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Nothing brings
family and friends together like a
wedding. Ilocos Norte may be more than
300 miles away from Manila, but it sure
felt a lot like my Manila home the days
preceding my sister’s wedding. I was
among friends and family who eagerly
seized the perfectly justifiable excuse
to play hooky and go on a weekend jaunt
to the beach.
There are regular commercial flights to
Ilocos Norte from Manila that only take
45 minutes. But a booking misfortune
forced me to endure a grueling 12-hour
bus ride from Manila to Laoag, the
province’s capital. I was fortunate
enough to sleep soundlessly through most
of it. To the non-narcoleptics who plan
to follow in my footsteps, I would
suggest they take a pill to help them
sleep, a strong one. This was something
I neglected to tell my friend who was
traveling with me and she ended up
wide-awake for a needless tour of all
the traveler’s pit stops in the
provinces of Pampanga, Tarlac,
Pangasinan, La Union and finally, Ilocos
Sur before arriving at our intended
destination.
Ilocos Norte is at the northwest corner
of Luzon, bordered by Cagayan Valley in
the east and Ilocos Sur in the south.
Known as the birthplace and the
political bastion of the former
President Ferdinand Marcos, who led a
20-year military dictatorship in the
country, Ilocos Norte has also long been
recognized as a haven for |
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vacationers. There is no shortage of
places to visit in this picturesque
province, from natural wonders to
museums and art galleries. It even
boasts of a UNESCO World Heritage site,
the magnificent Paoay Church.
We arrived in Laoag in time for lunch,
where a spread of native delicacies
awaited us care of, in my entirely
unbiased opinion, the best restaurant in
the region: Mom’s Country Kitchen,
incidentally owned and operated by my
mother.
With our backsides still sore from our
road trip, we ventured on another,
shorter, ride; a two-hour drive past the
towns of Bacarra, Pasuquin, Burgos and
Bangui to the town of Pagudpud. The
drive need not be dull. There are sites
along the way worthy of a stopover.
The lighthouse in Burgos, called Cape
Bojeador, rests majestically on a hill
overlooking the South China Sea. It was
built in 1892 and at 160 meters; it is
the highest lighthouse in the
Philippines above sea level. Visitors
are welcome inside free of charge, but
the steep climb and the terrifyingly
gorgeous view from the top is not for
the claustrophobic and weak of heart.
A recent addition to the must-see places
in the province are the windmills in
Bangui. Barely five years old, the Wind
Farm consists of 15 wind turbines
arranged in single file along the
shoreline. As high as a 23-storey
building with
page 14 |
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Text
and Photos By Katrina Cabanos
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View from the Patapat Bridge,
the fourth longest bridge in the
Philippines connecting Ilocos
Norte to Cagayan Valley.
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The unspoiled and
isolated “Blue Lagoon” beach in
Maia-Ira Point. |
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