Eating ExotiK (and Paete Church)

Facade

We were at Caliraya Lake over the weekend jsut twiddling our thumbs. With nothing to do and almost at our wits end, we decided to go out and brave the highways. There are a lot of things Laguna is famous for - Liliw for its pretty slippers, Paete for its woodcrafts, Pagsanjan for the falls, but since we were just commuting we chose Paete being the nearest one. We got lucky this time since we were just walking along the highway for a few minutes or so when a jeep going to Sta. Cruz passed by. We got off at Lumban and boarded a jeep going to Siniloan asking the driver to drop us at Paete Church , one of the famous landmarks in Paete.

The Church

Again, when we arrived here, we were disappointed as the Church was camouflaged in a residential area. A pity because this is the only church that has character that I’ve ever seen so far (and I’ve seen quite a few) but the atmosphere is pretty much wasted when you can see laundry hanging’s protruding from its walls (they were not the priest’s clothes, mind you, but there’s a house just behind the church which pretty much destroyed the mood).

The Painting

Wooden Image

The Friar's Pulpit

Domed Ceiling

The Altar

We were also expecting woodcrafts displayed right outside for sale but there were none. Sad to say, this is one tourist spot neglected by the local government. It would have been nice if the place was hyped up just a little to attract tourists. It could have generated additional income for the municipality. Oh well, we’re hardly in the position to do that anyway so moving along.

Enlightened

Next stop is Exotik Restaurant along Kalayaan Highway . Fortunately, this one was near enough that we could ride a tricycle instead of waiting for a jeepney (boy, jeepneys are so rare this side of Laguna and commuting was really, really hard). A quick glance at the place and our spirits immediately lifted. This is what we were looking for – some place where there are people aside from the locals. Landscape is great, ambiance is great, tourist hype great! Just at the entrance is a gift shop where you could buy pasalubong. Things are a little bit pricey, but what the heck, we missed the places where tourists are welcome, so we indulged in a little bit of shopping. One thing of note are the cute bags being sold at P3,500 and up (wish I could post the pics - I didn't buy any coz I'm not into bags and they are a little too girly for me).

Peek-a-Boo!

I was a little hungry by then so I pulled my boyfie from his shopping to look for a free table. On the way up were animals on display, different kinds of birds and fishes but hunger calls so we just passed them by. This restaurant is known for its exotic dishes, hence the name, so we decided to try one

Adobong Palaka sa Tuyo

(frog adobo sa tuyo). We also ordered gatang kuhol and pako

Ginataang Kuhol at Pako

(no not the nails. Pako is a fern as I understand which is not available so we had it replaced with kangkong instead).

Exotic Feast

Coolers

How to eat kuhol

1. coax the meat out of the shell by sucking

2. get the meat with a toothpick

Burp!

While waiting for our order, we decided to visit Samantha, the famous black snake that is said to be the lucky charm of the owner. Boy, it was huge! And the color makes it real scary.

Scary Samantha (sorry, wrong python)

After eating, we decided to check out the rest of the place.. There are a few more animals upstairs - monkeys and a couple of rabbits.

Exotik

Bridges

It was great going out for a little bit. We were starting to feel a little bit gloomy and the visit to Exotik Restaurant brought us back to our vacay mood. Hurray to Exotik!

Sunset along the way