It was as it was the first time I visited Navotas City’s fish port some years back. The sky was heavily overcast and the heavens threatened to spill down cats and dogs. Like the first time, I was with a group of photographers. And like the first time, we were undaunted by the weather. Even with the promise of wet cameras, we went ahead to the largest seafood market in Metro Manila.

A board similar to movie marquees indicated we were almost at Navotas City’s fish port. Instead of movies going to be shown, it instead announces which bays are affected by red tides. I was unfamiliar with the areas listed; I simply hoped that the crisply fried fish I happily ate for breakfast were not from those waters.

I guess it’s a common pitfall for travelers to go see the ends of the earth and almost neglect to visit the places close to their homes. I’ve been born and raised in Malabon City, but shameful it is to admit, the locales and delicacies in my town are almost uninteresting to me. I take them for granted; like say, the country-wide famous pancit Malabon.

So it was, that one lazy Sunday afternoon, I decided to check out what’s cooking inside the Malabon Public Market together with a friend. My mom and dad, who usually do the market chores every Sunday morning always bring home okoys, kakanins, and puto with the usual hotdogs, pork, fish and veggies from Malabon Bayan. I decided to see where those goodies come from myself.

►VIDEO: MALABON PUBLIC MARKET FOOD TOUR

The last time I recall that I did a real Visita Iglesia was years and years ago with my family. We weren’t able to complete the traditional fourteen churches to be visited then and were only able to go to less than half that number since we were constricted in the areas of Malabon.

After our near-fatal incident less than a month ago at El Nido’s Calitang Beach, my brother suggested to revive this Christian tradition in our family, partly as a way of giving thanks for the second chance we got during that mishap. This time, we decided to complete the fourteen churches and include the Stations of the Cross from each one.