ILOCOS TRIP

Wow! It’s been quite some time since I last posted a log. Obviously I have nothing to share except how I spent the rest of my summer bumming around at home. I was able to go to my folks’ province, Ilocos Norte, last week but the trip was strictly business and without, and I mean WITHOUT pleasure.

I was at Ilocos for only two days. I helped my mom take care of some documents. Imagine, in just two days I was able to span seven provinces and back in just 48 hours! Talk about tiring! I had to endure 21 hours of travel (nine hours for the night trip to Laoag City, and 12 hours for the day trip going back to Manila)! I can still feel my butt aching.

During my brief stay at the province though, I was able to do some sightseeing along the way. It is always good to get away from the hustle and bustle of city living once in a while. Laoag City is not that bustling yet, compared to Metro Manila standards of course, but it is already becoming quite congested due to the rise of commercial establishments. Last time I was there was four years ago and the only fast food chains then were Jollibee and Chowking, when I came back there were Greenwich and McDonald’s already. It won’t be long now before they start building a mall in Laoag, or better yet another SM (gasp!). The unique thing about Laoag is their market, which is a three storey building with a basement!! How cool is that?! Dry goods occupy the first floor, the meat and fish section is on the second floor, while the veggies are on the third. No wonder Iocanos are so fit, their market is a freaking work out!

What I will miss in Ilocos is their awesome food! The taste of authentic pinakbet with fresh veggies is just too good to be true! And then of course there is the savory taste of deep fried bagnet! It’s a good thing we were able to bring home a taste of Ilocos with two boxes of Royal Bibingka! Yummy!

During the time I spent sitting and waiting to get back to the craziness of Metro Manila, I was able to think about a lot of things (traveling for a long time can do that to you…) Life in the province is really hard. The schools we passed along the highway clearly needed more funding, rice fields are slowly turning to subdivisions and commercial complexes, no wonder we have a freaking rice shortage! But can we really blame the farmers for selling their fields to realty developers? Rivers are drying up because of global warming and mountain sides are eroding due to continuous deforestation. As I look in the weathered faces of hard-working Ilocanos, I begin to wonder whether their hard work really pays off.

The gap between the rich and the poor is also very pronounced in the province. Unlike in the Metro where towering houses are enclosed in gated communities away from the reach of encroachers’ shanties, the homes in the province are not separated according to status. Not once have I not seen a humble house stand in the shadow of a towering mansion. It only shows that the promise of a better life is reached only by the few. Imagine how the owners of humble homes feel as they wake-up every morning to the high wall of a neighbor’s home blocking the morning sun. I have nothing against those who were able to put up beautiful homes (which according to my mom are products mostly of Ilocanos who were able to migrate or work in the US), but the gap is just so immense!

Anyway here are some pics I took with my trusty P990i cam phone. The pics are mostly of the beautiful landscapes. The pics are not bad at all considering that I only used a cam phone to take them! I hope that the beauty of nature captured in these pics remind you how beautiful the Philippines is, despite the ugliness of our government…