The Ilocos Heritage

February 12-14, 2011… That’s the time when I, along with my two friends Olive and Greyz, had a chance to experience the Ilocos Heritage.

Before anything else, let me just share to you little facts about Ilocos.

There might be some of you who are wondering on what’s the difference between Ilocanos and Ifugaos when both are speaking the same language, Ilocano.

Ifugaos live in the high-lands. While Ilocanos live in low-lands.

Ilocos, like any other provinces, have Plazas where all the locals usually get together for a special event. But it is very noticeable that whenever you see a Plaza, you will also see a church, a municipal/city hall and a village full of huge houses which usually belong to the well-known families of that place. Why? It’s because during the Spanish era until earlier 1900s, almost all the members of the well-known families who live in the village near the Plaza are working in the Municipal/City Hall. They all go to the church on Sundays. And, they are the ones who exclusively gathered at the Plaza to socialize with their fellow maharlika.

Ilocos is composed of two provinces: Ilocos Norte and Ilocos Sur. Both have stories to tell. Both are equally beautiful. A must see. Now, let’s start the journey.

February 11, 2011 – 9:30PM: Our bus departs from Partas Bus Terminal at Pasay City. We were told that it is a 10-hour road trip from Pasay to Vigan. We don’t mind. It’s night time and we all came from work but we don’t mind the length of travel. All we have in mind is “This is it! We will go to Vigan no matter what.”. The fare is 600 pesos for a deluxe aircon bus. Off we go…

Even before I jump in the bus, I was calculating our time of arrival. And my math tells me that we will reach Vigan by 7:30AM.

I was asleep when the bus conductor woke me up to say that we are already near Vigan. I looked outside the window and I see darkness. I looked on my wristwatch and found out that it’s just 5:30AM. We are 2 hours earlier than the expected time of arrival.

We hop off the bus and walked outside the Bus Terminal in Vigan. Still dark. But it’s good to know that there are already plenty of tricycles waiting in front of the terminal.

We asked the tricycle driver to bring us to Café Uno for breakfast only to find out that it’s still closed. So, being the pasimuno of the trip, I asked the driver (forgot to ask his name) if he knows a place where we could eat cheap breakfast. He took us in a small eatery near the Plaza Salcedo. We bought coffee and ate our baon na Gardenia pandesal and Lady’s Choice sandwich spread. We stayed in that place until almost 7AM.

After eating breakfast, we started to walk around the Plaza. We saw lots of kalesa and tricycles as these are the most common means of transportation in Vigan. On our way to the Vigan Cathedral, Olive said: “Yan pala ang santo nila dito noh?” while looking at the statue in the upper part of the church. Greyz and I laughed, because what we saw was a statue of a horse. So we told Olive: “Nakakita ka lang ng maraming kabayo, akala mo kabayo na ang santo dito. Hindi yan ang santo nila. Tignan mo kasi yung nakasay sa kabayo.”. And then we all laugh.

We took pictures in front of the Vigan Cathedral and Plaza Salcedo to start with. Then, we hired a tricycle to take us to all the other places that we must see in Vigan. That’s 150 pesos per hour. But I haggled for 120 pesos per hour instead. TIP: the usual tricycle fair is just 10 pesos per head. However, it changes depending on the time of day. At night time, it becomes 20 pesos per head. And at dawn, 15 pesos per head. But because we still have our huge backpacks with us, we opted for the 120 per hour tour for the convenience of not having to carry our bags with us during the tour and a little trivia from a Vigan local like our driver.

First stop, Pagburnayan, a famous place for pottery in Vigan. Then, Hidden Garden. There’s nothing really exceptional in this place. A normal garden with plants and some animals. I think this place is for the Bonsai enthusiasts.

Then off we go to Baluarte. This is owned by the controversial Ilocos Sur Governor Chavit Singson. And like Pagburnayan and Hidden Garden, there is NO ENTRANCE FEE in this place. And not only that, you could also have a chance to ride onto their small horses for FREE. Isn’t that exciting? There is not much of the animal species in this place. As you enter the Baluarte, you will be welcomed by the dinosaurs. But do not be afraid. They don’t bite. They can’t. Because they are just dinosaurs made of high quality plastics (I think). But let me warn you that they are massive. Aside from the dinosaurs, I saw Alpaca, small horses, ostrich that just runs around the place. If you’re lucky you might get a chance to jog around with them. There are also camels, deers, parrots, snakes, butterflies and of course the famous Chavit’s pet tigers.

They also feature a yellow submarine which according to our tricycle driver con tour guide Manong Roger is still working. They used this yellow submarine to get the five cannons, which are also displayed inside the Baluarte, which they got from under the sea.

After Baluarte, we went to the famous mansions and museums in Vigan. First was the Crisologo Mansion. There is no entrance fee, only donations of any amount. This place is the home of the Crisologo clan. Crisologos are a well-known political clan. And like other politically inclined families, they have their own story to tell.

The patriarch of the clan, Congressman Floro Crisologo, was shot in the head by an unidentified man last October 1970 inside the St. Paul’s Cathedral (Vigan Cathedral).

Next stop, Syquia Mansion. This is the home of the former President Elpidio Quirino’s wife. If there’s one thing interesting about this house, that’s the peeping holes that they have. One is located at the floor of the 1^st sala and the other one is at the wall of the Master’s Bedroom. Why? According to mansion’s tour guide/caretaker, the hole at the floor is for the family to see who’s the guest that came for a visit. If they want to accept the guest, they would tell their helpers to ask the guest to come and stay in the 1^st sala. Then while in the said sala, the owner of the house will peep into the hole at the wall of his room to see the guest. If it is an important person, he will ask the helper to ask the guest to come inside the main sala. If not, then the guest will just stay there.

We took pictures of the house before we went to the last museum, the Burgos Museum which is dedicated to Father Jose Burgos.

After visiting all the museums and old mansion houses of Vigan, we went to our last destination. The St. Augustine Church and the Bantay Bell Tower. We went inside the tower and took some pictures before we asked Manong Roger to drop us off to the Partas Bus Terminal for our trip to Laoag. It is almost 11AM.

February 12, 2011 – 12:15PM: Off we go from Vigan to Laoag.

We arrived at the Laoag Partas Bus Terminal at around 1:30PM where another tricycle driver, Manong Jun has been patiently waiting for us. He took us at Balay Da Blas first so we could check-in our bags before we push through our Laoag tour.

At exactly 2PM, we started our Laoag Tour. We planned to go to the museums first since it will close at 4PM.

Museo Ilocos Norte: It exhibits the old dresses, houses, furnitures and all the other old stuffs of the Ilocanos. Entrance fee: 30 pesos per pax.

Next, we headed to the Malacañang of the North (Malacaniang Ti Amianan) passing Fort Ilocandia. Malacañang of the North is the house of the Marcoses which was handed-over to the government. Inside, you will see how extravagant the life of the Marcoses during the late President Ferdinand Marcos’ term. From the grand piano at the living room and the huge and plenty sala sets, to the bedrooms as big as the normal Filipino family houses and the veranda over-looking the lake. Every spots and every turn of your head while wandering the house is breath-taking. Entrance fee: 30 pesos per pax.

After a couple of minutes of re-living the Marcos’ life inside the Malacañang of the North, it’s now time to go to the Marcos Mausoleum and the Marcos Photo Gallery at Batac, Ilocos Norte.

Inside the Marcos Mausoleum is the waxed remains of the late President Marcos. No camera allowed inside the Mausoleum. As you enter the mausoleum, the cold aircon and creepy sound will welcome you. There is no light inside except for the lights near the glass coffin of the President’s waxed remains.

Beside the mausoleum is a small gallery of the things owned by the then Congressman, Senator and President Ferdinand Marcos. Beside this gallery is the private house of the Marcoses, not for public viewing and currently under construction.

A few steps from the mausoleum is the Marcos Photo Gallery. Inside, you can avail of the free call to the USA. A project of the former first lady and Congresswoman Imelda Romualdez Marcos. Inside are the collection of photos and memorabilia of the Marcos clan.

Enough of the museums, we headed to the Paoay Church, Paoay Bell Tower and Paoay Lake. On our way to the church, I was chatting with Manong Jun, since I was the one seating at the back of the tricycle, and he asked me if I would want to try their empanada. I said yes and so he took us to the nearest market where they sell their famous empanada. It is not the usual empanada that we buy at the stores in Metro Manila. Inside the empanada wrapper are: papaya, monggo, one whole egg and longganisa. For just 35 pesos each, you will experience the delicious, big and extraordinary empanada of Ilocos. Yum!

We ate our empanada inside the tricycle, and just as we finished our last bite of it, we reached the Paoay Church and Bell Tower. The church’s architecture is magnificent. And the 95-stairways Bell Tower added a panoramic beauty to the place.

We carefully climbed to the top of the Bell Tower where the actor and action king, late Fernando Poe Jr. (FPJ)) jumped off in one of the scenes of his old movie Panday.

We took pictures of the church and the bell tower before we went to the lake just along the highway of Paoay. As I was staring at the lake, feeling the cool breeze, at one moment I felt the urge of staying there for a little more while. But we still have one more destination to go. The Sand Dunes.

Just like the Paoay Bell Tower, the Sand Dunes is also one of the locations of the movie Panday. Here is where the battalions of Panday’s enemies emerged from the sands to attack him. Since this is the last stop of our Laoag Tour, we decided to take lots of time to witness the scenery from the highest point of the sands. From there, we could see the South China Sea at the horizon. Nice cool breeze, ever cooler than that of the Paoay Lake, is all that you will feel in this place.

Before we head back to the hotel, we decided to eat at the Ati-Atihan Restaurant nearby. At around 8PM, we are already back to the hotel to freshen up and take a shower.

That must be a very tiring Day 1 of our Ilocos Tour but we still managed to take some bonding time together at the veranda of the hotel. At 12midnight, we decided to take some rest for the continuation of our tour early tomorrow.

February 13, 2011 – At exactly 5:30AM, I woke up and prepared for Day 2 tour. As I was trying to wake up my Superfriends, there came a knock at the door. It’s the hotel’s personnel, waking us up and telling us that breakfast is ready. So I told him: “Thank you kuya! Bababa na kami maya-maya.”.

And so, we went down and ate our breakfast. I had half daing na bangus and hot coffee. Greyz had tocino and hot chocolate. And Olive had beef tapa and hot coffee. All come with sinangag (fried rice) and egg with slices of fresh tomato.

At 7:30AM we begin our journey to Pagudpud, Ilocos Norte.

First stop is the Acrobatic Bell Tower near St. Andrew’s Church. I asked our van driver con tour guide Manong Delboy why it was called the Acrobatic Bell Tower. His answer: “Kasi noong bago lumindol ng malakas noong 1991, gumagalaw ang itaas nyan. Parang nag-a-acrobatic talaga. Pero gumuho nung lumindol. Iyang mga bato na iyan na nasa ibaba ng tower ay yung mga gumuhong parte ng tower na gumagalaw. Hindi na nila inalis dyan.”.

Then we drop by to the salt “factory” where they grind and cook the rock salts that they import from Australia. I asked why they have to import rock salts in Australia if we have our own rock salts here in the Philippines and all they answered me was: “Hindi rin po naming alam. Simula kasi noon talagang sa Australia na sila kumukuha ng rock salt.”. So what they do is they cook the rock salts from Australia using ipa as panggatong and they will mix an iodized salt in the cooked rock salt before they pack it for selling as their finished product.

And then, we went to Cape Bojeador Lighthouse. At first I thought we would never get the chance to get inside the lighthouse as the gate was still locked when we got there. But after a few minutes, they opened the gate and we were able to roam inside the lighthouse. I had a slight spooky feeling as I enter the lighthouse for no reason. But I disregarded that feeling because it’s daytime and I’m not alone. After a few camera shots, we decided to push through to our next destination, the Bangui Wind Mill.

Bangui Wind Mill are like massive electric fans situated near the sea. The Wind Mill produces electricity to the power plants of Ilocos Norte.

It’s almost lunch time so Manong Delboy took us at Saud Beach where we had our lunch. Saud Beach is a well-known beach at Ilocos. It was actually tagged as the Boracay of the North. The sands are like powdered sea shells. Sparkling under the sun’s rays. It is a nice and big beach resort where most of the tourists come to swim and relax.

We walk around the beach while waiting for our lunch. After we had our lunch, we bid goodbye to this paradise.

After a few minutes of traveling, we reached the street to the Kabigan Falls. Entrance fee: 10 pesos per pax. It is a 1.2km trek to the falls with a local tour guide. If you would like to see the breath-taking falls, I would suggest that you wear shorts and slippers during the trek as you will have to cross a body of cold water from the falls itself so you definitely will get wet. Note: We were not informed that we have to pay the local tour guide before we start the trek. So after the trek, I just handed Manong Jun a 50 pesos “tip” only to get a little surprised when he told me that the tour guide’s fair is 20 pesos per pax. We are three in the trek, so I am 10 pesos short. Hahaha. Anyways, I paid him the amount that’s right for his service.

Then off we go to the Patapat Viaduct. It is a bridge with a falls along the highway. We took some pictures before we decided to go to our last but most awaited destination, the Blue Lagoon.

On our way to Blue Lagoon, we stopped to take some pictures of the Timmangtang Rock. And not so far away from the rock is the Bantay Abot Cave.

Again, you must be in your shorts and comfortable sleepers if you want to go in the cave as you will need to walk through the rocky part of the edge of the sea to the cave. I f you’re lucky enough, you will get wet by the big waves. So timing is very important.

After exploring the cave, it’s now time to go to Blue Lagoon. But even before we got there, we saw the Dos Hermanos just along the way.

Blue Lagoon is the main reason why we really want to go to Pagudpud aside from the Bangui Wind Mill. I was hearing a lot of good feedback for this place which made me wonder how it really looked like. And true enough, the place is so wonderful. A picturesque of a true paradise.

Not like the Saud Beach, Blue Lagoon is a smaller beach with fewer people, very fine sand and an extra-ordinary, unbelievable blue water to swim. There are no restaurants here like that on Saud’s. Only a few sari-sari stores. For me, this is a perfect place for you to find peace… Serenity… It is just unexplainably beautiful that I almost want to stay there for maybe a couple of days more.

A good location for a photo-shoot, so we did not waste our time to do that. After our pagtatampisaw sa dagat moments, we head back to our van with a heavy heart because we have to leave this paradise. As our van move away from this place, I made a promise to COME BACK in this place in the very very near future.

It’s already 7PM when we reached the Laoag Partas Bus Terminal where we will have another 2-hour bus ride to Vigan.

At almost 9PM, here we are again at Vigan. We took a tricycle to the Casa Teofila to check-in our bags before we went to the Salcedo Plaza to eat our dinner and walk towards the Heritage Village for some picture takings so we could capture Vigan at night.

It’s a good thing that they are celebrating the Kannawidan Yloco Festival at the Plaza so we stayed there until 12midnight before we finally decided to go back to Casa Teofila to take some rest for tomorrow.

February 14, 2011 – 7AM: I woke up to take a bath before we go back to the Heritage Village to buy some pasalubong. After a couple of minutes, Olive is also done so we decided to order coffee for breakfast at the garden of Casa Teofila while waiting for Greyz to finish.

By 9AM, we are already at the Heritage Village. Taking some pictures, as usual, and looking for a pasalubong that we could buy. I bought one Ilocos’ kumot, two bags with “Vigan” print on it, two sarongs, four Vigan T-Shirts, four hand-woven towelletes, one necklace with a fang pendant. one Vigan product made of clay for display and 30-pieces of Vigan key chains. Greyz bought two Vigan T-Shirt, a pair of big wooden spoon and fork for display with “Vigan City” written on it and a sarong for herself. And Olive bought two dream-catcher necklace and isang bungkos of little native onions.

By 12noon we checked-out of Casa Teofila and hired a tricycle to drop us to the Vigan Partas Bus Terminal for the 1:30PM trip to Manila.

It took us almost a 12-hour trip from Vigan to Manila but we don’t mind… at all… Because we know in our hearts, we’ve had one of the greatest tours ever. Having an opportunity to witness the beauty and stories of Ilocos Norte and Sur.

We will definitely go back there. Ready to experience again the Ilocos Heritage.