The Last Of The Champions (For Now)
So, this is our last reflection as a group. This will be our most special one yet because this will be a journal-like one, meaning it will be a summary of our experiences from Day 1 until today. I hope you will like it, because this will be our last reflection for this tour! *cries*
For Day 1, we did the Pagudpud tour. We first passed by Laoag proper. We then went and passed by Bacarra town. This is where we got to see the salt making. The salt was white, rich and fine. WE EVEN BOUGHT SOME (Santol here we come. Lol.) . What makes this salt special is the way the Ilocanos of the North make it. Instead of leaving the sea water to dry under the heat of the sun (which also works but it will look yellow. Yeck.) , the Ilocanos boil the sea water through a special type of material (it's a secret) in order to get the right temperature. With the right temperature, they could produce better salt.
We then passed by Burgos town. Burgos town was named in honor of Fr. Burgos, one of the trio of GomBurZa (Fr. Gomez, Fr. Burgos, Fr. Zamora). Also, it was renamed because it's old name was mentioned to give a bad image to that town, so it was nice enough that they renamed it after one of our first heroes.
After that, we got to see the light house, where most of us had jump shots. It was awesome, although scary after thoughts of falling off the cliff and meeting death early. We also got a cool view of the West Philippine Sea or South China Sea. Oh, and I forgot to mention, this lighthouse was the most special one out of the 170 lighthouses in the Philippines because it is on top of the hill and it serves as a tower with a good view of the West Philippine Sea because in the Spanish times, many moro pirates are entering the Philippines, so they get to be alarmed early. It was built in 1892.
We then passed by the wind turbine area where we got to see the 20 mega-infrastructure turbines! The turbines in Ilocos Norte produce 40% of their energy. The first 15 turbines were built in 2004 and 2005 and later one an additional 5 turbines were built in 2008.
That was the last of Day 1. NOW. To Day 2 please!
For Day 2, We did the City Tour, where we went around Laoag, Batac and Paoay.
Our first adventure was the 4x4 Jeep Adventure at Sand Dunes. IT WAS AWESOME. Although most fell on the way to the beach and back to the meeting point, we had the COOLEST VIEW EVAH. It felt like we were at Dubai. Even though most of us got a tan (like Teacher Bing), we had the most amazing time at Sand Dunes, we had to move on to Malacañang of the North. The Malacañang is supposed to be a carbon copy of the Malacañang in Manila.
The mansion was for President Ferdinand Marcos and his family. He was our best president, for us, because he knew how to rule. Even though he was strict, it is a saying that it is better to have a strict president to rule the Philippines because we Filipinos are very "makulit". WE NEED TO BEHAVE. MARCOS IS OUR FATHER. DEAL WITH IT YO.
We then went to visit Marcos' preserved remains. I wanted to bow down, but his body gave them chills. *buuurrrr* Boy oh boy did I want to bow down. I am just really freaked out by his body. It's real. I'm not lying. We just saw the real body of Ferdinand Marcos.
We then went to the St. Agustin Church in Paoay (still at Paoay). It was a fusion of European and Oriental style. The building is made out of Coral blocks and special blocks made out of egg whites, lime powder, molasses and sand. What was awesome as well was we got to make 3 wishes. *sparkly Edward Cullen aka Tinker bell flies by*.
Our last stop was Juan Luna's house, but it is now converted into a shrine/museum. We got to see some awesome, cool and creepy paintings such as a replica of the Spolarium and a picture which a woman represents the body of the Philippines, flipped over.
That's the end of Day 2, now slide to DAY 3.
The first thing we had at Vigan was the walking tour at Calle Crisologo, the cobble-stoned street. It was awesome to buy some souvenirs for ourselves, such as bracelets and other cool stuff. The downside was we had to walk and walk and WWAAALLKK. ("I like to walk!" - WanSee) . We walked to the Syquia Mansion and saw a good example of a "bahay na bato" . We also found out this was the first Malacañang Of The North before Marcos' reign.
We also went to Baluarte which is a zoo for those local Ilocanos in Ilocos Sur. It was made possible by a Governor and it is free to go in the zoo. It was actually better than the zoos we have been to because this is most of our first time seeing an ostrich. Lol.
We then went to see the house of the Crisologos now converted into a Museum. We were also able to see the pig system toilet. It was awesome to see how the Crisologos rose to power, but very engrossing to see how he died and how it was an unsolved case until now.
We then went to the house of Fr. Burgos, which is also converted into a Museum. We got to see the garrotte, a way of carrying out a death sentence. This was how the trio GomBurZa was killed. This happened in 1896.
We then visited the pottery making where in they made cool pots and when we tried to do pots, we failed at it. :P
We then had a delicious lunch at Cafe Uno.
Our last stop for the tour was the Bantay Church and Bell Tower at Laoag. Unfortunately, we were unable to go inside due to construction work there.
This was a unforgettable experience! WE HOPE TO GO BACK! FOR NOW, PEACE OUT!
yousharknotpass
stormborns
izzy806
jimmyeatworldofficial
amandla
2087