Philippine Travel Notes

Enough of Calle Crisologo. It is the main tourist strip yes, but elsewhere in this village are other noteworthy places that I saw. While not anymore on cobbled streets, some houses not located on Calle Crisologo have also been preserved to maintain their olden look. And some of these houses are equally big, some even bigger than those at Mena Crisologo Street. Just the same, they look mesmerizingly attractive in their olden glory, even if obviously battered by time and the elements. Take the case of that Chinese School. You would not think that is where the children of the affluent Tsinoys go to everyday to learn their lessons, right? But it is! They just preserved the way the façade looks since those times. The school looks a bit more “era” (okay, eerie too if you want) because right across is another olden house that received a bit of sprucing with some dominantly orange color because it is now the “My Vigan House” hotel hehe. Hey, even the Syquia Museum is a block away from Calle Cr

Alright… I was full, had some bit of a siesta watching ‘longaniza distribution’ at Café Leona’s and ready to roam again! The famed Calle Crisologo was first on my mind of course, but where I was sitting was itself already part of the heritage village! So, who is Leona by the way? Well, don’t start looking for her to ask about her menu hehe. The restaurant’s name is not because she is owner and or chef. She died a little over a dozen years even BEFORE Rizal was shot at Bagumbayan! Yes, she was Leona Florentino, a poet and playwright of distinction in her time. The restaurant was named in her honor. It does not say in the historical marker but I take it that she lived in this house. Oh, on the same building (its too big for me to call just a house, another person is immortalized via another historical marker. He is Isabelo Delos Reyes, “tagapagtatag ng kilusang paggawa sa Piliinas”. I am not so sure but I think that means he was the founder of organized labor in the country. Unionism to

Hungry! Yes the mind was brimming full with the experiences of the ‘just arrived’ trip from Laoag but the tummy dear was starting to create a revolution! So I walked the plaza towards Calle Crisologo. I still remember from my last tour we ate at a good restaurant in some old era house near the entrance to that street and just fronting the plaza where our tour bus parked. I knew it was a woman’s name for a restaurant. Definitely not Greenwich (to my right as I walked) and definitely not Max’s also on the right (though it is by the entrance to Calle Crisologo)). Then in front of me I saw the aged signboard that said Café Leona. I looked back, just to see if the plaza was really behind me. Yes, this was it! Café Leona! While the waiter laid their book of a menu on the table I told him “Vigan Longanisa, plain rice and coke regular”! Hah, am sure he got it that I was really really hungry hehe. He attempted to ask if I wanted the “longsilog” but he was not even finished yet, I answered “no”

How long did you say it takes? Two hours? One and a half? One hour? Well, my trip took just a little over 3 hours. Yes, three hours and a few more minutes. But am not complaining. I enjoyed this “eventful” trip, if for the experience! 9:30AM, I was already at the bus terminal for ride that goes Laoag to Vigan. These are non-airconditioned buses that the ‘normal’ riding public take. So-so, if you can call them that. Some are mini-buses, some are the real size buses but way far from your De Luxe classes that ply the route to Manila. Those premier buses are options when going to Vigan, of course. But for this trip, I wanted to take the rides that the common lakay, manong, manang, ading, baket, balasang, kabsat, kasinsin, ubing, etc etc would usually take. And there I was at a claustrophobic bus sation where everyone was perspiring while the bus waited for more passengers. And when the engine was started, all inhalations were of course emissions from the tambutso! I had to ask my seatmate