Illuminative Ilocos Day 4: Villa Angela, Calle Crisologo, Pinsal Falls, and Sta. Maria Church

One good thing that came out of the terrifying turn of events of the previous night was that we were right on schedule – indeed, even ahead of schedule.

I think that, in our eagerness to be out of Villa Angela, Day 4 was the one time we were able to leave our hotel on time.

Which says a lot about Filipino time.

So nobody really wanted to go back to sleep after 4:00 a.m. Nobody really wanted to go out of the room either until the sun rose, so we all just busied ourselves with packing and preparing for our flight back to Cebu early the next day.

Breakfast was to be served at 7, and with plenty of time to spare (and a renewed spirit of courage and adventure), some of my friends and I went up to the main house.

Maybe all this house really needed was a little bit of sunshine.

Then again, maybe not. Check out the owners’ choice of foyer decorations.

The Candidates for Miss Creepy 1889?

Oh look, what a charming room for a séance!

None of us could stand more than five minutes in the main house. So we stood around waiting for breakfast in the great outdoors.

Back in the basement, we also discovered this cute wooden cutaway to the main street. Knowing the history of the basement as a storage for the family’s food supply, the cutaway must have served as a more convenient door for buying goods from passing farmers and merchants.

It now doubles as an emergency exit for scaredy-cat half-hobbits like myself.

Breakfast was a quiet affair. The atmosphere was rather subdued. We divided our complimentary group breakfast among ourselves and took our humble share of 2 Vigan longganizas, 1 fried egg, and rice each. TBH, I did not like the taste of Vigan longganiza all that much. There was a lot of hype about it being a must-try Ilocano delicacy, but it was a “meh” for me at best. Nobody said so aloud at the time, but there were some who gave up their share of longganizas altogether (I took them anyway. Food was food, good or meh).

Now then, would I recommend staying in Villa Angela? Absolutely. Spacious bedrooms, passable guest service, authentic Vigan experience…

But this is YOU, we’re talking about. There’s no way I’m going back to that place.

Before saying adios to Vigan City, we decided to pop in Calle Crisologo one last time, because the street scene was supposed to be very different in the morning.

And it was indeed.

I got a steaming hot taho for PHP 20.00, which partially made up for the fact that I never did got to try Vigan empanada and bagnet. Oh well…

We were then off to Pinsal Falls. Located in Santa Maria, Ilocos Sur, it was at least an hour away from Vigan City and more than a little way off the main road.

On the way there, I thought that there couldn’t possibly be a waterfalls (much less twin waterfalls) nearby, because we were surrounded by seemingly endless stretches of rice and corn fields on both sides of the narrow road.

But then I was wrong.

Mind. Blown.

Having trekked down further for a waterfalls (I’m looking at you Bomod-ok!), Pinsal Falls was a breeze. And it really couldn’t get any better than this…

You can almost hear the choir of heavenly angels.

By the time we got there at half-past 9 in the morning, the sun was burning holes down our backs, whereas the water was very cold. We had tons of fun.

Perhaps the biggest deal-breaker for Pinsal was the extinction of clean bathrooms. There were two bathrooms that must have seen better days, but by the time we got there, they emitted stenches so foul they were dubiously inhuman.

Instead of subjecting ourselves to long-term poisoning effects, we chose to change our clothes out in the open. Tres au naturel. But it couldn’t be helped.

Our last stop was the Sta. Maria Church.

I read online later on that it had a cemetery ruins out back, but I wasn’t able to check it out.

Also, these Ilocanos have a thing for bell towers.

Which I gotta admit came in pretty handy for shade.

We had our last Ilocano lunch in the Little Panda in Candon City, Ilocos Sur, and it was one of the most charming house-turned-restaurants I had ever seen.

The Big-Eaters’ Table. We love to live it big.

I decided to get the house special pork sisig and experiment with the sizzling tofu.

Both of which were fantastic, by the way, and kept me warm and full for the – wait for it – 8-hour drive to Manila. Yes, in the absence of a promo fare for a Clark-Cebu flight, we had to book one from Manila. From Ilocos Sur, the amazing Kuya Joseph drove us southwards to La Union, Pangasinan, Tarlac, Pampanga, Bulacan, and then Manila.

So for those of you future Happy Juanderers who want to take on Ilocos Norte and Ilocos Sur soon, take my advice: Buy neck pillows. Lots of them. You’re going to need them.