Holy Week 2008: Day 4 (Easter Sunday)

We attended mass in Vigan Cathedral on Easter Sunday. The mass was in Ilocano so we did not understand much of the mass. Afterwards, we walked along Calle Crisologo, this is where most of the preserved old houses are located. This is also where most of the souvenir markets are.



We also went back to Baluarte to visit the animals there in broad daylight. The kids had fun riding the small pony kalesa,



the butterfly garden,



and the tigers.



We then continued on our way home. The End.

Holy Week 2008: Day 3 (Black Saturday)

Mother wanted to go to Vigan since Christmas last year. And since no one yet in our party have ever been to Vigan, we were easily convinced to continue with our road trip to Vigan, Ilocos Norte.

The trip was another long one! From Bolinao, Pangasinan we had to travel around 6-8 hours to go to Vigan. After that long trip, we just had to take a picture when we saw the Vigan arch.



We took a kalesa ride to see the more popular spots in Vigan. The kalesa ride costs us 150 per hour and our ride was a little over 2 hours. The ride took us to Bantay Church, Padre Burgo's old house, Hidden Garden, the old houses along the way and to Chavit Singson's Baluarte.



We spent the night at Grandpa's Inn. It costs us less than 3,000 for an aircon dormitory type room. There were 8 double beds and 8 free breakfast the following morning.

Holy Week 2008: Day 2 (Good Friday)

Good Friday arrived bright and early!

We were so excited to go to Treasures of Bolinao so we woke up early and continued with our journey from Alaminos to Bolinao.



When we arrived at Treasures of Bolinao, we were surprised because the rates they told us was way too much than what they advertised in their website. According to the page, day tour was 250/pax for the use of the beach and the pool. We were told that Holy Week rates are higher ... and it seemed way higher! We were asked to pay 660/pax. But this rate includes lunch already and the corkage for snacks and drinks were waived. And since we were already in love with the spectacular sights, we gave in. In return, they gave us a discount. There were 14 people (11 adults and 3 kids) in our party and they only charged us for 12 adults.


We were not able to do much swimming in the beach because the water was either too low or too high. Instead, we took the time to do a lot of picture taking. Here are some of the great shots we had:

Supergirl?



Vince, watch out for the croc at your back!



Run Tito Pitch! Run!



Woahhh!



That is not to say we did no swimming while we were there. There was a pool that satisfied our craving to swim/dip in the water. And make new friends!



And the dramatic sunset view gave us another fantastic backdrop for pictures.

Holy Week 2008: Day 1 (Maundy Thursday)

Our Holy Week outing this year started early. Lola Fely allowed us to deviate from our usual Visita Iglesia and so we were on our way to Pangasinan early Thursday morning.

The traffic along NLEX (North Luzon Expressway) was horrendous! The usual 1 hour drive from Balintawak to Dau Exit tooks us 3 hours! There goes our schedule for the week ...

We had a slight detour on our way to Pangasinan. We visited Apo Tina and had our breakfast in Pampanga.

Afterwards, we continued our trip to Pangasinan with stopovers to churches we passed along the way.

One of the churches we visited was St. Raymund of Penafort Parish in Mangatarem, Pangasinan.



Our plan is to go to Treasures of Bolinao in Bolinao, Pangasinan but the resort was fully booked as well as all nearby resorts and inn so we had to go to Travllers Lodge at Alaminos, Pangasinan first to spend the night. You might be wondering why since we are at Alaminos already, why not go to Hundred Islands instead? The answer: we went there already about 3 years ago. :D


The travel was a bit long since we had many stopovers to do our Visita Iglesia. We had our lunch at a highway restaurant. The food was a bit expensive but the views were great.