Northwest Roadtrip Day 1: Ilocos Sur


Not being a huge people person makes me extra lazy to go out when it's summer. You'll never catch me obsessing about going on a summer getaway because I know hotels and beaches and pretty much every tourist spot in the country would be crowded with self-proclaimed "wanderlusts" like it's automatic code for cool. *rolls eyes*

Not that I hate traveling or the travelers for that matter, I just enjoy traveling and seeing places better when there aren't too many people in the picture. Doesn't it make the whole "soul searching" cliche' more convincing when you can have a wonderful place all to yourself? 

But that's just my silly travel philosophy and I would be a hypocrite to say I didn't almost shit my pants when I was told we were going to Ilocos! I mean, who am I to say no to what could be a once-in-a-lifetime chance to go on a four-day road trip all the way up north with the family and my boyfriend? Definitely not saying "no" to that!
 
My cousin picked us (me & bf) up straight from our shift on an early Thursday morning to kickstart the looooong drive which was anything but boring because we stopped every once in a while just to take pictures with beautiful town arches like this one from La Union. 

This was us seeing the ocean for the first time in our loooong drive (I'm gonna keep writing 'loooong' in this entire blog post because it was just really really that looooong) 




That moment when we're starting to see banners that say Welcome to Ilocos Sur and we thought we're almost there but this spot was actually still HOURS away from our first stop! LOL 

After what seemed like a lifetime on the road, we eventually reached out first destination, Vigan! And we headed straight to Baluarte to greet the animals and fake dinosaurs!












There weren't many animals to see there, though. Or maybe we just didn't see all of them cuz some parts of the zoo were under renovation so maybe some of them were kept somewhere else while construction is ongoing. But it definitely wasn't a waste of time because I got to meet this huge kitty!



...who obviously didn't mind getting her pictures taken THIS CLOSE! I mean, she was actually in a cage but I was literally in her face taking these shots, wanting so bad to touch her, but she just sat there like, 'So crazy-haired thingy, what face to you want me to make next? Sweet? Playful? Fierce?


When I tried to talk to her by making meowing sounds....


And when I showed her a selfie of some girl I hate. LOL 

It was the first time I've gotten that close to a tiger. I've seen tigers many times in other zoos but never this close and steady. She was calm the entire time and I was so tempted to stick my skinny arms into the cage just to get to feel her fury face! Ugh if only she was 20 times smaller than her actual size, I would have stolen her and took her home with me!




We left Baluarte just before sunset and that's when we faced the biggest challenge of that trip: FINDING A PLACE TO STAY. You read it right. We went on that trip with no hotel bookings or whatsoever, knowing that it's Labor Day weekend and the place is packed with travelers! Can you just imagine the realness of our struggle in finding a nice and affordable hotel or inn to stay for the night? Bet you can't.


 Despite the said 'real struggle', I really enjoyed walking the streets of Vigan! It's amazing that they were able to preserve history in this place and being there really made me feel like I time-travelled into a different era.


After hours of going back and forth and scouring all the one-way streets, we finally settled for the only place that had vacant rooms that time which was a cheap traveller's inn that was under renovation so the rooms were pretty much still in the state of reconstruction. But hey, who are we to complain? We were tired and had nowhere else to go! After all, we were there for adventures and stories to laugh about in the future. Besides, this cheap ugly hotel had a pretty cat. Nothing hurts!


Watch out for the second part of our first day in Ilocos Sur when we finally set foot in the beautiful Calle Crisologo! xoxo

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