Backpacking: Vigan City, Ilocos Sur

I swear, if I had all the time and resources in the world, I'd never stay in one place. I'd always be off to nowhere in particular. It's 'cause I believe that experience is the best teacher. And that if you wanna learn about another city or another country, you have to go out there and experience it for yourself. There you go. I'm a frustrated backpacker.

So to fulfill my backpacking fantasies, I joined my friends from law school in a great Ilocos adventure. Yay!

We decided to go on our very own "budget vacation". Right after finals, we boarded a bus headed to Laoag, but we were to get off in Vigan. We're so happy even law students get a 20% discount on bus fare. Haha. Our seven-hour bus ride ended at half past five o'clock in the morning. We took a tricycle to the city proper. We failed to make a reservation at any hotel or inn, so we ended up having a very early breakfast at one of the nearby inns - The Cordillera Inn along Calle Crisologo. 

It was the typical Ilocano breakfast - Vigan longsilog and coffee. The innkeeper was kind enough to let us plug our phones into their outlets so we can recharge our batteries, and use their restroom so we could freshen up. After breakfast, we took our things to Puregold Vigan and deposited them at the baggage counter so we wouldn't have to worry about lugging our bags. Smart move, right? Haha. 

Frankly, we were a bit disappointed after seeing this small serving of longsilog. We went all the way to Vigan for this?!

We went to St. Paul's Cathedral located at the very heart of the city to take a glimpse of their church and to make three wishes. Filipinos believe that if it's your first time to visit a particular church, you get to make three wishes which will all be granted. No hurt in trying, huh? :)

Lined up at the side of the church are these kalesas. They're popular among tourists who wish to explore the city but who do not want to do it on foot. Normally, only four people are allowed per kalesa. But somehow, we managed to convince the kutchero to let all five of us ride on his kalesa. I think we somehow tortured the horse after forcing her to take us around town for five and a half hours. We almost didn't notice it, but the kutchero had to change horses to accommodate our weight. Talk about cruelty to animals. We almost killed one while in Vigan. Apologies!

First Stop: Bantay Church and Bell Tower. We stayed inside the church for less than five minutes, just to take a peek and make another set of wishes. The bell tower is the most picturesque one I've seen so far. And I still can't believe I managed to climb up to its highest point! Quite an achievement for the acrophobic in me. I was shrieking the whole time I was climbing up. 

The view was worth it, though. You can see the entire city from the top. You can even see the West Philippine Sea. (See what I did there? Haha.)

The climb down was even harder and scarier. All those squeaky floor boards! I was shaking by the time I reached the ground. One of my friends found this on our way out of the church grounds:

This one is called Tinubong. It's a kakanin inside a bamboo stick. The fun part actually lies in smashing the bamboo so you can get the Tinubong out. It tastes like Bico (for the Manileños) or Sinukmani (for the Lucenahins). I decided to get my brother three sticks since he loves all kinds of kakaning malagkit.

Second Stop: The Syquia Mansion of Former President Elpidio Quirino. It's called the Syquia Mansion and not the Quirino Mansion because the house belonged to the President's wife. I didn't get to hear much of the story because I was too busy snapping away.

This is a huge replica of Juan Luna's Spolarium, found at the Syquia's living room.

I asked the tour guide if I could give the punkah (the manual fan on top of the dining table) a pull, but he said they've already removed the string. Sad.

Third Stop: Crisologo Museum. Honestly, I'm not very familiar with the story of the Crisologos. All I know is that they're one of the most prominent families in Vigan. If you want to know more about the museum, better click here than rely on my guesses. Haha. I didn't take much pictures inside this museum 'cause I found it to be a bit eerie. After all, there once lived an assassinated congressman. In fact, the museum owner, who happens to be his wife, kept the clothes he wore when he was murdered and put it inside a glass casing for all the world to see. I only took a peek 'cause I didn't want to dream about it at night.

There was also an attempt on the life of the congressman's wife. She was pregnant on the day she was ambushed while inside this car. Fortunately, she and her baby survived. According to the tour guide, she's now 90 years old.

Fourth Stop: Chavit Singson's Baluarte. This place is animal heaven for the kids and the kids at heart. Governor Chavit  has all kinds of animals here - reindeer, tigers, snakes, geese, ostriches, iguanas and the list goes on. Visit to the Baluarte is actually free of charge. You don't have to pay anything to enter the premises.    I'd say that's pretty generous considering the money needed to finance a zoo's upkeep.

We arrived there around noon, just in time to witness the animal encounter show. Again, it's free. One of my friends even got the chance to participate. And we had a photo op with one of the Zoo's famous tigers.

Fifth Stop: The Hidden Garden. That was where we had lunch. I won't post any pictures here 'cause I think it deserves its own blog post. Just a teaser though: many celebrities have come to dine there 'cause they say they serve the best Ilocano dishes.

Sixth Stop: Calle Crisologo. This is Vigan's famous cobblestone street. Tourists who want to be transported back to Philippine Spanish colonial time and those who want to experience a vintage Vigan take a stroll in this very busy street. The residents have preserved the houses' old look, but they've transformed most of the houses' lower floors into business establishments. Here we shopped for pasalubong for our loved ones back home. All the famous Vigan products are here - Cornick, Vigan Longganisa, Abel Iloco, Empanada, Tinubong, etc.

There. That ends our Vigan trip. Vigan is actually very easy to explore. You can finish going through all their famous tourist destinations in half a day. Like I said, we explored Vigan via a kalesa so it took us a bit longer to see the sights. Imagine the very tired horse doing all the walking for us. Haha.

Our Vigan trip turned out to be really fun, considering that it was a Sunday. Sadly, some of the tourist destinations were close to the public. We didn't get to visit Padre Burgos' home, and we also failed to try our hand at pottery making.

We left Vigan at half past three in the afternoon, after getting our bags from Puregold. We boarded a Laoag-bound bus right next to the grocery. We got to Laoag after almost two hours.

So there. Watch out for my blog on our Ilocos Norte trip!