strolling, trekking, climbing, swimming, walking under the heat of beautiful iLocandia Unknown 7:44 PM

Exploring Ilocos is one of our best trips; there's a lot of places we visited in the beautiful Ilocandia and there's still a lot more we missed, and I do hope we could go back and continue what we started.  But for now, let me tell you what happened during those all-fun, but I remember there were also down times which is inevitable for a group of people who were just starting to get to know each other.

It's not that we almost killed each other, or if words could kill, we could all have been dead by now.  Nah, I'm just me being exaggerated.. I can't think of anything interesting to say, forgive me.

Vigan was our last stop if I remember if correctly, I can't find our itinerary though.. and our driver who was also our tour guide only gave us a few hours to stroll the city.. or was it only just an hour?  That sucked because I've waited that long to finally see how Vigan looks like in person and I wasn't able to explore it thoroughly.  If only he gave us an hour more, I could say that that trip was our best trip.. next to El Nido and Baguio.

Below are the shots I have for Vigan, including the kalesa which I mentioned on the last photo about posing in the camera.

It could have been really fun to take a shot of this horsey in his kalesa but he stinksssss.. so I just used the power of zoom.  I'm not being maarte here, alright?  I just can't stand the smell but he does look cute.  Cute for photos.

photo credit to Jo

I don't want to be a show off, but I need to re-post that photo of mine sandboarding at Paoay Dunes which was a pretty amazing experience!  I honestly don't want to do it, they just forced me!  I saw how they tumbled down and the sand was so hot, it hurts!

The 4x4 ride was extremely amazing!  It requires a good hand grip or you will fly out of the vehicle because it's like a roller coaster ride in the sand!  It was so fun!

This photo above was of our first lady during the Marcos regime, taken at one of their museums using my phone because I was an idiot for not to bringing my charger.  By the way, her name is Imelda, Imelda Marcos; the woman who was obsessed with shoes.  And on that same museum, we saw her husband, the late President Ferdinand Marcos in his glass chamber, lying there looking like the male version of Snow White.  We're not allowed to take a picture though, and I don't know if I could have the courage to take a shot of this dead body in front of me.  Not to mention, we're in a dark room with creepy music.. and it was a little cold inside with smoke-effect.  Why??

If you're curious, here is the photo of what I'm talking about.

There's something about waterfalls which excites me.. and so I saved my battery for this because one angle is not enough, we know that.  After a few shots, I got this and improved the color.

This is the Kabigan Falls.

They put improvised bridges which were slippery, and thankfully our tour guides were quite the gentlemen we crossed the bridge safely.

Going back to our van from a long trek, we stopped by this woman and her "buko juice".. fresh coconut juice which she opened herself.  It was nice!  Refreshing!

And here comes the story of the boy who ran in front of our photo shoot in front of this bell tower at Saint Augustine Parish Church, also known as Bantay Church.  I've mentioned many times how I loved this shot, how he made this scene quite interesting, and how lucky I am to get an accidental great shot like this.

These boys were actually asking for money for some cute posing they will do in front of your camera.  That's how I remember the transactions were but you might hate me for what I'm going to confess.. I didn't bring my money during that moment to the church because I knew there's no need for that.. so, yeah.. I'm really sorry for that, kids!  And that's the reason why the other kid ran in front of our photo shoot, and gave me the greatest photo of all!  :>

Climbing the bell tower..

We didn't know we're going to witness a different kind of sunset view.  I couldn't tell at first what I was looking at because the sun was too bright and the things below were too white which at first I thought were houses.  But the trees can't be that huge to make the houses look miniatures.  I stared at one of them, and I realized I was looking at a cemetery.

There's also this lighthouse we visited called the Cape Bojeador Lighthouse.  It looked abandoned but I think they're still using it.  It's quite old, rusty and it doesn't seem like it can hold another earthquake, but it's sturdy.  It's just creepy going inside, walking through the corridors even in the morning.

Ilocos Norte has a lot of great beaches to offer, and this one we visited in Pagudpod has got huge waves and a white sand.  There's nothing more relaxing than spending a whole day in the beach, and be like all romantic with your bro.

Now this walk I will never forget.

I almost melted under the sun for this rock formation I don't understand.. I mean, I don't get what's special about this.  It's in a shape of a ship is this??  We're not even allowed to get close to it, and the tour guide said some people did ride on it, stepped on it to make a good picture.. like what this guy did.

But on the other side of this rock is a small town created for a movie set, and they thought it could be a nice tourist attraction so they decided not to destroy it.  And on one of its igloo(?) I got to pose.

And this thing Arnie kissed is one of the props.

And finally, the pretty sunrise we waited at Sta. Ana Bridge.. welcoming us wholeheartedly, so warm but it was so cold until 6am.

And here's a cutie who wants to thank you for visiting and for reading!?

He's so delighted by your visit, and so am I!

He resides at the Baluarte Zoo by the way.  :>