The northern shores will hush your heart

I haven’t had a vacation for more than a year. There’s no place like home but if home is the city, our bustling metropolitan Manila, then you know what I mean when I say that it can get a little too crowded with around 11 million people packed in there. 

 

The claustrophobia of perennial gridlock and the heat waves at the tail end of summer is like lunch hour at a maximum security cell block. Sooner or later, you’re going to snap and it’s not just from the claustrophobia. 

 

Experts say—and this is true, off something the lab monkeys call “catastrophe theory”—it’s a small miracle if you don’t blow your top when Manila gets to be a pressure cooker. 

 

Since I value my sanity, we went to NAIA Terminal Two to board a PAL's “payday special” flight bound north for Laoag, Ilocos Norte, on a bright but nippy July afternoon. 

 

Bounded to the west and north by the West Philippine Sea (South China Sea), Pagudpud’s been called the great secret getaway of the Ilocos region with its crystal blue waters and white sands. I’d previously been to this province two years ago, on assignment. Before that the farthest north I’d gone was La Union, and I didn’t even do any surfing. 

 

Ilocos Norte’s bucolic countryside coupled with the rugged beauty of Pagudpud’s Blue Lagoon stuck to my head like a supermodel glimpsed through a moving train window. On a good, clear day, you can even see the Babuyan Islands in the distance.

 

The sight of it haunted my dreams for months afterwards, and I remember telling myself, all MacArthur-like: I shall return for a real vacay. 

 

After wrapping up the assignment and dusting off the scattered materials, I found that I’d pocketed away brochures and pamphlets from the resorts we’d zoomed through. Soon as I had free time, I set about executing a good trip outline right away with my fiancée. 

 

If you’re going to a resort town like Pagudpud, you’re faced with a choice of either the Saud or Blue Lagoon beaches. The former is more accessible and has more creature comforts, but it also means more tourists, which I detest; the latter is more ensconced and isolated in Sitio Baniaran, approximately 15 kilometers away from Saud. Enough distance, I judged, from the reek of hirsute, shirtless expats and beer-guzzling city boys. 

 

So, with visions of a young Brooke Shields and Milla Jovovich, we decided it was Blue Lagoon all the way. We’d previously canvassed a stay at the mega-luxurious Hannah’s Resort, but by coordinating with the people at Kapuluan Vista Resort at Sitio Baniaran, Barangay Balaoi, and asking my friends, we decided that this homelier, surfer-friendly, and significantly less mainstreamed place was perfect. 

 

Owned by California-born Fil-Am pro-surfer Mike Oida and his wife Alma, KVR boasts a sense of easygoing community with the smaller, albeit more quality-focused single floor complex of only 10 rooms and a smattering of dormitory accommodations. Plus, everyone just raved about their homemade ice cream. 

 

We booked a deluxe room for two, which only cost P2,800 per night on the off-peak season. After chancing on a “Piso Flight” fare and sending the requisite half down payment for the room, we were quickly congratulating ourselves on a niftily-planned planned vacation. For four days, three of them spent in Pagudpud and the remaining day and a half in Laoag City, we were sure there’d be space enough to do things and still fend off any notion of hurry. 

 

Fast forward to the day of the flight; a mere one and a half hour to get to Laoag with an ETA of 5 p.m. Despite the PAL plane arriving on time, the darn flight was late to take off the tarmac. The air traffic gods were not with us and so, upon landing in Laoag airport, it was already past 7 p.m. 

 

The free shuttle service that the local government has generously provided to boost tourism was right outside—a sleek, red mini-bus decorated with a theme of happy cartoon sightseers and fun fonts. Since it had to wait to be filled up we almost missed the last GMW bus out bound for Cagayan. Though we got “standing only” tickets, we were lucky enough to lasso two free seats. On the dark provincial roads, we were now on our last push to the beach. 

 

Concerned for us, the KVR booking manager sent me the whole menu via SMS, wanting to know what we wanted for dinner since she was sure road fare wasn’t going to cut it. Whoa, we weren’t even there yet and already northern hospitality had embraced us.  

 

After three hours, we finally came to the rendezvous point of Gaoa Restaurant around 11:30 p.m. There’s very little traffic or tricycles at this hour but, fortunately, I’d been coordinating with a tricycle driver since Manila, a shy, quiet man who drives a flamboyant, neon trike aptly dubbed The Pink Panther. He lived nearby but had been waiting patiently since 9 p.m. With full throttle speed, we stepped off at Kapuluan Vista Resort a few minutes before midnight. 

 

Hats off to the KVR staff, all six of them, who’d anticipated our arrival, opened the main gates and served us the dinner we’d ordered on the road, with nary a blink or word of complaint. It was as if we’d dropped in in mid-afternoon, their energy and attention fully intact. 

 

Ushered into our room, we almost collapsed from the frenzy of sprinting and worry. We were finally here. On the succession of nights there I soothed muscles and nerves I never knew I had. There is nothing more thrilling, you see, than to fall asleep on a soft, warm bed to the susurrus of waves. Nothing, except doing so with your significant other beside you. 

 

At KVR, where even cell phone signals are choppy at best, I was suckled in peace. Quiet, real and natural. That angel that so rarely visits REM sleep in the city. It’s an indulgence worth traveling for. It’s at locations like this that I achieve super sleep and recharge myself from marrow to sinew. Cemeteries don’t have this kind of quiet. I don’t think babies sleep this deep. 

  

While KVR has amenities enough, like a restaurant that boasts ingredients picked fresh off their organic vegetable and herb garden, free Wi-Fi (at the resto), a swimming pool, and rentals of surfboard and snorkeling equipment, there was more than enough to do with a five-minute walk down to the lublob-friendly cove of the Blue Lagoon where the waves are less intense. 

 

The waves on the beach in front of KVR were for those who wanted to surf up, but nearer the cove you can rent one of the cottages from the nearest resort for P400 for the whole day. Not bad at all. 

 

Floating on those cerulean waters, buoyed up by the salt, and the gentle waves lapping against my skin, this is how the North hushed my heart and head, and turned the trip into a true vacation. With the off-peak season, there was only a single family of four with us, having the utmost fun kayaking in rookie awkwardness.    

 

Are you familiar with the time dilation/contraction that afflicts the local drivers in Pagudpud? I was. It’s the kind that makes them say “Five minutes lang, sir!” to any query regarding a sightseeing destination. After 30 minutes you begin to wonder if this is some conspiracy to part tourists from their moolah. We avoided any such complications by listing down the locations where we wanted to go. No places of “interest” for us, please. 

 

It was with great excitement that we ticked the Bangui Windmills and the windy coast off our “to see” list. The huge windmill hands arced overhead as we walked down the sand, their texture like hail in very fine, miniature pebbles. 

 

While there are other sights to go to if you take the full Pagudpud tour, like the stunningly alien landscape of the Kapurpurawan Rock Formation and the Cape Bojeador Lighthouse, we’d already seen them before. Besides, both climbing the Lighthouse and trekking the swampy topography to the Formation are more apt for groups who like to take photos and pose for posterity. We were neither.    

 

When we got tired of all the windmills, we took a dip in the KVR pool to cool off. For the next few nights, we sampled the array of culinary delights of the restaurant. Meat lovers should of course try the Bagnet then go for some excellent Pork Steak. Vegetarians can opt for the Veggie Burger or the Garlic and Herb Pasta with Sundried Tomatoes. 

 

If you’re lucky, your stay will coincide with a Mongolian Buffet night, where the cooking staff fires up your custom-picked bowl and serves it to you red hot. If you have a sweet tooth, it is imperative you have a taste of their homemade iced cream, or the ice cream crepe. It’s like a piece of sweet nirvana that comes in chocolate or butterscotch syrup. 

 

With the taste of that ice cream still on our taste buds, we capped off our stay at KVR, waved goodbye to our guide and chauffeur, and hopped on a bus bound for Laoag. –KG, GMA News