jutting

this trip, just like the usual out-of-towns that i had with idc peeps was blighted by untoward episodes... makati day + payday + friday = heavy jam, cab-getting difficulty. the result was a chopsuey of walking around makati cbd, taking a bus to go to buendia mrt station, mrt ride up to cubao and a hurried walk to aurora blvd. terminal of partas. with all of these, we missed the intended bus, resulting to light dismay from mabel (peace!), as we took the 11 pm sked instead. however, the immense beauty of ilocos erased all these hiccups, even when rain came when we got to pagudpud.

we got to batac, ilocos norte ahead of schedule. we headed directly to paoay church (my newest UNESCO World Heritage Site conquest!!!). the church was magnificent, huge buttresses, well-maintained old feel and original architecture, wide open space in front, although i saw a minor smokey mountain at the right side of the church.

after this, off we went to paoay lake. i wanted to see this coz this has been mentioned in historical accounts, plus some chapters of eddie romero's noli me tangere abc-5 series was filmed here. this is where chorvs uttered "jutting out", a piece of land extending to the body of water. malacanang of the north was there as well, so we toured every corner of it. this was actually a relic of the marcos extravagance, with separate rooms for both macoy and melding, whenever they travel without each other. the structure is in danger of literally falling down if neglect continues.

as much as mabel and chorvs ensured that we're on budget, we got ripped off by our tricycle drivers! 350 per trike for the less than 2 hour ride from paoay church to malacanang ti amianan and back. good thing, we had a hearty lunch from herencia, where we tried pinakbet pizza, poque-poque and the yummy crispy dinuguan. we rented a van from paoay to get us all the way to pagudpud. on the way, we saw marcos' refrigerator frp (final resting place), complete with ala-wax museum lighting and interior design.

finished with batac, the ilocos kalsada trip continued. we reached burgos, where cape bojeador lighthouse is located. this cape faces the south china sea directly and was completely ravaged by a typhoon. good thing, it's now standing once again… i even got a chance to climb its winding staircases, up to where its lamp is.

roadtrip went on, bangui was the next stop… for the windmills! who would've thought that we have actual working windmills! these white towers with 3 rotating blades were glorious, able to produce electricity that would supply the entire town and other neighboring ones.

we said bye to the windmills and its kangkang café, and made the final rush to pagudpud. there, we stayed in polaris. we braved the rains to see the patapat (ilocano for 'belt') aquaduct. some portions of this highway belt was destroyed by falling rocks due to strong typhoons last year. the next day, we walked for over 30 minutes to see kabigan falls. of course, we took a dip! then headed back to see blue lagoon. because of the rains, ripping tides were all over, no chance to be a beach-comber. we chose to got to saud beach instead, but the ripping tides were also there. good thing, mabel came up with a good and innovative way to enjoy the beach even if the waves are crazy – butt-surfing! we waited for the huge waves to strike and let it swish and swoosh us in all directions. after this activity, the collected sand in our undies could have been used as wedding souvenir (if you repack it in small bottles).

all in all, the quick ilocos roadtrip was a good one. i saw a lot of sights, enjoyed the company of tita c, 'day and the rest of the edithas, minus madam, food was good, nice time to while away a weekend. libre pa kami ni cathy sa karamihan ng gastusin! sa uulitin!