Baguio and Vigan

Since I'm grounded in the Philippines for awhile waiting for my lost cards to get sent here, Jose and I take a sort trip north to the cities of Baguio and Vigan.

In Baguio, we visit our friend Edlibert's mother.  She's a treasure of a woman.   A small treasure, standing at about 3 foot 7.  She's a wonderful hostess and conversationalist, telling us anecdotes frequently peppered with her favorite phrase "Echetterra, echetterra, echetterra."

After a brief time in Baguio, we bus to to Vigan, in Ilocos Sur.  The rocketed along turning a two hour trip into six hours.  Seriously?!!!  It stopped every damn few feet to pick people up or drop them off.  Can't they do one stop per town?  At one point, we stopped to pick someone up and there was another woman literally 10 meters ahead with her hand out for the bus.  You couldn't have walked your fat arse a bit forward to make it one stop?  After a week, or so it seemed, we arrived in Vigan which is the birthplace of Jose's father.  Vigan is the most enchanting city in the Philippines.  It's preserved it's gorgeous Spanish colonial look and has been named a UNESCO world heritage site.  I think a cool bucket list would be to do every world heritage site in Asia.  We meet up with some of Jose's relatives and hang out with them.  Navigating cobblestone streets is quite taxing on a wheelchair, although maybe Jose enjoyed some of the vibrational effect, so we opted to transport ourselves via calesa - a horse and buggy (see video here).

My cousins are half Ilocano with the last name Collado.  Hmmm...

My favorite filipino dish is pinakbet - a vegetable stew that includes bitter melon, eggplant and is flavored with bagoong (fermented shrimp paste).  The Ilocanos are known to make the best pinakbet.  Here we ordered pinakbet pizza.  I can't wait to recreate this at home. 

The Ilocanos are also known for their longanisa.  In this video, Jose tries and fails to show us how to eat it Pinoy-style.  It's a sausage that they make terrifically well.  It tastes a little like Portuguese linguisa, but drier, smokier and less spicy. 

We stay in a gorgeous old colonial town, formerly the residence of the Gobernorcillo (mayor under Spanish rule).  Our room has a big four poster bed, mosquito netting, and capiz shell windows.  Tom Cruise stayed here for a month when he was filming some scenes for "Born on the Fourth of July". Right outside our room is a huge formal dining room where we are served breakfast.  It's one of the most enchanting places I've ever stayed. 

We find a disco one night - pretty sad, really - that has "perfect Manhattans"on the menu.  Apparently a perfect Manhattan in Vigan is green, sweet and comes with an olive.