destination: ilocos - batac and paoay tricycle tour

we originally planned on commuting from one place to another in batac and paoay. but while talking to mang arnel during our ilocos tour, i decided to ask him if he knew anyone so he referred us to kuya wawie. we enjoyed the pagudpud tricycle so much that we decided to save ourselves the hassle of commuting. i called kuya wawie and the deal was struck at 600php for an afternoon tour plus the ride to the airport.

we took a bus from laoag to the paoay checkpoint where kuya wawie picked us up. we immediately went to the marcos museum and mausoleum where former president ferdinand marcos' remains are kept and preserved for everyone to see (no pictures, though). it was really eerie with the dimmed lights and somber music. plus, it was like a private viewing of the his remains since it was only me, my friend and the caretaker inside the mausoleum when we viewed it. near the mausoleum was a photo gallery where (you guessed it!) they have hundreds of pictures of the marcos family on display. in this gallery, one can also see a mural of the marcoses painted on one of the walls. i simply caught myself staring at the pictures of young imelda marcos. she was such a beauty in her prime. i was also impressed at ferdinand marcos' bar exam results.

we then got back on the tricycle and started our trip to paoay. we stopped to view the paoay lake. according to legend, there was once a village that stood on the very spot the lake is on right now.as per how the usual legends go, because of the rivalry between people and their greed to have more than others do, the gods got mad at them and flooded the place. so the village was submerged by water and a beautiful lake emerged in its place.

unfortunately, the malacañang of the north was closed that day due to renovations. so we headed to our next destination: the paoay church.

on my first trip to ilocos back in 2004, we mostly went to see the churches since it was for an art class and we checking out the architecture of the different churches. my friend, on the other hand, lived in vigan in his younger years and has seen most of the churches as well. so for this tour, among other churches, we just wanted to go back to paoay church. what i love most about our visit to paoay church this time is that we got to climb the bell tower. the steps were steep, since the friars back in the days of the church's construction were mostly spanish and much, much taller than the average filipino. i think my friend must have been a little miffed at me because he doesn't do well with heights but  i insisted he come up with me anyway. as slow as he was going up, he was in full speed going down. well, i say conquer your fear of heights! (if you're reading this, lv, i do hope you had fun anyway. :D)

and to close our whole ilocos escapade, we went to fort ilocandia: a high end hotel in ilocos that has become a tourist destination in itself. probably because it's too pricey for an average person.

this concludes our trip to the north. we headed to the airport, had a couple of beers while waiting for our flight and with heavy hearts, boarded the plane back to manila. a bit tired, yes. but will forever have the memory of the beautiful places we visited on our journey up north. :)