Lazi Church and Convent

The two buildings face each other across a dusty square on Siquijor's quiet south coast. The church of San Isidro Labrador was finished in the 1880s in coral stone and hardwood, with a flat, almost plain facade and a wide dark interior. Opposite it stands the convent, an enormous two-storey structure of stone below and timber above, built a few years later and said to be among the largest of its kind in the Philippines. The upper floor is a single vast hall of wide molave planks that creak underfoot, now holding a modest collection of religious objects and old photographs. Both are protected as national heritage structures.

What you actually see

• The convent's upper hall - a huge timber floor of wide hardwood planks, cool and almost empty.
• The church interior - a painted ceiling and dark hardwood beams over a plain nave.
• The coral stone walls - cut reef blocks weathered grey, with ferns rooted in the joints.
• The square between them - the dusty plaza, the two buildings staring at each other across it.

When to go

Dry season, December to May, and preferably mid-morning when the convent floor is open and the light comes through the shutters. Siquijor is small enough to circle in a day by rented motorbike; Lazi sits on that loop between the pier and Cambugahay Falls. Sunday mornings are for the parish, not visitors.

Honest expectations

The convent is empty and its displays are minimal, so if you want a curated museum this is not it; the appeal is the building itself. Opening is informal and the upper floor is occasionally locked with nobody around to ask. The square is hot and shadeless at midday. Siquijor's roads are fine but the ride from the pier takes the better part of an hour each way.

Nearby

Cambugahay Falls is a few kilometres inland; the old balete tree and Salagdoong beach are on the same island loop.