Ilocos, when will I ever visit you again? part2

Day 2--August 30, 2009.

This will probably be more of a photo album entry than a written post. I took more than 300 pictures this day, but don't worry I'm not posting everything...just my favorites :)

Let's start!

We first went to Fort Ilocandia, a really nice hotel/resort in Ilocos Norte. I don't have a nice picture of it, though, so I won't be posting a shot of it :p Our next stop was the Malacanang of the North. Just a bit of a background...The Malacanang Palace is the Philippines' equivalent to the White House. Our presidential house is in Manila (for obvious reasons..it's the capital of the country, duh). The reason why there's a "Malacanang" in Ilocos is because Imelda Marcos had it built for her husband. Our tour guide actually told us that Madame had a thing for houses overlooking bodies of water which is why the Malacanang of the North has a lake behind it. By the way, Imelda's room is bigger than Ferdinand's. Hahahaha as in waaaaay bigger.



Our next stop was the Paoay Church. My gosh...It's so beautiful! The structure was just so amazing. It's been around since the 1500s and the binding material for the stones was made from a mixture of egg whites, lime, and something (I forgot :p). The style's quite unique compared to a lot of colonial churches here in the Philippines because it's Moorish, not so much Gothic or Baroque.

I fell in love with the wall :p

My favorite shot for the entire 3-day trip :)

We then went to Batac, where Ferdinand Marcos' mausoleum is...honestly, I was a bit creeped out with...Taking pictures inside isn't allowed...and I didn't really want to take pictures :p The mausoleum is actually beside the Marcoses' house which also had a mini museum of the late President's things from his political days..After we checked out the museum, we bought a few things we could take home as pasalubong.

Marcos' notes from exile

On our way to Vigan, Ilocos Sur, we bought lots and lots of garlic. Ilocos is well-known to produce really good garlic..so my mom and grandmother practically horded bundles of garlic. Imagine how weird it was for us to stuff our bags with garlic just so we could bring them back to Manila...must've looked strange when our bags went through the machine at the airport :p

When we arrived at Vigan, the first place we went to was the pottery shop of Fidel Go, a National Artist (I think...don't take my word for it...I just remember our tour guide telling us that Mr. Go's a National Artist for something..or National Folk Artist? hahaha). It was sooo hot inside the shop but all the pots and large vases were so nice. My mom wanted to buy 2 large pots but each one weighed 30 kilos.

My mom and grandmother talking to Fidel Go

We then headed to Grandpa's Inn for lunch. The place is actually also a hotel, with all the rooms being on the upper floors and the restaurant on the ground floor. The restaurant had a lot of cool paintings and antiques. Our guide told us that it's haunted, though. Well, a lot of the houses in Vigan are haunted (supposedly). It's an old, old city, what did we expect? Hahaha

I like brick walls :)

After lunch, we bought Abel Iloco blankets. We were also toured in the shop where they would make the textile. Abel Iloco products are made using the traditional weaving loom. I think my grandmother was interested to take one home. Hahahaha!


After going crazy over blankets, we went to Baluarte--the home of Ilocos Sur's famous/infamous (?) Governor Chavit Singson. I wasn't able to take decent pictures because there were a lot of people. What I can say about it is that: a. It's like you're in a zoo...I mean, literally there are exotic animals there! b. I don't know how many tigers a person needs...there were more than 10 tigers, my gosh! c. The good thing about the place is that it's open to the public so you can check out all the animals, the governor's submarine (yes, he has one..it's displayed I think beside the Llama pens..).

We then headed to the Hidden Garden. And yes, it is a hidden garden. Hahaha! My mom and grandmother, who're both in love with plants and flowers, were giddy when we went there. I think they also wanted to buy a few plants but decided not to since we had no idea how we'd be able to bring them back to Manila.





After the Hidden Garden, we checked out two family museums. The first one we went to was the Crisologo Family Museum. The second one was the Syquia family museum. Both families were strong political families in Ilocos Sur before. Actually, what made the entire thing interesting for me was that the reason why the name Crisologo's so familiar is because here in my district (in Quezon City), our congressman is Bingbong Crisologo. Lo and behold, the museum we went to was his family's!! I mean, that's the house where he grew up in. Just amazing. The Syquia house, other than being so huge, was actually the ancestral home of Elpidio Quirino's (a former president) wife. Aaaand, his grandson actually lives in the house! We were able to meet him (I couldn't speak because I was just in shock that I was just a few inches away from someone related to one of the former presidents of the country..haha!).

I was surprised to find out that the museums were maintained using donations from tourists! There's a donation box by the entrance and you can just drop any amount.

Gov. Carmeling was pregnant when she was ambushed...when she had her forced delivery, she aptly named the baby Bullet :)

Our last stop for the day was the Vigan Heritage Village. My gosh...It was so picturesque! I wish I had a better camera. Hahaha! Oh well, I had to make do with my mom's digicam...pictures would've turned out better if I was using a dslr.


My last entry on our Ilocos trip will be...I dunno when :) Hahahaha! It's taking me a lot of time to make an entry on each day of our trip...I took a total of more than 500 pictures for just a 3-day trip so I have to choose the shots that are nice or decent enough to post :)