I ♥ Summer, I ♥ Ilocos: A Travel Diary (Part 3)

Disclaimer: Due to the number of tourists during our visit, there wasn’t a “proper” tour conducted thus the details for each place are insufficient. I had to conduct my own research regarding the places we visited so if there are any corrections on the information, please feel free to comment. Also, due to my camera malfunction, the photos on this post are grabbed from my friends. Thanks.     

Read Part 2 here.

As always, I’m the first one to take a bath at 4:30 in the morning. While waiting for everyone to finish their bath, we entertained ourselves by watching Tiyanak (Lotlot De Leon version) and a Dolphy—Panchito movie.

After everyone was ready, we went down to the cafeteria for our breakfast. We were informed that it will take one hour for our orders to be served. In my head, “na naman?! It’s as if our igado (Bangui experience) wasn’t enough”. I was really disappointed, honestly. It would’ve been better if the breakfast was already included in the accommodation package. Then I saw the breakfast served to our other colleagues (who were there earlier), and I don’t know if I should feel relieved that we didn’t order. The one-piece longganisa was too small and it was served with sunny-side-up egg with rice.

We just decided to have another McDo delivery. Unfortunately, their delivery starts at 9 AM, which is also our check-out time. Hindi aabot and we will be behind the schedule again so we decided to just eat cup noodles and share the loaf bread that one of my colleagues brought. We waited, and waited, and patiently waited. And after about 15 minutes to half an hour, the cup noodles were already delivered. O diba. What a great way to start the day.

Day 3—11 April 2015 (Saturday).

Our first destination on our last day is the Herencia Café. Actually, we were supposed to eat the famous Pinakbet Pizza on our first day, but we arrived too early. Good thing, the manager of our travel agency placed an advance order so the pizza was almost ready when we arrived. I’m a full-pledged carnivore, but I managed to appreciate the pizza. It was really good especially when you put the bagoong sauce on top. Yummyyyyyyy~~~

After eating, we headed straight to Calle Crisologo at Vigan. I thought I would be excited but I was overwhelmed by the number of people visiting the place. Parang mas na-appreciate ko yung Las Casas kesa sa Vigan. The street was full of souvenir shops instead of historical thingies, which I didn’t really expect. I felt like I was in a market instead of a time warp wormhole. Haaaaayy.

We weren’t able to take our lunch due to shopping and picture-taking. So after an hour and a half, we just decided to take out from McDo. I felt somehow disappointed because I’m expecting to eat something different from what’s usually available in Laguna. I know the lapse is on our side, but I still feel that waaaaaayyyy… Ughh. Haha. How frustrating. I think 1.5 hours is not enough for Vigan.

 After a few-minute drive, we reached the Baluarte ni Chavit. I felt like a five-year old child excited to see the live animals up close. All the hype suddenly went down when I reached the museum, and I wish I never went to that place. Yes, all the preserved animals are nice to look at. But when I saw them dead on the pictures below their preserved bodies, it made my heart ache and wanted to cry. How I wish I never went to the gallery so that I wouldn’t feel this much regret, anger and agony.     

Moving on, our last stop is the St. Augustine Church and Bantay Bell Tower. Given the time and energy remaining, I didn’t want to go to the Bell Tower but since we’re already there, our travel manager advised that we go up there. Sayang nga naman. ANNNND, no regrets. The view and the feeling of the wind brushing my face is incomparable. We stayed there until the manager finally called us.

It’s time to leave. Back to reality. Work, work, work na naman on Monday. To sum it all up there were disappointments, a lot to be honest. But then, if you look back to all the experiences, the views, etc… you will forget those disappointments and think of it as part of the overall and unforgettable memories of this three-day journey to the North. ♥