Finally, I am officially back online. It was really a drag not having PC to use, but now that I have a netbook, I can go back to blogging. In the last Nostalgia I posted, I mentioned about the firsts... and since I wasn't able to follow it up, I will continue posting about the firsts, but for this month it's all about my firsts in traveling.

2008 was the time I decided to put a travel blog, even if I wasn't really much into traveling that time. In order to feed the blog, I went out with my family just about anywhere - knowing that I will have something to say about every place I went to. Summer that year, I received a text message from my brother (he was based in La Union that time) saying our aunt will be having a joyride with her former high school friends. I talked to my aunt following that message, and after knowing that one has to pay 1500 pesos for the road trip and that they were aiming to go to Sagada (Mountain Province) and Banaue Rice Terraces (Ifugao), I told my aunt I will join them.

The road trip was scheduled May 24, but I arrived in La Union May 17 because I also want to visit some places in La Union as well as celebrate Aunt's birthday.




We left La Union night of May 23. One of them volunteered to be the driver, and after resting for two hours in San Jose, Nueva Ecija (we stayed at a gas station)... we hit the road again 'til we reached the Banaue Rice Terraces. We got there around 6am, and although we were just at the viewing deck and didn't really stayed long enough, the feeling of something extraordinary will forever be etched in our memory. We were supposed to go to Sagada after this, but we were told that the roads to the place were closed because of the typhoon. We just then ate breakfast and went on with the ride.


It took us all day inside the van 'til we reach Cagayan Province. Tito Jaime (the driver), has a family living in Tuguegarao, but before we went to their house, he drove us first to the town of Penablanca to see the Callao Caves. Back then, I have always dreamt of seeing this place, and now that I have seen it, I was really thankful. It was actually impossible to get there without a vehicle (as the only public transport you can take was the tricycle and it would actually cost you much to take that - not to mention possibly getting lots of bruises because it was a bumpy ride going there).

One must take a stairway trail hike before reaching the cave. I was really tired and it was a test of endurance going there, but once inside, all the aches just vanished away. My camera that time was fairly new and that I still don't know how to properly take pictures, so I struggled with the blur, but overall, I was pretty satisfied with the pictures.

We visited the Tuguegarao Cathedral after this, then went to Tito Jaime's house for some refreshments, then hit the road again going to the town of Tuao, where another one of their former classmates reside. It was where we stayed for the night.


4am of the next day, we were back in the road. We first went to the Our Lady of Piat Church (in the town of Piat) to hear mass and say prayers, and as soon as the mass ended, we went back on the road. Since I was in the company of "elderly people," most of them wanted to go home already, so even if I loved the thought of us staying in Ilocos Norte for a while, they quickly dismissed it.

Actually, all of them really just wanted to go home, but because they somehow knew that I was holding my camera every now and then, Tito Jaime allowed me to go down the van the time we reached Pamplona (to buy pineapples), and when we reached the border of Cagayan Province and Ilocos Norte.


We had our lunch in the town of Pagudpud (Ilocos Norte), but we didn't really go to the picturesque part of the town. We just found a spot to eat lunch, and because we still have a long way to go, they figured we should just keep going. By the time we reached the town of Bangui, we went at the view deck to see the famous windmills, but because rain just passed by, the clouds were really blocking the way.

We were able to hit a few more stops - like buying some garlic in the towns of Pinili (Ilocos Norte) and Sinait (Ilocos Sur) and buying some longganisa, bagnet, and empanada in Vigan. It was already late in the afternoon the time we reached Vigan, so we decided not to take stops anymore. We reached home three hours after.

This road trip was one of the highlights of my travel life. On the surface, it was quite impossible seeing myself being in the company of my aunt and her friends, but it was really awesome that I was able to do this. This travel really did give me the willingness of doing it again. Two years after, I still haven't done it.

*** Jenn ***