#explorebyjrvm

          April 18, 2016 Monday was a day full of history, art, heritage and northern adventures. It was a day to the northern part of the Philippine Archipelago, the Ilocos region. It was a day of break, running away from so many responsibilities that we have, especially our academic obligations. It was a day alloted for ‘chill-time’, enjoyment, adventures and ofcourse friendship. Because of April 18 is Tarlac Cityhood Day, an official holiday of Tarlac, together with some of my closest friends now in college (student-council-office mates) we raided the Ilocandia (Norte and Sur) for just a day. They’re Kuya Robin (2nd Year Electronics Eng’g) , Kuya Dwight (4th Year Civil Eng’g), Ate Maridie (5th Year Industrial Eng’g) and Ate Sheila (4th Year Industrial Eng’g) whom i served and worked with in the student council for a semester now. Here I will tell you a day of adventures and memories to be remembered and a hashtag to be fulfilled #SquadGoals. Bon Voyage! And we’re off at about 3:30 am.

                            285 kilometers from Tarlac City to Vigan City

          The journey for the first itinerary, Vigan City is TOO long (for me). The shortest route from Tarlac City to Vigan City is estimated to be 285 kms (how I wish to teleport pls). I’m not fond of sleeping while travelling because as soon as possible i want to see the views outside to entertain me (that’s how i control my dizziness). But I don’t know, the moment my consciousness came back its dawn already and we are already inside the Pangasinan boundary. We had our first short pit stop as we entered La Union. After we have comforted ourselves we rode again and traveled.

                                                  “Just a SEA-ty boy”

                                 A Serene Shore @ San Juan, La Union

          At our great relief we found a FREE place at some particular part of San Juan, La Union, yes it’s free with simple cottages enough for us to rest and eat snacks & breakfast. The sun has already rose at this time showering us Vitamin D. It is always the best moment to have your morning set-up in the shore with the sea-breeze, sunshine, bird-serenade, wave and splash sounds. We took this opportunity to capture the elegant beauty of the shore and ocean. The sunrise is can’t be seen here because La Union is at the western and the sunrise is behind the mighty mountain ranges at the east.

                                  Me enjoying the shore, lettering

                       (pls excuse my awkward slouchy position lol)

                                    Quick lettering & digital edit (ilocos)

                     Life is short, its up to you to write your own good story

                                   My fragile marker-case during the trip

                 (ignore the Capt. America logo because im #TeamIronman)

         i decided to bring this kind of container for my pens than pen rollers & cases because i think the glass bottle suits shores & the senescence style of                             Ilocos, by the way its a recycled Sola Iced Tea bottle.

And after we have eaten and loaded our stomachs and camera memory cards, given that the place is free, we cleaned the place up as a ‘pay-back’ to Mother Earth and the locals ofcourse. And all aboard! Bound to Vigan!      

                                           Vigan Heritage, Ilocos Sur

          Around 11:00 am, at last touchdown Vigan City! What a wondrous, cultural, historical, vintage place to visit. (and also instagram-worthy place haha). As the van parked beside the frontal water fountain of the capitol, some of us hurried to the comfort room to pee and even change to ‘fashionable’ clothes (ehem Kuya Robin). Suits Up, Hats on, Pens & Journal on the go, then the Vigan adventures began:

                                                  Touchdown Vigan!

                                          The Famous Calle Crisologo

             I did this lettering & simple sketch while walking around Crisologo

         Ofcourse we went to the famous and well-known CALLE CRISOLOGO, a heritage-houses-lined boulevard in Vigan known for its history, and preserved infrastructures and culture. It is surrounded by many souvenir shops selling antiques, cultural and artistic products. We noticed some renovations & repaintings being done as we walk along the calle. Calle Crisologo is beautiful even we went at day, because the calle is at its finest at night, with yellow lights keeping the Crisologo alight. And along the way, beware for you might bump not just into other tourists but also into horses pulling calesas. (Php 150.00 per ride, tour around the vicinity)    

                                                  Exploring Crisologo

             Ate Maridie (Left), Me (Middle), Kuya Dwight (Right & the Tallest)

                              The “What-We-Call-Youth-oriented” Pose

                           Kuya Robin (2nd to the Right), Ate Shiela (Right)

                                             Capturing Calle Crisologo.

                                      One of my best shots of the trip

                                               Taken by: Kuya Robin

                                      Summer Feels @ Calle Crisologo

The famous three-layered ice cream (avocado, ube, keso) in Crisologo, tastes like heaven. Only for P 20.00 each, and will make you say, “Sulit!”

     Enjoying the Ice Cream like bosses, rather engineers haha #SquadGoals !

One Girl Tourist: Oh ayan  na masasagasaan  na kayo ng calesa (buti pa si ate may concern :((( )

Thanks to another ate tindera for taking the picture for us hehe, btw the locals & people there are very firendly and hospitable, truly Filipinos.

                                           Wondering while Wandering.

                             “Mr. Tumnus i’ve come to the lamp post”

(Ofcourse a haggard Selfie under a beautiful lamp post that has Narnia-feels haha)

         Though we checked the weather forecast and it showed that there’s a chance raining, the sun is really up as we wandered around Calle Crisologo, it was so hot that even our ice cream melted very quickly, indeed Philippines is really so hot during summer. As we walked back we hurried because we are dehydrating quickly. But even though we are rushing to a food restaurant, we still found a way to take pictures along the beautiful street of Crisologo. After reaching again the entrance, we bought some souvenirs and pasalubong beside the street and went to eat lunch.

   If this door is a passageway to a magical realm, i would risk to enter it myself

(there are so much wooden doors in Calle Crisologo, perfect for your vintage cravings)

                          PIZZA  LUNCH @ Greenwich Calle Crisologo

          At about 12:30 pm  we decided to eat at greenwich just to eat pizza, because everyone is still full of the snacks we have eaten along the journey. At first we just wanted water as our drink to really rehydrate ourselves (and im into control, to drink only water even just for a month  because i think im not healthy because im not drinking water always) but as we drink the water offered to us, it doesn’t tasted well, so as a last option we ordered for two pitchers of pineapple juice.

                                Another Groufie without Kuya Dwight

                        (because he was the one who took the picture)

          We finished our lunch and departed for Baluarte, a zoo just near from the heritage site, at about 1:30 pm. We reached the Baluarte  just for a couple of minutes. It was really hot then, the sun got hotter and hotter as the day passed by, thank God i brought my umbrella. Though the umbrella covers us from the sun we can still feel the intense heat that made me feel little dizzy.

                                      BALUARTE: More Than Just A Zoo

          It’s so windy at the entrance of the zoo, you can feel the fresh air that relieved the heat we experienced outside. There is a lion, a tiger, parrots, mini lizards and a mascot dancing gwiyomi at the entrance and donkeys over the field. As we continue walking, it becomes hotter and hotter again that we couldn’t handle it anymore, at a great surprise we found little kubo houses near the kangaroo part intended for tired tourists. And we spent the whole time sitting there and relaxing, and even had the time to contact our other co officers at Tarlac because of the flood in our office storage room brought by the rain last Saturday (or Sunday??). We didn’t roamed around the zoo anymore but just enjoyed the relaxation the kubo house brought us and the scenery seen from there.

                                                    A Haggard Selfie

                 (I can see 8 Dinosaurs here except kuya at the back haha)

          We bought some souvenirs and off we go again, the next itinerary will be Laoag City up-north. It will be another long journey to Laoag, about 3-4 hours from Vigan City. Along the journey all of us was already tired and sleepy. Im the only one who stayed awake for the first hours but also gave up and went to sleep. Some of them, especially Ate Sheila is already awake after the first hour while I am already getting my sleeping mood.

          Along the journey, we passed by old buildings and churches, avenues, fields, mountains but even though the aircon is at the maximum level, we are still sweating inside the van because it is just too hot outside. We noticed that the rice & corn fields are already dried up and the crops are wasted because of the harsh heat. Most of the roads are just straight and wide but minimal vehicles are travelling. It is also noticeable that even situated at the middle of  the  mountains, the phone signals are still strong that we can even use our data connections to entertain ourselves.

          As we entered Ilocos Norte and  reaching the Laoag City proper, we just decided to turn the wheels to Paoay (10 kms away from the Laoag City proper), as we ran out of time we decided just to go to the well-known Paoay Church. This old church is 68 kilometers away from Vigan City.

                        St. Agustin / Paoay Church @ Paoay, Ilocos Norte

                           (the view from my spot under the acacia tree)

          The famous Paoay Church at Ilocos Norte known for its baroque architecture and firm structure, built centuries ago using coral stones and local bricks and its bell tower served as observation post to revolutionaries before.

          We reached the Paoay church at about 3:00 in the afternoon. After we got out of the van, though the sun is again too hot again, the windy weather in front of the Paoay church relieved us from the harsh heat from the above. We almost stumble as we walk along the field to the church because of the strong but fresh blow of the wind.

          My umbrella once again had its good use to shield us from the sun-rays. It was really hot and bright at this time of the day, we cant even have a good selfie because of the bad lighting of the sun (too bright). Before having “photoshoot’ we just first rested beside the field under the shade of the huge acacia tree.

                        Lettering under the cool shade of the acacia tree

          Groufie in front of the church  [newly installed signage (PAOAY)]

at first sight, we thought the newly installed signage is made of bricks but we were wrong, it's made of some sort of long-lasting-wood-like material

Ofcourse the wide field in front of the church is so perfect for different kind of group pictures like jump shot.

We planned our pose before shooting it, and agreed to pose the official mascots of the top universities in Philippines, Kuya Robin (Blue Eagle), Kuya Dwight (Maroon), Me (Green Archer) but i really don’t know what university Ate Maridie and Ate Sheila represents in our jump shot hahaha, they seem not to pose like a Growling Tiger and a Tamaraw but then we called it “Pabebe Pose’ (they are ultimate AlDub fans haha)

                             The Facade of the San Agustin Church

           Ofcourse, its a tradition of Catholics to pray, offer intentions & pay respect when visiting churches, so i went before them to pray. Because Kuya Robin & I are just the catholics in our group. But I can say that Ate Maridie, Ate Sheila, and Kuya Dwight also paid great respect for the church and even entered to have a glance of the church’s interior. And sadly, I forgot to buy any religious article from Paoay, its my way of taking souvenirs from churches and religious places.

           After all we have done at the church, we went again to the comfort rooms beside the church near a souvenir shop, we again almost stumbled as we walk, sand kissed our skins, wind blowed my umbrella and almost destroyed it.

The wide field in front of the church is bordered with plants & flowers mostly Bougainvillea of varying colors that makes the place more aesthetic

Since the north is the baluarte (in spanish it means fortress, but in Filipino it's more of a place into which people/politicians have the most number of supporters or simply their bithplaces) of the Marcos’es wherever we went,we always see posters and campaign materials of Bong Bong Marcos for Vice President. Based on what i saw i think the ‘solid north’ idea is true. We even saw and laughed at a tarpaulin of Duterte and Cayetano, being painted black Cayetano’s name and face, hanging on a light post beside the Ilocos Sur Capitol frontal fountain back in Vigan. [i forgot to take a photo of Cayetano washed out of the poster]

And moving on, speaking of Marcos, as we cherish the remaining time of the day and as we spend the remaining energy running in our veins, we decided to go to the Malacanan of the North located about 10 kms away from the Paoay Church as our last destination. We even passed by the Paoay Sand Dunes but dont have enough time to try it (6 kms from Paoay Church) before reaching the Malacanan. The Malacanan of the North was built by the power of the former dictator of the Philippines, Ferdinand E. Marcos and resided there for about 10 years. The old building contains some memorabilia and is still standing beside a lake known as the Paoay Lake.

                      The Malacanan  of  the North seen from a distance

                                            (the twilight signifying dusk)

          But at our great disappointment, as we reached the place, the guard (who looks like marcos and dressed like a 70’s metrocom) signals all the vehicles that are still coming in not to enter anymore, that the place is already  CLOSED. We just asked the manong guard if we could go even just to see the surrounding of the place, we went to the outer part of the place and just felt the ‘feels’ in the area without even stepping at the entrance of the Malacanan Building. As i remember the notice there, the schedule every weekdays is from 8 am to 4:30 pm, and at our bad luck we arrived there at about 4:45 PM!! (haha)

         As a last resort, we decided now to head back to our home city, Tarlac at about 5:00 in the afternoon. During the whole journey back to Tarlac, we are all in our sleeping mood, pastel-yellowish skies, orange sun-rays of the sunset gives too much resting atmosphere, the more we reach home the more the sun sets. But we even stopped at some point to decide whether to take dinner before we exit Ilocos region or at Tarlac, of course we decided to sleep and rest first and just take our dinner at Tarlac City.

         We surely missed out many more wonderful destinations the north can offer, but the beautiful places we reached is far more than a day can proffer. The bonding we had, and the destinations our feet touched was meaningful for a short period of time the holiday had given us amidst stressful school days.

          This journey filled up again a page in my life and this wonderful/wanderful page will be worth remembering, truly “I Treasure You To The North & Back”. There’s still so much the world can offer, so let’s keep exploring and discovering!