A Taste of Ilocos
From 102 lbs, I went down to 90 lbs ’cause I didn’t want to bulge under my swimsuit. It’s possible though that I gained back some of those weight during our Ilocos trip because well… it’d be a sin to miss all those delectable Ilocano dishes! And today I am featuring some of them, beginning with… (more…)
The Great Ilocos Escapade: Burgos, Bangui, Pagudpud
The gods seemed to have heard my prayers because that morning, it rained. This somehow lowered the temperature and it stopped before our tour began. Our tour guide, Kuya Vincent, picked us up at around 7:00 a.m. Kuya Arnel was nowhere in sight, we soon learned that he had another tour to go to on the same day.
The Great Ilocos Escapade: Batac, Paoay, Laoag
My guestimate is that we left Vigan to get to Ilocos Norte somewhere between 10:00 and 11:00 in the morning. By then the weather was oppressively hot. The sky was blue and cloudless, the air was dry, and the only shades you can count on were from infrastructures, trees, or in my case, an umbrella. I remember feeling so uncomfortable I wished that Kuya Arnel’s van had a stronger air condition system. I also lost count of the times I reapplied my sunblock lotion with a ridiculously high SPF of 135, yet I still grew two shades darker at the end of the day. The temperature at that time was 36.4 degree Celsius… so that explains it!
The Great Ilocos Escapade: Vigan and Bantay
Time seems to stretch a bit longer in Vigan. Most of the establishments remain closed until 7 or 8 in the morning. The locals appear to be in a relaxed state, like watering plants, walking, or serving food are solemn rituals they perform to pay tribute to the old era the city seems to have been stuck in. Thus, I have never quite gotten over of Vigan. Two years have passed and I am still enamored. (more…)
The Great Ilocos Escapade: Arrival
My recent Ilocos trip was born out of a dream to get to the Maira-Ira Beach, popularly known as the Blue Lagoon in Pagudpud, Ilocos Norte. I first learned about it from the blog site of the solesisters. One look at the images of its white sands and pristine, blue waters and I was sold. Immediately, I proposed the place to become our summer destination, to the same people I went with in Baler; good thing they didn’t need much convincing. And so, as early as February this year, we devised the plan to get to Pagudpud.
