Second day in La Union was an open day. I told Ria two options - either visit Manaoag Church and do a food trip at Matutina's in Pangasinan, or do a church hop in La Union. She chose the church hop as she has already visited Manaoag Church.
St. Catherine of Alexandria Parish (Luna, La Union). From our place in the town of Bacnotan, we took a bus to the neighboring town of Balaoan and took a tricycle going to the town of Luna. I decided to make this our first stop for the day as we will still travel back to Balaoan anyway. This church houses the miraculous image of Our Lady of Namacpacan. We were thankful that there was a mass celebrated (and in English, too) - it was a good way to start our adventure. You can read a much detailed article about this church in my Travel Blog.
Baluarte Watch Tower. I have visited the Luna Church quite a few times, but I still haven't explored much. One of the places I have longed to visit was the old Baluarte Watch Tower, which was near a beach, I was told. The night before, I already asked my aunt where the tower was, and it turned out my niece Louianne knew where it was. Knowing it was relatively near the church, I told my friend Ria we should give it a visit, too. Despite the heat, we still went there, and enjoyed the sights.
San Nicolas de Tolentino Parish (Balaoan, La Union). From Luna, we took the jeepney back to Balaoan. We can already take a bus ride going to San Fernando, but Ria still wanted to see how the church of Balaoan looked like inside, so we came in. There was a wedding when we arrived, so we instantly became witnesses to their exchange of vows. We waited for the wedding to finish so we can freely take pictures inside.
Halo Halo de Iloko (San Fernando City, La Union). We took a bus directly to San Fernando City (passing by the towns of Bacnotan and San Juan) to eat lunch. This food place is one of those places I really wanted to eat at because almost all of the blogs I have read spoke only of good things about their experiences. It was one of the most interesting places I have eaten in La Union, and yes, the foods were just awesome!
Saints Peter and Paul Parish (Bauang, La Union). We took our time eating lunch, just to enjoy the food trip. Past 1PM, we decided to go to our next destination, the town of Bauang (read: baw-wang). When we got there, the church was closed, but we talked to the church staff to ask for the doors to be opened. Usually during weekdays, Catholic churches are closed, but if there are people who wanted to say their prayers, they will be happy to open the doors, of course.
St. Augustine Parish (Naguilian, La Union). When I was in La Union last March, I sent a text message to my brother telling him I visited the church in Bauang. He told me, I should also visit the church in the neighboring town of Naguilian, because it was just quite near. I wasn't able to do it that time, so asking Ria if she still can travel and walk, we decided to take a jeepney to Naguilian. It was both our first time there, and at first we nearly missed the stop. The church was not along the highway, and thanks to the other passengers in the jeepney, we were able to find the church. As much as the church looked good outside, it wasn't the same inside. Well, they were currently under restoration, so there weren't much to see. Of course, our main reason of visiting churches was to say a prayer, of which we did before leaving.
Thunderbird Resorts (San Fernando City, La Union). We were lucky to see a bus going to San Fernando City, so we took that and took another jeepney going to the Thunderbird Resorts in Poro Point Freeport Zone. Ria was told by friends to visit this place, and since I have visited it before, I was happy to take her there. The resort's motif was the town of Santorini in Greece, and it was really great to visit a posh resort like this, even if we were not staying there. Along the boardwalk was where the South China Sea can be seen, and this is where we waited for the sunset. Just before our watch hit 6PM, we made our way out of the resort back to the heart of the city.
Midtown Food Palace (San Fernando City, La Union). It was already dark when we got back, and we didn't want aunt Julie to exert effort cooking dinner for us, so we looked for a place to eat at before traveling home. Our feet took us to Midtown Food Palace, where I had this for my dinner. It didn't look that marvelous, but I enjoyed my meal. Best thing to happen? Seeing the owner of the restaurant, which, at one point in my life became one of my crushes. :)
Crossing the road, we found a bus going to Bacnotan, which we quickly took. Our second day in La Union was tiring, yes, but very fulfilling. Once home, we just rested a bit, took a light shower, and went straight to sleep. Like drained batteries, we really needed to recharge.
*** Jenn ***
