Miscellaneous Vigan Pictures

Calle Crisologo
Vigan City, Ilocos Sur
25 May 2010

Calle Crisologo is my favorite spot in Vigan City. I can just sit in one of the benches along the street and watch as time, people, and kalesas pass by. This post contains the miscellaneous pictures taken in the famous street - in color.


Saint Bernard. I forgot the name of the dog - Brutus or Polgas, but anyway, I am very fond of Saint Bernards, and when I saw an online album posted by one of my friends in her Friendster page, I also hoped in seeing the dog. It was my lucky day as the dog was chillaxin' by the police station. People were welcome to have pictures taken with the dog - he was a very sweet dog, although he was quite big.


Viva Vigan. From what I know of, Viva Vigan is a festival held April or early May. This has been a mission of mine: to attend this festival in the future.

The street looks good during daytime, but I love it more during dusk, when the lights were on and the skies turns dark blue to indigo.




Orange Lights. One of my much awaited look in the street.


In Bare Feet. My Hanson friends and I have taken pictures of ourselves in bare feet as our way of going with Hanson's "The Walk" tour. I decided to go barefoot in walking along the cobbled stone floors of the street... well, just because I haven't done that yet. I have been to Vigan so many times, but I always have something "first" whenever I visit.


Classic. One of the last few pictures I took in the street. Happy to have a picture of the street without any people or vehicle in it. Clean street! Me likey!

After taking some dusk pictures in the street, brother and I then went to Jollibee to take out foods, then hailed a tricycle to the Viron Transit terminal where we wait for the last bus out going to Cubao, Quezon City. Time to go home for us.

*** Jenn ***

Vigan in Sepia

Vigan City, Ilocos Sur
25 May 2009

Vigan City is known of its rustic charm... people who wanted to feel what's it like back in the Spanish era would come here to have a trip back to memory lane. On this particular trip to Vigan, I decided to take pictures around Vigan in sepia just to complete that nostalgic trip in my favorite place.


Kalesa. Kalesa is the horse drawn carriage used in the olden days to transport people. Nowadays, even if there are cars, jeepneys, buses, and all sorts of transportation modes, certain parts of the Philippines still uses the kalesa, and Vigan City is one of those places. Typical fare for short distances was about 15 pesos (roughly .35USD), but tourists can rent the kalesa for 150 pesos (a little over 3USD) per hour, and the driver will take you to every tourist spot in the city. Groups benefit from it a lot because they can just divide the rent amongst themselves, but since I am in the plus size and that I have my own experiences with the kalesa, I often time opt to take the tricycle (motorcycle with a side car) or just walk, if I can. There is a kalesa terminal near the Plaza Salcedo, fronting the Vigan Cathedral, so if you want to take the ride, just come to this place to haggle with the drivers.




The Vigan Plaza Hotel. The last time I was in the city was 7 months ago, and I cannot recall if this hotel was already there. Certainly, this was the first time I took a picture of the hotel, and if given the chance to stay overnight in the City, I would want to stay here.


The Syquia Mansion. The residence of the former Philippine President Elpidio Quirino. The house is now a museum (open everyday except Tuesdays), housing memorabilia of the Quirino family. Brother and I wanted to come in, but the main door was closed. The kalesa driver told us to just knock, but brother and I decided not to go anymore. Maybe next time.

The Calle Crisologo (Crisologo Street) is the most famous street in Vigan City. This street is where old structures were seen that dates back to the Spanish era. There are some houses outside the street that are old, too, but this street is probably the only street that had the most number of old structures. This is also where most souvenir shops are located.


Entering Calle Crisologo. This is my favorite spot in Vigan City. Just entering this is like entering heaven.


Ice Cream Man. Here in the Philippines, there is something called, "dirty ice cream." It's not really, really, dirty - still edible and very delicious, too, but because the vendor pushes his cart (it's like ice cream truck without the truck) and will directly scoop out ice cream in a cone (or a cup or a bun), parents would ask their kids not to buy because it was "dirty." Well, if you ever come to the Philippines, one of the street foods you should try is the dirty ice cream. :)


Motion Sickness. Seeing the kalesa about to pass by the street, instinct just asked me to take the shot. I am using the point and shoot camera, so seeing this one with the kalesa a bit clear and the background a bit blurred made me a bit happy. :)

More pictures from Calle Crisologo on the next post.

*** Jenn ***

Be One With the Wild

Baluarte Zoo
Vigan City, Ilocos Sur
+63 (77)7227186
25 May 2009

Giving myself the theme "Vigan in Sepia" to work on, I planned to re-visit the National Museum, which was located at the house of Father Jose Burgos (one of the GomBurZa martyrs who were executed during the Spanish era on the charges of rebellion). To our disappointment, the museum was closed every Mondays, so even if we didn't plan to visit the animals, brother and I decided to go to the Baluarte Zoo instead.

The zoo was located in a lot near Chavit Singson's house, former Governor of the province of Ilocos Sur. At first, he just opened the land to tourists to showcase his collection of animals, but it gained fame, and now it's one of the places to visit while in Vigan. It was one of the most unique zoos I have visited, because everybody can come in for free and they can pet the animals as well.

What to see in Baluarte?


Birds. There were a lot of different birds in the zoo, and these critters were the very first ones tourists will see upon entering. Some of the birds don't have chains, but the blue and yellow parrot had chains because it was a cranky parrot. :) Aside from these, they have other kinds of birds, too.

I was very surprised to see a lot of changes in the zoo - for one, tourists were allowed to feed the birds by placing some seeds on their hands, but of course, they had to talk to the staffs firsts for supervision. No worries, there are a lot of staffs in the area.




Land Before Time? These huge dinosaurs (the smaller one is quite difficult to see) were one of the newest additions in the zoo. I was 50-50 with these ones... at some point I felt it doesn't jive with the zoo, but people like it, so okay. :)


Camel. One of the new animals in the zoo. It was my first time to see a real camel, and not only was I able to see one, I was able to touch and feed it, too!


Deer. If there are new, these were one of the "regular" ones. :) One of the great things about this zoo is that tourists can pet these animals and that they are not really caged. There is a fence separating the animals with the guests, but the grasses used for feeding the animals are just by the fence, making the animals come near the guests. This area houses all sorts of animals - deer, small donkeys, ostriches, camels, and small birds like geese and chickens. Yes, they all live happily together.


Butterfly. The zoo also has a butterfly sanctuary. People can come as near to the butterflies as they would want to, but no one is allowed to touch the butterflies to protect them.


Lizard. Just outside the butterfly sanctuary are the caged small animals like the sugar bear cat, iguana, and this lizard among others. This particular lizard was inside a terrarium, and I was lucky that it was quite near the edge so I was able to take good picture.


Tigers. Another first time for us to visit was the area of the lions and tigers located at the elevated part of the zoo. It was rather a stiff climb going there, but for elderly people, there's a golf cart service available for free. For people who didn't want to climb up, there were tigers near the entrance, too.

With so many things to see and do in this zoo, it was truly one of the best zoos I've ever seen. It was really nice to be one with the wild, and although I wasn't able to see Rufa the Monkey, I still enjoyed my stay here.

*** Jenn ***