Philippine Travel Notes

The Municipal Hall Out of the church, I roamed the vicinity, instinctively propelling myself towards the municipal hall. Hmm, nice one. I mean I approached the building from the back but its good to know that their kind of plaza or activity center is actually behind the municipal hall. Literally! The small plaza and stage are right at the back while the basketball court is beyond which becomes right at the back of the church. Unique I must say, since most everywhere in this country, the plaza, sometimes parks or gardens and the sports centers are usually hemmed in front of the church and the municipal or city hall. In Paoay, you can say that both edifices are facing away from each other. Unique really, and there’s an advantage. The mayor and all its employees are forced to make every side of their municipal hall clean and presentable. Yep, you can ask me how many such munisipyos in this country have their sides or backs serving as dumping areas of this and that. Not in Paoay! So I ...

So, let’s do the church? No am not repeating what you already know or what you may already see via a google search on descriptions, architectural styles and dates about this church. What you are about to uncover are my thoughts, things that came to my mind while visiting this church again! First, I thought this must have been one of the most photographed edifices in the Ilocos. Just a hunch, but when I txtd a web-savvy friend, he confirmed that, with an added bonus that Vigan’s church comes second! Wow. And look at what visitors would do for a good shot of this mesmerizing structure! I didn’t/don’t know him/them and sorry folks If I had to use this pic. I just find it too interesting! And yes, whoever you were/are, I salivated at the gadgets you carry. Then again, I think I don’t envy the part that you had to lug those cumbersome things hehe! Curious as to how good a view/shot would it have been that the handsome dude had to click in that prone position… when they moved forward, I did ...

The jeep ride from Batac was as short as something like just 10 minutes. But what did I expect since that is just about 4 kilometers away. Probably the nice plains and the views of Mariano Marcos State University main campus consumed me that on arrival at Paoay, I thought I did not want it to happen yet hehe! Probably too I was having so much fun making faces with the son of the driver sitting on his mother’s lap between me and the driver! Ah, everytime I would aim the camera at the kid his face would become serious but curious! And we were all laughing because even his parents couldn’t make the cute little kid smile at my cam. Maybe he was afraid the camera would spurt something out to his face whehehehehe! But there I was and the driver asked if I wanted to get off near the church. I said yes, and he said it was better to get off where we were (he stopped) as he was heading left towards the municipal hall and market. So, okay, I jumped out from my front seat! Said buh-bye to the kid ...