Holy Week 2012 in Sta. Ana (Day 1)

For the past three years, I would spend Holy Week and my birthday out-of-town. As luck would have it, since I'm already based outside Manila, I was able to spend Holy Week and my birthday in Sta. Ana, Cagayan Province. What made these two events extra special was that my brother was able to join me. Being the big sister that I am (who happens to secretly enjoy spoiling my siblings), I treated my brother to the Sta. Ana trip as my birthday gift for him. We're both April babies, so it was like a double celebration for us. Also, this was my brother's (if I'm not mistaken) first "adventurous" trip. He had to take a bus to Tuguegarao City, and stayed there for a night without any idea what to do there since he had to take an earlier trip to the north. I wasn't able to get any bus ticket for April 4 so I arrived by plane on the 5th.

I booked our Holy Week trip/adventure with Travel Factor, scheduled on April 6-8. We arrived in Sta. Ana a day earlier so my brother and I were able to walk around the place. As soon as we rode on the van going to Sta. Ana, our adventure thus began. First, the van we took was really full. You can just compare the van to a can of sardines. I'm used to taking public transportation here, so I wasn't surprised with our van situation. Unfortunately for my brother, this was his first time to ride a van that didn't have a working A/C and the trip up to Sta. Ana was quite long...like, 3 hours.

Honestly, I didn't anticipate that a lot of people would go to Sta. Ana for the Holy Week weekend basically because it's just sooooo far. When we got there, the van driver was kind enough to help us look for a place to stay because all the inns and resorts we passed by were already fully booked. We did chance upon a tourist inn that still had one room available. Let's just say we were that desperate that we actually stayed in that place.

Pretty flowers in the tourist inn...these were the only pretty things there, haha

Once we freshened up, we checked out Port San Vicente where a lot of the bangkas and small ships would dock and pick up passengers. From the port, you can already see Palaui Island and Crocodile Island. I'll write about these two in my next entries :)

Our trike ride on our way to Port San Vicente

View from the trike

One side of the port

So after we stayed in Port San Vicente, we took another trike to the dampa we passed by going to the port. I wanted us to have an authentic dampa meal, since the dampa in Metro Manila well...the seafood ain't that fresh compared to the ones in Sta. Ana. I'm telling you, I died and went to seafood heaven. We had the freshest curacha (spanner crab or red frog crab) and blue marlin for less than 700 bucks, I kid you not! This already included rice and our beer :p If you're from Manila, you'd know that a typical meal in any dampa in Manila would cost at least 1000 pesos if the menu would include shrimps, crabs, or deep sea fish.

fresh, newly caught curacha!

Cute drawing on the door :)

Blue Marlin Sinigang and Curacha sauteed in butter and garlic 

Obviously VERY happy with the curacha, haha!

After dinner, we attempted to walk back to the town but gave up when we realized that it was going to be a very long walk. We just wanted to go back to the inn and sleep because we had to wake up very early the next day to meet up with our Travel Factor group.

Our first day in Sta. Ana was quite memorable, but nothing would prepare us for the next two days of our trip.

House 48 - Santiago City's Hidden Steak Heaven

Now, am not sure if House 48 is still open because I noticed two new steak houses in Santiago. I'm hoping it still is open because I want to go back and try out the other items on their menu.

The same day that I went to Bannawag Norte to check out the muscovado sugar production, I went to House 48 to have dinner. Why is the restaurant called House 48? Because its address is 48 Daisy Street.

When I arrived in the restaurant, it had just opened (around 5 p.m) and I was the only customer. I didn't mind that at all since I wanted to go around the place without having to bother anyone. As soon as I sat down, I checked the menu and was pleasantly surprised that the steak menu items were quite varied.

Besides the location, I think another downside to eating at House 48 is the pricing of the food. By Manila standards, the price list is acceptable but for a restaurant in the province I honestly don't think people are willing to spend that much on food. However, I think that House 48 has a niche market (i.e. upper middle class) which makes me assume it has patron clients already. I heard that this restaurant has been around for a while already, so I'm guessing business has been good regardless of its location and pricing.

For starters, I had tomato soup and homemade bread and butter. Absolutely delish! I couldn't get enough of the bread, but had to control my appetite before the steak arrived.

I got the ribeye steak with veggies and mashed potato. All steak set meals are served with the starter dishes and a choice of either coffee or ice cream after.

If you happen to be in Santiago City, try House 48. It's located at 48 Daisy Street, Santiago City. I will edit this entry as soon as I find the directions :p

Ramos Cafe: My favorite restaurant in the entire Isabela province

I've been to quite a few restaurants here in Isabela already, and I've got to say that Cafe by the Park (or as locals in Echague would call it, Ramos Cafe) is my favorite.

The entire feel of the place is very cozy and homey, mainly because it is a house. It's the family house of the chef's wife (maiden name's Ramos thus the name Ramos Cafe). I was able to have a long chat with the owner and chef, Sam Ramirez (not sure about the surname, sorry!!), who noticed that I was alone and that my car's plate number was different (plate numbers here usually start with B, mine starts with T...obviously from Manila haha). We ended up talking for a couple of hours. Why was in Echague that particular day? Well, it was the town fiesta--the 10th Bacao Festival and since I love attending fiestas I decided to go to Echague. Since I mentioned the Bacao Festival, might as well share it with you as well :)

The Bacao Festival is a week-long festivity in Echague, Isabela celebrating corn. Yup, you read that right. Corn. Maiz. Whatever you want to call it. It's not one of those festivals that started during the Spanish colonial period. This one's quite young, having started just about 10 years ago. Bacao, by the way, is the Yogad term for corn. What the heck is Yogad, you may ask. Well Yogad is one of the major dialects in Isabela, and is spoken predominantly in Echague. The dialect originated from (obviously) the Yogad Tribe although I'm not sure if the indigenous group still exists.

Going back to the Bacao Festival, during this festivity people in Echague celebrate the harvest of corn and happens every mid March--which is the harvest season for corn. I found out about the festival because of the banners I'd pass by along the highway driving from Santiago City back to Ilagan. Did a bit of research about the festival, even visited the municipal hall to check out the schedule posted outside on a huge tarpaulin.

I woke up late, so I wasn't able to watch the parade. I did make it just in time before the elementary level street dance competition. No, not street dancing like Step Up or You Got Served. Think of traditional festival dances. The theme of the performances, being around corn, displayed the stages of planting and harvesting bacao. Elementary schools in Echague competed against each other in this contest.

I've got to hand it to these kids. It was extremely hot that day, and they performed under the scorching sun! Each performance was at least 7 minutes long, to think just a minute in that heat was unbearable.

Turista mode, haha!

Good thing they parked the parade floats on the capitol grounds, was able to take a few pictures. Everything used to decorate the floats were from all the parts of the corn plant--from the husk, to the stalk, to the cob, and even the tiny kernels!

Okay back to Ramos Cafe....after the street dance competition, and after going around the trade fair (which was a bit disappointing because there weren't a lot of booths and nothing screamed BACAO) I headed to Ramos Cafe for lunch. That actually wasn't my first time to visit the place. I had already gone there weeks before after I visited Calvary Hills in Santiago (which I wrote about here). I liked the place so much I just had to go back. Luckily, I was even able to meet the chef himself the second time around. Shout out to Chef Sam, who gave me loads of tips on where to go here in Isabela for the best produce :) Anyway, both my visits to Ramos Cafe were pleasant ones. Aaaaaack I just love the place! It's such a nice hole-in-the-wall resto, with good food, great interiors, and the price range ain't that bad ;)

On my first visit I tried the Garden Fresh pizza. Y-U-M-M-Y!

On my second visit I got the spaghetti with meatballs. Serving size was huge, but finished everything haha! Well I did eat the entire thing in 2 hours, which was more than enough time to do so ;)

I was lucky enough to have gone to Ramos Cafe last week because according to Chef Sam, he'll be changing up the menu in a month. And he'll be opening up the bar soon, so am really looking forward to that haha! To enjoy good wine, of course ;) I'm excited about his new menu, will definitely go back next month to try out the new items.

Directions: Coming from Alicia, turn left at the Echague junction going into the town proper. Go straight and when you reach the end of the road turn left. You'll see Cafe by the Park on the right side of the street. If you're coming from Santiago City, turn right at the junction then go straight. Turn left at the corner of the Shell gas station. Look for Cafe by the Park on the left side of the street :)