Hey everyone. It’s been too long since the day I wrote here. I’m really sorry about that. I just gave myself a break after all the issues I’ve been through, but that is past, and I think my post now is part of the past but I assure you this one is the happiest. What is sad is I wasn’t able to blog about it as soon as possible just because I was crazy spending my time thinking too much, but all is well and happy again. Let me just give a little detail on the pictures from our Ilocos Trip.
Via Cebu Pacific we arrived in Ilocos in just an hour.
We checked in at the coziest, famous resort hotel in the Ilocos Region, Fort Ilocandia Hotel. The hotel was made with bricks and hard wood floors and very filipino windows. Our room was over looking the swimming pool, I could just stay there forever. It has a balcony where I sat there to drink coffee while looking at the lush of green and flowers and my boss who’s doing a little meditation. Definitely the best place to just relax.
On our first day, we went straight to the Malacanang Palace of the North where the former President Marcos used to stay whenever he is in Ilocos.
As you can see, Me and my friends were having a little pictorial inside the palace with the big “capis-made window” in our back.
Our next stop – Paoay Church. “Kaway sa Paoay” as the famous tagline says in the billboard of It’smorefuninthePhilippines.
Paoay Church was designated by UNESCO as World heritage site. With its distinct architecture and enormous facade no wonder It’s been in the list of tourist’s “must-see” in Ilocos since forever.
Coming right up! La Preciosa Restaurant located in Laoag Ilocos Norte , our choice for our dinner. It was a delicious and sumptuous dinner for every one.
Poqui poqui is An Ilocano eggplant and egg dish.
Dinengdeng is similar to pinakbet however it has fewer vegetables and more likely with a soup and bagoong as its base.
We also had Pinakbet ( Meat-vegetable-stew) also a popular Ilokano dish also not so unusual to our taste because most of us serve this at home. I just had one today. 🙂
We also had lechon and many more, but I wasn’t able to take pictures of them because I was already busy eating. 🙂 That concludes our first day. After the dinner we went straight to our hotel to freshen up and rest while Yayi, Madel, Liezl and Noel went to the beach to party. But the rest of us, Diana, Alyssa, Sir Jibens and me stayed in the hotel to get more energy for tomorrow’s activity.
DAY 2
Wakeywakey time to eat our brekky. 🙂 Good thing it is a buffet breakfast. Everybody feast! yay!
Thankfully,we had a chance to get energized and eat well. I had a big plate – so it is SULIT (Getting more of what you paid for)!
- feeling sexy free!
Me, madel and Noel had enough time to roam around the hotel while the others are prepping up.
Next on our List – Cape Bojeador but before that, we had a little stop over somewhere near for the bathroom break since it’s really hours of travel from Laoag most us needed to void our bladders. lol The place was beach side and also relaxing. It suddenly became part of our itinerary because the place was really amazing.
We had atleast 30 shots here because we definitely fell in love with the place.
Cape Bojeador lighthouse is also known as Burgos Lighthouse in Burgos, Ilocos Norte. It was built during the Spanish colonial period in the Philippines. The locales in the place are very friendly, they suggested we go straight to Kapurpurawan rock formation immediately because Coco Martin (local actor) was said to have a shooting there. Without hesitation we then went to Kapurpurawan Rock formation for Coco Martin.
Surprisingly, It wasn’t Coco Martin but Mario Maurer. Unfortunately, he wasn’t allowed to be taken some pictures, I managed to have some stolen shots but nothing decent. While walking along, we saw Erich Gonzales (local actress) , she’s really nice and because she is nice let me just say Please watch their movie Suddenly it’s magic. lol
Moving on, we put on our best smiles and took alot of photos around the vicinity of the rock formation which is very beautiful.
Kapurpurawan Rock formation or White rock formation was really awesome. Thank you Lord for this wonderful creation.
We had alot of fun pictures here because it was really lovely. Truly a “must-visit” place. Put it in your list now! While I was there I kind of think “what an amazing place to have a pre-nup photoshoot here” and I don’t think that is new. So, me and my friend Noel pretended to be lovers on some pictures and voila my imagination was somewhat fulfilled. hahaha. 🙂
Next in our itinerary. The famous Bangui windmills.
In the background you can see the turbines of 20 units 70 metre high arranged on a row.
It is a 9 kilometer stretch in the shoreline of Bangui. In the picture Noel is doing the Gangnam style. Kidding.
Now entering the town of Pagudpud, Ilocos Norte. Almost late in the afternoon and we are hurrying up for the sunset. But wait, let’s not miss anything. Starting with the long and winding Patapat Bridge.
Patapat Bridge or also known as Patapat Viaduct is a 1.3 km bridge that connects Ilocos and Cagayan Valley.
Before our final destination which is a resort in Pagudpud, we first had a side trip in Blue Lagoon.
OK,we are almost there and it’s almost dark soon. Pagudpud beach here we come!
Before we lose sight of the sun, we prep up as fast as we can and went straight to the shore to see the beautiful white sand and the lovely sun as it sets. Of course, it will never be complete without the best of our laugh picture.
After the tiring day I think it is best to finish it with another awesome … oh wait I forgot to mention about our lunch, we had a quick lunch before proceeding to Kapurpurawan Rock formation and snack before we went for a swim. so back to our dinner. . .
We had Crickets (Salagubang) for dinner. Kidding. we tried that, I think it’s ok for me but since it is one those exotic food here in the Philippines, most of my friends didn’t liked it. It was crunchy by the way. 🙂
Yeahh, who wants to go first in my tummy? Crabby raised her claws!!! lols kidding aside, Our dinner was definitely another feast. We had crabs and lobsters. My friend Yayi, who is one of the very choosy people I know when it comes to food really enjoyed everything served in the table except the crickets.
After the dinner, we still manage to have a few shots of tequila, oh except me, I just had one i guess, as much as I’d love to, my tummy won’t allow and will just make me a pain in the ass the next day so I opt on just putting a little “panggulo” in their game as they took shots of tequila. Yay! I had fun confusing them in their game of series categories. The sleeping person in the background is Sir Jibens.
That concludes our Day 2. 🙂
Day 3
As much as we wanted to see more of the beach, we had an itinerary to follow.
Thank you so much Terra rika resort for accomodating us and for the delicious dinner.
It was still foggy that morning and I’m loving the weather so far. First on our list to visit is the Bacarra ruins. Pardon my foggy-ish photo.
The bell tower of Bacarra in our background was constructed in 1830 and was destroyed by an intensity earthquake in 1931.
Time for another feast. We had our breakfast at Atty Leano’s house in Bacarra.
we also had Sinanglao and Omelette for the breakfast. Define Heavy.
We can’t thank you enough Atty Leano for being so kind, generous and very accommodating to us and most importantly for the heavy meal we had!
The list. next in our “where-to-go” in Ilocos was really a far travel to Vigan, Ilocos Sur. So fellow travellers if you really want to see the best of Ilocos Sur and its highlights you should allot atleast a day with a very early trip from Laoag and atleast 7pm departure from Vigan. The 7 pm departure as for my suggestion is just because the streets of Vigan are wonderful during the evening, but not so late of course. For us, we had the Bantay Bell tower and Calle Crisologo for the “must-visit-if-you-are-rushing” in Vigan City. It was a rainy day so we really had to leave Vigan asap.
That concludes our Vigan trip. Oh by the way, one quick fact. I’m really familiar with the places in Ilocos Sur because I live there for 3 years and it was really a happy place for me. Sadly, I wasn’t able to tour them to the other beautiful places of Ilocos Sur. Not to worry, because there will always be another time.
Going back to another journey back to Ilocos Norte. Our driver for the day was very enthusiastic in showing us different spots and even the welcome arches are not excused. So hello again Ilocos Norte.
Back to our hotel in Fort Ilocandia, we gave our drivers a super Thank you for being so kind to us during our trip. Since it is our last night in Fort Ilocandia we wanted to make the most out of it. So we went on a night swimming in their olympic sized pool.
It was a super fun night until Sir Jibens punched me in the nose. HAHAHA lol 
Kidding, it was an accident. But it really hurts. hahah But not to ruin the night we just laughed about it.
After the swim, we had a dinner in their bar and the drinks was free. I mean it was on the house. 🙂 That concludes our day 3.
Day 4
Making the most out of our last day, Me, Liezl, yayi and madel went to the pool to have an early swimming.
Good exercise before breakfast.
It was a fun day for picture taking around the hotel but sadly the trip was almost over.
Back to the airport, we officially said goodbye to Ilocos. It was a crazy and fun vacation with friends 🙂
I’m so happy to have such wonderful friends with me, especially now that I’m writing this blog which makes me look back on what happened last summer. It is really good to look back once in a while, it makes you appreciate the happy memories of the past and you know that despite the struggles you face in between you always have something to look forward in life. Happiness.
To peace , Happiness and friends. *cheers
One Step At A Time 