The ride from Quezon City to Lucena City took three hours. We alighted at the Lucena Grand Terminal where most buses stop and some take respite on their way to the Bicol Region. It was a complex of pasalubong stores and restaurants, very much like a palengke. From here, we took a 20-minute jeepney ride to Tayabas, one of the oldest municipalities (founded in 1578 by Franciscan missionaries Fr. Juan De Placencia and Fr. Diego de Oropesa) in the province, lying approximately 11 kilometers north of Lucena, and 143 kilometers southeast of MetroManila by land travel. It also lies 14'50' latitude east southeast of that famous mystic mountain Banahaw. As the jeepney wound its way through the country road, the scenery was dominated by patches of rice field with an occassional smattering of white herons and coconut trees.
One notices the difference between traveling south and north of Manila. If you travel north, you pass through wide expanse of rice fields. On the other hand, the south is dominated by coconut trees. On the bus, we would get occasional whiffs of pungent water buffalo dung and aromatic coconut oil, which indicate that we were now in the south provinces. Half of Tayabas, as a matter of fact, is devoted to coconut plantations. Tayabas was once the capital of the province, which was also named Tayabas. The province's most prominent son is President Manuel L. Quezon, after whom the province was renamed . The adjacent province was named after his wife Aurora.
A subtle character of some south provincial towns is the feel of ancientness. There seems to be a considerable prevalence of moss-covered stones in structures like bridges, walls, some old houses and most specially the churches. The town roads are narrow, which were planned during the Spanish times when the horse-drawn calesas were the only means of transport. It is like this in Liliw, Majajay, and Pila, all in Laguna; and Lucban in Quezon. When we arrived in Tayabas, Ryan immediately set out to work. Scheduled for that day was a tour of the town's old landmarks in the morning and a poetry reading at night. Actually, we were on the second week of the month-long holding of Salimbayan an arts festival.
Salimbayan is the contraction of sining ng pag-arte, likhang kamay at literatura, indak at musika ng bayan. (Art of acting, handcraft, literature, dance and music of the town). Salimbayan may also mean a getting together, and the Pagsasalin ng kayamanan ng bayan or the transfer (to the young generation) of the treasures of the town.
