Our trip to Ifugao that started three days earlier came to a close as soon as we left the Banaue Public Market just a couple of minutes before 11:00 AM. The end of our Ifugao trip, however, did not mean that our adventures were done for the day. After all, with roughly around 341 kilometers to take before we reach home, a lot could still be done.

After an hour and a half on the road, we were already famished. Thankfully, we were already by the downtown Bayombong in Nueva Vizcaya by then. We stopped at a famous fast food joint and had our lunch, which by then was already late.

Ran having fun with Riyan’s bunny hat while waiting for our food.

The fast food chain where we ate was just around three minutes away from the Bayombong town proper. As such, we took a very short drive in order to reach the seat of the Diocese of Bayombong, the St. Dominic de Guzman Cathedral. Since we were already in the provincial capital of Nueva Vizcaya, might as well explore a little and visit a house of faith.

Something interesting. The founding of the town of Bayombong and the subsequent arrival of Christianity in the place is filled with dualities—facts that seem to have been designed to come in pairs. First off, the name of the place itself, which is believed to have come from the Gaddang term bayongyong, denotes a confluence, especially that it is generally believed that the original town was founded near a junction of two rivers. During the early stages of the evangelization of Bayombong, two religious ordered started the mission: the Augustinians celebrated the first Mass in 1739 dedicating the first church to their founding father, St. Augustine of Hippo, then ceded the mission to the Dominicans less than five months later in the same year. The Dominicans then rededicated the church to their own founding father, St. Dominic de Guzman.

In 1966, Pope Paul VI erected the Territorial Prelature of Bayombong which comprised of the province of Nueva Vizcaya and its sub-province of Quirino. The two territories will eventually split into two that when Pope John Paul II elevated the prelature to a diocese in 1982, its territory comprised two provinces. The church of Bayombong was designated as the cathedral. It retained its tutelage under St. Dominic de Guzman who is also considered the patron of the diocese.

The brick and mortar exterior of the cathedral.

The cathedral is an aesthetic wonder with its brick and mortar exterior. Predominantly Baroque in its design, it is reminded us of the Tuguegarao Cathedral which we visited back in 2023. The Diocese of Bayombong, after all, is within the Ecclesiastical Province of Tuguegarao with the latter serving as its metropolitan see.

We worked our way inside the church through its side entrance. Despite the heat of the sun, the church was cool inside, adding a sense of comfort to tired bodies and more importantly, to weary souls, that would seek solace in the house of the divine.

We stayed in the church for a while, in silent awe, then offered our prayers. After a safe travel to Ifugao, having been witnesses to natural and manmade wonders of the Cordilleras, it is only fitting to express our gratitude to the Almighty, and there can nothing be better than doing it together as a family.

After saying our prayers and taking some photos of the church inside, we went our way back outside and took our photos together.

From our staid visit to the Cathedral of Bayombong, we continued our journey until a pitstop in the town of Aritao, still in the province of Nueva Vizcaya. There, we stopped by a roadside store of native products and bought some reed brooms for home use.

From the roadside store, we then hit the road again but it did not take too long until we stopped again. Mama offered if we would want to have afternoon coffee given that the drive ahead was still way too long. Everyone in the car obliged and we parked at the side of the road, next to a small eatery. Turned out we were not just going to enjoy coffee but also a relaxing view, as the eatery was located by the riverside.

We had our coffee by the side of the river, relaxing with the greeneries surrounding us and the gentle gush of the waterflow. It was already past 04:00 PM when we had our coffee stop, and that break would eventually prove necessary. While it was true that our journey was about to end, the road ahead would require us to be alert and awake.

We were about to hit the final stretch, and it would be a drive that is an adventure in itself.