My Purple Nook: Travel: Out and about in Ilocos

Paoay Church on a rainy afternoon, May 2013. Photo by DSanti

Initially, I had second thoughts about this trip because of the very looong drive. I was counting eight hours from Manila which does not include the pit stops we were going to make. But the husband insisted. After all, it was many summers ago when the family first went to Ilocos: the children were still in primary school and they hardly remember anything about that long trip to the north.

We hit the road very early to avoid traffic stress. At 3AM, we were at South Luzon Expressway ( SLEX ) and well on our way to the land of bagnet, empananda, and yes, Vigan longganisa,! My daughter and I joined my bosom buddies in one car and my two boys rode with their dad. I didn't sleep a wink the night prior to the trip. I had to make some errands and had last minute packing to do. To top it all off, there was a deadline to meet. I dozed off fast and woke up at past six or was it seven already? The stress from lack, err, absence of sleep dissipated after that much-needed rest. Now, my body was ready for the long day ahead of us.

The nice thing about traveling when your children are already in their teens ( I have two and one is in her twenties) is that you don't stress yourself too much anymore by looking after their needs. They pretty well fend for themselves: they eat when they're famished and make themselves comfortable and know just what to do when boredom strikes during the trip. ( And always, they sleep, listen to music and eat and eat and sleep again! ) But this isn't to say I don't miss those days traveling with a child on my lap at the same time looking after the needs of the other two . Uh, now I am starting to digress. Before that happens, let 'me now take you to Ilocos.

Thank God for paved highways! They make travel easier and more comfortable.

Enjoy the beautiful sceneries along the way: the vast open skies, calm seas that allow you to breathe clean, fresh air.

Welcome change. Do you feel the way I do when you see a town's/province's welcome arc?

Here we are, at last! Notice the nipa huts ( native houses made of bamboo ) with thatched roof made of anahaw leaves ( rounded leaves of a landscaping plant grown in tropical countries.

Visiting the two-storey Malacañang ti Amianan ( Malacañang of the North ) is a must when you're in Paoay, Ilocos Norte.

The mansion turned museum houses some memorabilia of the late president Ferdinand Marcos. It is within a five-hectare property overlooking Paoay Lake.