Here we go! In my previous post, we've explored the sand dunes of Paoay, Ilocos Norte. Today, I'll bring you farther up north! Sounds exciting, right? 😉
From Paoay, we traveled approximately 95 kilometers to reach Pagudpud, Ilocos Norte. Pagudpud is famous for Patapat Viaduct, Blue Lagoon Beach, and Bantay Abot Cave among others. And in this post, we'll explore two out of three. 😁
Waking up in Blue Lagoon
After our outrageous 4WD ride at Paoay's sand dunes, we stopped by somewhere in Paoay to eat dinner. We were dead tired but we had to travel another 3 hours to reach our homestay in Pagudpud. We arrived in Pagudpud before midnight and got the rest we all deserve after traveling around 480km that day. As we were trying to visit all sites we could along the way,
After resting well, I woke up to the sunrise I never thought I deserved in my entire life. It had been two years since I graduated from college; I thought it was about time I finally give myself the freedom I never had when I was still studying. I could say that traveling was my way of pampering myself for all the hardships I had to put through just to graduate. Traveling became my best escape from people and circumstances I had no strength to face. Luckily, I have the coolest bunch of officemates who are as adventurous as I am. That's a little back story of this trip!
Despite the exhaustion from the previous day's long land trip, we had to wake up early and explore the beach in Blue Lagoon. Our homestay was located on the other end of Blue Lagoon Beach so we had to walk about 300 meters just to reach Hannah's Beach Resort. Just so you won't be confused, the entire beach is dubbed Blue Lagoon but there are various resorts within the long stretch of powdery white sand and one of which is the famous Hannah's Beach Resort. It'd be a total waste of money if we paid the expensive room rates at Hannah's knowing we won't be able to make the most out of it for only half a day. We opted to get a cheap homestay.
The Blue Lagoon Beach was what I envisioned it to be. It was calm at first giving us the solemn morning feels we needed after a day of shouting at the back of the 4WDs. But when we got closer to the part where most locals and tourists stayed, we were all wrong. The waves suddenly picked up and before we knew it, we were already playing, I repeat playing with the waves. Playing with the waves has been a tradition of mine every time I'm on the beach, but this time, I'm not doing it alone. Everyone else enjoyed the unexpected waves that crashed on the shore and mind you it's the kind of wave that appeared only when it's near the shore leaving us no time to prepare. So yeah, that explains the reason why we had such fun as early as 7 AM that day. I thought the shouting was over but guess, shouting became a default during the entire Ilocos Trip! 😂
I would want to describe more in words the kind of fun we had that morning in Blue Lagoon but knowing photos could do the job better, I'll just leave all these photos here. Nobody got hurt during the entire time we're playing with the waves. The worst was drinking a lot of seawater but that's it! 😂 Glad you're already here on Hive @mrandmrscanama and @meetatiana 'coz I can now tag you!😛
I also had my time with the waves...and as you can see, my happiness is as simple as playing with them. Oh, I sound like a broken record but believe me, if only my mother would permit me, I would've come back here and stayed longer. A month or two or perhaps longer? These are the days I wish I could just quit my job and travel. Unfortunately, the kind of job I want doesn't allow such a flexible set-up.
What's in Patapat Viaduct?
It was a shame that we couldn't stay for more than 24 hrs in Blue Lagoon beach as we need to visit other sites on our way to Vigan, Ilocos Sur where we stayed on our 2nd night. We ate our breakfast on our way back to our homestay, hurried back, and prepared to travel back to Vigan. The travel back to Vigan wasn't boring at all for we dropped by all possible destinations we passed by along the way. One of which and perhaps, a destination that's always on the list of tourists is the Patapat Viaduct.
To start with, the Patapat Viaduct wasn't built to be a tourist spot. I hope that is clear! 😅 It was built to connect the Maharlika Highway from Ilocos Region to Cagayan Valley (another region in the Philippines). The viaduct is elevated at approximately 31 meters above sea level and is 1.3km long. Being located at the northermost tip of Ilocos Norte, the viaduct give us a stunning view of the Pagudpud's beauty. Sadly, I don't have a drone that could perfect capture the entire viaduct's glory from end to end. I only have a few photos below:
We spent less than ten minutes in Patapat. Of course, aside from flying drones, there's actually nothing else you can do in Patapat. It's just for sightseeing and picture taking. But if you can spare 5 minutes and you're traveling in your private vehicle, might as well drop by! You'll love the view here. Don't drop by at 12 noon to 3 PM, it'll be too hot during those hours.
That's all for today fellow travelers! I'll be back for more (and I mean it) of my Ilocos trip! I hope you all have a great start to this new week! 😁
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