I got the chance to finally visit Vigan back in June with JP. After staying a night in Manila, we took a plane to Laoag, stayed one night there and then took the early morning bus for the two-hour ride to Vigan. The road to Vigan is not unlike what you would see if you travel north or south of Dumaguete--farm land, sugarcane fields, houses, and small towns in between. I get the feeling that is what you would see if you hit any of the provinces in the Philippines. The only difference is that when you reach Vigan, you immediately feel a sense of history, start seeing images of 1900s Philippines, remember Jose Rizal and GomBurZa and all the other bits and fragments that make up memories of history classes in high school and college. I loved how the streets are lined with those old-looking streetlamps, how calesas ply the streets like it's 1910, and how people do modern day activities, like operate Internet cafes or go to the bank inside century old brick buildings. The sound of horses' hooves on the cobblestone streets add to the varied sensations and make those images really come alive.
Once we got off the bus, we started walking, weaving around town towards our hotel. We walked past Calle Crisologo and the other streets which were much quieter since only tourists and calesas are allowed. People were sitting outside souvenir shops, old men and women, young boys were playing, I could see other tourists buying T-shirts and local wine.
After freshening up, we went back out, since it was only a little bit after lunch. After grabbing a bite to eat at one of the restaurants located inside a really old building (no pictures, sadly.) we headed to Calle Crisologo to do some some serious exploring, since you can't really say that you've been to Vigan if you have not been to this street. Calle Crisologo is everything I imagined it to be! Century-old houses line the streets, calesas share the road with the tourists, and I've never seen so much antique pieces concentrated in one place. My eyes were immediately full with all the textures and details.
(*sigh*)
I'll let the photos do the rest of the talking.
I've been a long time gone now
Maybe someday, someday I'm gonna settle down
But I've always found my way somehow
--The Dixie Chicks
Taking the Long Way Around
Short post! I've been missing all the traveling done when the hubby was here so I looked through some photos taken during our trip to Vigan and the stopovers in between.
Before taking the plane to Vigan, we had to stay overnight in Manila. It was a good thing that my sister was already there for her one year internship so we saved on hotel expenses by crashing there for one night and catching the midday flight to Laoag the next day. One Wilson's Place is this tall condo building that was easy to spot but we got lost arriving from the airport and had to walk back from where the taxi dropped us off before we spotted the LBC sign that marked where the building was across the street. The familiar faces (Manilyn, my sister!) were a welcome sight, especially since they both had a lot of stories to tell and I had a lot to catch up on.
Greenhills was just a short walk away and Manilyn showed off her skills in directions by telling us stories of how she navigated the streets when going for groceries and going off to church on her own. We walked all the way to Greenhills, savoring being in a quiet (-er) part of Manila, passing by the hospital where my sister was spending her internship, and did a little exploring of the shops before getting a bite to eat. Afterwards, it was another trip on foot back to the condo, where we got some much needed shut-eye for the next day's trip.
The following shots are of the city from the balcony.
Well, it's not really, but I enjoy making the packaging for photos as much as I enjoy taking them. This is the first box created in my new apartment (WOOT!) since I transferred my crafting supplies there. Planning on making more memories in that apartment and taking more pictures there, too! For now, proof box photos :)
“Life isn't about finding yourself. Life is about creating yourself.”
― George Bernard Shaw
This is from a personal shoot I did with a friend last Saturday, an hour of scampering over rocks and staring at the old, gnarled branches of huge acacia trees while feeling the soft texture of sand inside my shoes (yes, methinks I need to get my shoes fixed or buy a new pair). Anyway, I was in heaven. It feels soooooo good, going back to nature, even for just a few hours and just immersing yourself as you stand surrounded by trees and plants and smelling the faint scent of wild flowers as you walk past them. There are pockets of them around the city, and wide swaths as you go towards the mountains. Its realizations like these, that I can go to these places when I want to because they are just minutes away from where I live, that make me appreciate Dumaguete even more.
I love shooting Rena since I've shot her once before so I think I have a pretty good idea about how she poses and what angles look good on her. She's also very laid back so shooting her never feels awkward.
We were also schoolmates in law school so a few hours with her is spent talking about law school stuff, reminiscing about professors and talking about Bar exam preparations in between shots. I was eager to shoot in this spot since I've been going to this area A LOT lately and I saw how gorgeous this dried-up riverbed is. Everything is pretty here especially the large acacia trees. Their trunks were a soft, light brown and the leaves are the just the right shade of hunter green. Plus, there was a field of dried up acacia leaves in fierce orange and brown, which made for a really dramatic (and free!) backdrop! More on that later. Still processing Rena's photos but I'm just too excited to post a few, so I'm posting four frames :)