3-6 May 2008. Project: Northern Exposure (Ilocos Trip with Penguins and Imong)
one word: EXTRAORDINARY!!!
here are the reasons why:
1. The Company. i.e. penguins and imong. it was an almost spur-of-the-moment trip. we were supposed to embark on the journey around mid-May. unfortunately, yenertz, the pride of pacita, will invade iloilo to chase her med dreams on the 10th, so we had to move the whole trip before she flies down south.
2. The Planning Stage. sabi nga nila: "ang sakit sa ulo!" apparently, setting the date is not enough. there’s the itinerary, the places to go, hotel accomodations, modes of transportation, and most of all, the BUDGET. whew. yen and i were talking non-stop two days before the trip (thanks to the wonders of chat and sms) to "polish" the details and to persuade a beautiful creature (itago na lang natin sya sa pangalang imong) to cooperate with us on the transportation concerns. hassle ka imong! hassle! bwahaha!
3. The Departure. finally, we were able to convince imong that we WILL NOT wait for him to get back to manila from vizcaya. it’s his choice to travel FROM vizcaya to manila then from manila to vigan. kumusta naman un?! good thing he agreed that the penguins will leave manila earlier while he travels back from vizcaya. whew!
4. The Arrival. viva vigan! we left manila around 7pm, saturday and we smelled the vigan air around 3am, the next day. we toured vigan for a whole day (sunday) - one of the most hectic tours i’ve had in my entire life! we had to tour a LOT of places and we had very limited time. it was a blur… going from one place to another, taking pictures along the way (doing it the penguin way - you’ll see why once all the pictures are posted), smoking our lungs out during breaks, chugging down gallons of water/coke (it was freakin’ hot!), pigging out on local food and having a BLAST the whole time. whew! we heart vigan! hehehe.
5. The Roadtrip to Pagudpud. the second part of the northern exposure trip. after much planning and discussions on how to get there, we finally got ourselves a van-for-rent and off we went to pagudpud, with a stop-over at paoay church near laoag. after a couple of photo ops (from cape bojeador lighthouse, bangui windmills and blue lagoon), we said hello to the boracay of the north. =) ahh the beach. so blue. so perfect. it took our breaths away.
6. In A Nutshell: the whole trip was a blast. we had so much fun. lots of laughs. lots of unforgettable bloopers (i.e. yen’s lost slipper, nesta’s injury when she bumped into the bus, digicam moments of lost tripod parts, zoomed in settings and accidental video mode while taking pictures, imong’s ilocano prowess and batfei’s english translation of bus love songs and a whole lot more). we had no sense of time while we were there. it felt like the world stopped for a while - we were constantly asking ourselves what day is it, what time is it.. it felt surreal. sigh. funny stories, we have a LOT. we’ve been there for 3 days and it felt like we’ve been there for a long time.. =)
here’s one of my happy thoughts in pagudpud:
we’ve just arrived at the hotel, and the penguins were smoking at the veranda (except nesta) when we saw two girls walking towards the hotel, clad in their swimwear. nesta, being the "nanay" that she is, told the rest of the penguins (with all the seriousness she can muster): "mas magaganda tayo sa kanila, wag kayong mag-alala mga anak.."
hehehe. we heart pagudpud. =)
(note: full albums to be posted soon)
*blop* *blop*
