration for our group.The first group I met when I got to Baclaran Church was the group of my old friends from Hong Kong and Macau.Food was provided for those arriving throughout the day and at this table participants from Sabah in East Malaysia and those from Sri Lanka were getting to know each other.When most people had arrived, Hans, the conference organizer, explained the trip to the Maryridge retreat center later in the afternoon.Then our group had its own little pilgrimage in the Baclaran Church. Here four sign language interpreters work on a reading from scripture.Finally it was time for all of us to load our gear and ourselves into two buses for the three-hour trip to Tagaytay City.When we arrived, another of the local organizing committee explained the house rules at Maryridge where we stayed.Then it was time to eat, the first official meal with everyone together in Tagaytay.Here the committee is distributing room keys to all the participants. Most of them were two or three or four or five to a room. After that it was bedtime and the end of the first and a full day.
