The longest travel I had by land, a tentative of 16 hour ride [with stop over] from Cavite to the most northern part of Ilocos. This is the tale of Exploring Ilocos.
It's a yearly thing already that our group travels on February to a place we've never been or became fascinated to. Sometimes we return to a place one of us already visited, just to relive his experience and share it with the whole group. Normally we are a wolfpack of six plus our hubbies and closed friends, but this time the Highland Army Youth Brigade is missing a leg, my friend needs to prepare for his upcoming wedding on May and so he was not able to join us. But tradition is tradition and even if this is the first time we are not complete we must pursue this.
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Antique shop at Calle Crisologo, Vigan.[/caption]Personally I've heard a lot of things regarding the province in the northwestern part of Luzon, that they said is notorious for their white sand beaches, rock formations, sand-boarding, heritage sites and famed food delicacies. And if you heard those things and just like me, you might jump in excitement to get there, we are talking about Ilocos.
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Welcome to Vigan.[/caption]We did not get any formal tour package and just hired the service of Kuya Mar, a van owner/driver we knew that could take us around Ilocos. Kuya Mar fetch us at Cavite at exactly 1:00 am and once we were done loading our baggage we started our long hours of travel. We took normal stop over at NLEX and Pampanga; and by 8 in the morning we were already in Vigan.
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Brunch at Vigan, Empanada, Okoy, SInanglaw[/caption]We stopped at the central square for a quick brunch, we tried their famed empanadas and boy they were good! We went to Calle Crisologo to check the heritage houses that lane on the street, a couple of selfies and photo shoots and we're off to Laoag. Unluckily we have not tried Bagnet since it was too early and some stores were still closed, our plan was to return here before heading back home.
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Empanada in the making.[/caption][caption id="attachment_734" align="aligncenter" width="506"]
4x4 ride at Paoy Sand Dunes.[/caption]We reached Paoay, Laoag in the middle of scourging noon. We rent a 4x4 vehicle for P2500 good for 5 pax that will roam us around Ilocos' largest sand desert and we could try sand-boarding. Three jeeps ran around the slopes of the Paoay Sand Dunes, it was an adrenaline rush as we held tight on the bars that keeping us from falling off the vehicle. Once we reached a spot in the middle of the desert the guide clear the sand on an almost 40 degree slope. We slid on these slopes on a DIY board the locals made until there are enough sands on our pants and faces. In this whole trip this is where my buck was well spent the most.
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Sand-boarding at PaoaySand Dunes[/caption]Next stop was Pagudpud, we've heard that there are two beaches that we must check on this town, Saud and Blue Lagoon. We decided to check the (according to Kuya Mar) more beautiful Blue Lagoon, it was already dark when we reached Blue Lagoon. Upon entering Blue Lagoon locals are collecting a P25.00 environmental fee. We were welcomed by big toy statues from Hanna's an upscale resort in this part of the planet, they are like the Henry Sy of Blue Lagoon. We passed the upscale resort and just checked for available villas and homestay that lined up in the front of the beach. After a lot arguing we settled on Romeo's homestay, a spacious air-conditioned house that fits all 15 of us, with sari-sari store in the front and the beach is just across the street. We bum around the beach the whole day, checking their delicacies, celebrating birthday and enjoying a cold beer.
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Welcome to Pagudpud.[/caption][caption id="attachment_742" align="aligncenter" width="486"]
Empanada vendor in front of our homestay in Blue Lagoon. The line of customer gets very long.[/caption]The next day we tour around Ilocos Norte. We first stopped at Bantay Abot Cave just near Blue Lagoon, here my friend Rainier popped another surprising news, she and his longtime girlfriend Raisa are also getting married. Congratulations to both couples!
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HHWW at Bantay Abot Cave[/caption][caption id="attachment_736" align="aligncenter" width="285"]
Kabigan Falls.[/caption]We also checked the famous Bangui Windmill after a couple of picture-taking we went to Kabigan falls, a majestic waterfalls in the end of a short trail. Before starting the trek we feast on our prepared boodle fight meal. After the feast we started the 30 minutes trek with the glorious cold running water falling on a towering boulder of rock awaits us in the end. We dipped and got refreshed! Before heading back to Blue Lagoon we visited the Patapat Bridge just passed by Blue Lagoon.
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Pag-iibigan sa Vigan.[/caption]We returned to our homestay to spend the last night, we woke up next morning packing our bags and ready to try Vigan one more time, by lunch time we were already at Vigan feasting on Bagnet and Sinanglaw. We roamed Calle Crisologo one last time to buy souvenirs and pasalubong before heading back to Cavite.
We reached home at around 11pm that night.
BUDGET 4D/3N Ilocos
- Homestay Accommodation (3 nights) - P12000 / 15pax = P800/pax
- Van Rental (4 days) - P16000 / 15pax = P1066/pax
- Gas and Toll - P6000 / 15 pax = P400/pax
- Meals in Pagudpud - P500 /pax
- 4x4 Sand Dune - P2500 / 5pax = P500.00/pax
- Vigan Empanada - P50.oo / pax
- Blue Lagoon Entrance - P20.00 / pax
- Kabigan Falls Entrance and Guide - P35.00 / pax
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The Army[/caption]NOTE: Some photos credited to Byron Marinda.
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