La Union and Ilocos Sur, Philippines

The week before Easter, Holy Week, was a school holiday. We rented a two bedroom apartment at the Voice of America's broadcast relay station on Poro Point in San Fernando, La Union just North of Manila. Our fully equipped air-conditioned apartment was perched on a cliff high above the South China Sea. A stairway led down to a secluded cove with lots of interesting tide pools, a narrow sandy beach, and clear cool water. It was beautiful, but the kids preferred the swimming pool at the apartment.

Mac and Maya enjoyed exploring the beach looking for shells and "sea glass," the multicolored pieces of broken glass that have been shaped into beautiful jewels by the rolling waves and coral sand. Mac tried his luck at fishing here without any success. Judging by the numbers of "bancas," outrigger sea canoes, that we saw fishing of the point. The waters must have been largely fished out.

Mac did find many hermit crabs and the occasional starfish. Denny went snorkeling one day and observed a few angel fish and some other small tropical fish.

When we were not barbecuing poolside, we took most of our meals at the many beach restaurants near the resorts just a few miles South of Poro Point. Service was leisurely but there were many things to do while we waited for what usually turned out to be great seafood. Maya and Olive enjoyed looking at the shell jewelry that was being hawked on the beach.

Maya picked out a new necklace and bracelet.

On Good Friday, we drove up the coast to Vigan, the capital of Ilocos Sur. This old Spanish city once rivaled Manila as a commercial center in the Philippines, but now it is a quiet little town that has become something of a tourist haven. Its Spanish architecture give it an Old World charm. What you can't see in the picture is the 100 degree heat reflecting off the brick buildings and the cobblestone streets. The unseasonable heat brought on by El Nino made our short trip to Vigan feel long enough.

We also explored Agoo in La Union. This town has a wonderful old cathedral that was favored by Imelda for restoration during the Marcos era. I guess I did not observe the murals on the ceiling very carefully. Afterwards, I was told that the face of the Blessed Virgin looks uncannily like Imelda Marcos.

All the old towns along the coast of La Union and Ilocos Sur have large cathedrals that front onto town squares. During Holy Week, these squares are alive with activity. Some of the religious activities are quite solemn, but the spiritual side of the holiday exists side-by-side with neon lit carnival rides. The hawkers sell glow-in-the-dark Mother Mary's, coconut rice cakes, giant balloons for the kids, candles and even Chinese Feng Shui mirrors to ward off bad luck. We explored this market in front of the Cathedral in Santa Lucia.

On the religious side of things, they seem to be big on the suffering. The cross here is much more real than ornamental image of my Protestant youth. The Philippine images of Holy Week are very bloody with great attention to the whips, thorns, nails and spears. This is one of about 20 old carriages that each depict a different scene of the suffering of Christ. These antique carriages are displayed in the Agoo Municipal Hall during Holy Week before the faithful pull them through the streets on Good Friday. Lit only by the oil lamps they must be an eerie sight.

There was a beautiful sunset one night as we dined at a seaside restaurant just south of where we stayed. You can see the silhouette of Poro Point reaching out into the China Sea. You can even make out the outline of the two large broadcast towers of the VOA relay station at the tip of the point.

CLICK BACK TO THE BARNES FAMILY HOMEPAGE

Barnes Family Homepage