IIII love IIIIlocos!!!

Ilocos was just slashed off my must-visit list. The great welcome, the amazing sceneries and the lovely night lights in Ilocos made up for the ass-punishing 14 hour bus ride.
We, Camille and bf Cary, Emman and the guy, left Manila at around 8. There was no other available bus so we had to take a non-airconditioned bus to Laoag (I was scared we’d be traveling with chickens and other farm products) and was surprised that it turned out to be ok. We arrived in Laoag at around 6 in the morning and transferred to another bus that will take us to Pagudpud. Finally, at almost 9, we arrived in Pagudpud all geared up and ready for the beach.

I have to thank Myrtle for the warmest welcome and for taking us in during our Pagudpud stay. If it weren’t for her, we wouldn’t have enjoyed Pagudpud to the fullest. Thanks for the fulfilling meals and for playing host/driver/entertainer. We stayed at the beach until 2 in the morning and the guy and I just slept at the shore while everybody had their issues. (Camille and Cary.. Emman.. the new side of Emman..hahaha)

We left Pagudpud at 9 in the morning to get to Laoag just in time for the 11 am bus to Vigan (that was the last trip to Vigan and we arrived 15 minutes before it left). Upon arriving, Cary, Camille and Emman went to Playa de Oro while the guy and I stayed at Cordillera Inn. We all decided to rest for the afternoon and just get back together for dinner, in time for the Good Friday Procession.

The streets were packed and it seemed like everyone went out to join the procession.
We wanted to join the procession at first but seeing that there were a lot of people, decided against it. We just visited the streets of Vigan and enjoyed taking pictures.

The next day, we went to Chavit’s Baluarte. Vigan should be called Chavit Country for everywhere, I mean everywhere, there were posters of Chavit. I only saw one poster of an opposition candidate in all of Vigan, just one. Good thing they didn’t allow posting in Crisologo st. or everything would have been ruined. When it was time for us to have the required calesa tour, we had a difficult time finding a calesa without Chavit’s face on it.

In the afternoon, the guy and I took Cary, Camille and Emman to the bus station. We were supposed to leave with them as well but we wanted to stay one more day in Vigan. After taking them to the bus station, we had dinner and decided to take one more tour of Vigan. There were less people that night and so we were able to enjoy taking a walk along Crisologo street more than we did the other night. We also found a nice store which sells really great, unique products. We stayed for sometime and chatted with the owner, Leonard Chua, about his products and he gave us a big discount. haha.

We woke up really late the next day, so late that all we were able to do was just pack for the trip back to Manila. The moment I was on the bus for Manila, I just wanted to turn around and stay in Vigan or go back to Pagudpud. This was the best trip for me – staying with him in one of the oldest, romantic cities of the country.

~ by krystellereignedrops on April 10, 2007.