Pangasinan: Tondol Beach in Anda, Pangasinan

Tondol Beach is definitely the best beach in Pangasinan and perfect when the tide is low. The last time I visited the beach, the tide was a bit high. So it wasn't a really great view. So I made sure to come back again when the tide was lower.

It's a five to six hour drive from Manila to Anda, Pangasinan. You'll go through Camiling and pass by Lingayen and through Alaminos (stopover at the Hundred Islands anyone?). It's on the way to Bolinao, right after the town of Bani.

The bad part about today was that low tide was at 1 a.m. And we were scheduled to arrive in Tondol at 10:30 a.m. Make sure you check what time low tide is. We decided to take the risk and we were not disappointed. The sun was perfect (the best time to visit is in the morning to early afternoon). By the time we arrived, the sand was already underwater. But thanks to the clear blue sky, Tondol did not fail to impress.

What I like about Tondol is the powder ivory white sand. In fact, there is an island one kilometer from the shore which you could walk or wade to. And it's powder white sand all the way. When the tide is low, you can pick a spot in the middle of the water and just sit down there the whole day. So if there is any beach that can claim to be the Boracay of the North, it's Tondol! But why even claim such a thing? Why are we always content with being a copy of the original when each beach is unique.

Tondol is actually a public beach and entrance fee is only PHP5. You can rent large huts for PHP200. For now, there aren't any good resorts to stay in so the best option when visiting Tondol is to stay overnight in neighboring Bolinao which is about 45 minutes away.

Travel advisory
As of this writing, the bridge in Bani is under construction and they let cars pass through a detour which is really long and rough. So if you're bringing a car, one option is to pass by Mabini. That's a longer detour but roads are paved all the way. The other option is a short-cut detour near the bridge for light vehicles that was built by some enterprising locals. They charge a PHP20 toll fee for you to pass through a dirt road built through private properties. It saves you a lot of time.

Pangasinan: Visita iglesia to Western Pangasinan churches

Pangasinan has a lot of heritage churches. And it being a really big province, the churches are scattered all over. One route is the Western Pangasinan route from Camiling, Tarlac to Bolinao, Pangasinan. I noticed old churches in the towns of Mangatarem, Aguilar, Bugallon, Lingayen, Labrador, Alaminos, and Bolinao.

The first stop is the church in Mangatarem. You can't miss the Mangatarem Church because of its large green dome. The convento beside it is also intact but renovations have been done to the interior.

Aguilar is a next town. The Aguilar Church is very much intacts since the simple ceiling paintings, its wooden retablo and the convento are still there. I hope it stays that way.

Bugallon does not seem to have an old church. That's because the old town church is not along the National Highway. You'll have to enter Brgy. Salasa to see this old red brick church. The Salasa Church even has remnants of its old perimeter wall still standing.

Since I started late in the afternoon, I stayed in Lingayen for the night. It's a coastal town and if you're very observant, you'll notice some colorful birds every now and then. The Lingayen Co-Cathedral (its co-cathedral is in Dagupan). This one is a depressing story. And it is a blatant example of Roman Catholic Church, Inc. which I mentioned in the visita iglesia in Batangas post.

The centuries-old convento was demolished and a commercial structure was built to replace it, all under the watch of Archbishop Oscar Cruz. I expected much more from Archbishop Cruz. This incident is very sad.

When in Lingayen, make sure to drop by the Pangasinan Capitol and Lingayen Beach which is famous because of the MacArthur Landings during the Second World War. Several years back, even the Spanish colonial Casa Real was still intact. But a typhoon blew off its roof and it's now in a very sad situation.

On the way to Alaminos, you'll pass by the town of Labrador. I noticed the church was a bit old but I wasn't able to stop to investigate it further. Alaminos Cathedral, just like many cathedrals, has been renovated inside. It's sad because many of the old houses are still intact. I wonder when they demolished the orginal municipio because the plaza would have made an interesting cultural tourism attraction.

I hope Mayor Hernani Braganza realizes the strong potential of Alaminos, not just as an eco-tourism destination, but as a cultural and culinary destination. I'd really enjoy it if some of those old houses were converted into restaurants that serve Alaminos longaniza among other things! It would be a great stopover when visiting the Hundred Islands or Bolinao.

At the end of the road is Bolinao Church. I'll talk more about Bolinao in a different post. But worth mentioning is that it is challenging the claim of Limasawa as the site of the first Mass in the Philippines. Records say that it was Italian missionary Blessed Odorico who, on his way to china, said the first Mass when he took refuge in Bolinao Bay during a storm in 1324. The claim further mentions that he even baptized several locals making him the first evangelizer in the Philippines.

You can also do the Central Pangasinan route which takes you to Manaoag, Calasiao, San Carlos and Binmaley among others.

Part 2: Hundred Islands in Alaminos, Pangasinan
Part 3: Tondol White Sand Beach in Anda, Pangasinan during high tide

Catanduanes: Puraran Beach is surfing capital of Catanduanes

Puraran Beach in Baras is the surfing capital of Catanduanes so to speak. Some refer to the Puraran surfing wave as Majestics. From Virac, there are jeeps which regularly ply the Virac-Baras route. So as soon as I finished my breakfast, I was off.

It's best to ask before hand what times the trips leave. I had to wait a while before the next trip left but at least I got to pick a seat since I was early. If you take the Virac-Baras jeep, you'll have to hire a tricycle in Baras proper to get to Puraran. Another jeep passes by Puraran itself. But I had to wait for another two hours before it left Virac.

After the town of Bato, the roads get rough (they're still in the process of paving the roads now). When I arrived in Baras, I asked what time the last trip back to Virac left. It turned out, the last trip was leaving is a few minutes since it was a weekend. Crap! Now what?

The tricycle to Puraran is about PHP150 (they said it was the standard rate). Since I needed to be back in Virac the same day, he offered to take me back all the way for more cash. Looks like I had no choice anyway. It's common practice, especially among foreign tourists, to hire a tricycle all the way back to Virac because of the scarcity of transportation.

It's not surfing season yet. But Puraran has surfing lessons for beginners during the summer months from April to June. Majestic's Beach Resort offers surfing lessons: PHP150 for the instructor whole day (but I doubt beginners would last for even half a day) and PHP150 rental of short board per hour. By September, the waves would be too strong for beginners and that's when the real pros come over.

I was surprised I was the only local visitor that afternoon. Everyone else was a foreigner, either from Australia, the U.S., or Europe. It's a wonder why foreigners hear about these great places before most locals do. Puraran Beach is a stunning landscape of cream sand and rock formations. I hope I could come back!

Majestic's Beach Resort
(0919) 5581460
PHP350 per room (nipa hut)

Puraran Beach House (LGU)
(0920) 3199742; (0917) 8041020
PHP450 fan room; PHP650 A/C room

Part 1: Around Catanduanes: Virac and Bato

Philippine festivals and other cultural celebrations

Philippine festivals or fiestas are among the most colorful in the world! I recently got to read the book "A Year of Festivals: A Guide to Having the Time of Your Life" published by Lonely Planet. It features the most unique festivals in the world. The first thing I did was to check how many Philippine festivals were featured.

There are five in the book, two of them in San Fernando, Pampanga! The five were the Feast of the Black Nazarene (Quiapo, Manila), Ati-Atihan (Kalibo, Aklan), San Pedro Cutud Crucifixion Rites (San Fernando, Pampanga), MassKara Festival (Bacolod, Negros Occidental) and the Giant Lantern Festival (San Fernando, Pampanga). There should have been more since the Philippines is known to be a country of colorful festivals!

That's what I've been saying about making sure festivals are unique. Festivals that cannot be found elsewhere are those which attract attention. With so many festivals and events flooding the Philippine fiesta calendar, I decided to pick my favorites from the crowd and came up with my own list of unique festivals worth visiting. Most definitely, these festivals have become iconic symbols of the towns and cities where they are held annually.

FEAST OF THE BLACK NAZARENE
January 9 | Quiapo, Manila
On this day, the centuries-old image of the Black Nazarene is pulled through the streets of Quiapo by male devotees clad in maroon, in an intense mammoth procession. This has been a tradition for over two centuries and some people who have touched the Nazarene during the procession claim that they have been healed of their diseases.

ATI-ATIHAN FESTIVAL
Third weekend of January | Kalibo, Aklan
Held every January to commemorate the feast of the Santo Niño, many consider the Ati-Atihan Festival as the Mother of all Philippine Festivals. Among the wildest, if not the wildest of Philippine fiestas, revelers paint their faces with black soot and wear bright, outlandish costumes as they masquerade and dance in revelry around the streets of Kalibo to the beat of ambulant ethnic troubadours. This is the original street dance fiesta of the country and many of the later street dance festivals in honor of the Santo Niño were inspired by Ati-Atihan.

The origins of the festival are said to date back to the 13th century when a group of Malay datus fleeing Borneo purchased land from the local Ati people. This agreement was commemorated with a celebration, where the datus and their people painted themselves black to honor the Ati people. This was later converted into a religious celebration with the arrival of the Spanish.

SINULOG FESTIVAL
Third weekend of January | Cebu City
The Sinulog Festival is one of the grandest, if not the grandest, and most colorful festivals in the Philippines. It is held in honor of the Santo Niño. Just like the other Santo Niño festivals, it features a street parade with participants in bright-colored costumes dancing to the rhythm of drums, trumpets, and native gongs. The day before the parade, a fluvial procession is held in the morning with the image of the Santo Niño carried on a boat from Mandaue City to Cebu City. In the afternoon, a more solemn and larger procession makes its way around Cebu City.

DINAGYANG FESTIVAL
Fourth weekend of January | Iloilo City
Another Santo Niño festival, the Dinagyang is a religious and cultural festival held the weekend after Sinulog and Ati-Atihan. The festival is also characterized by street dancing, frenetic stomping of feet to the beat of ambulant ethnic troubadours.

The festival saw its birth in the late 1960s but was just confined to a parish. It was in the 1977 when President Marcos ordered various regions to come up with festivals that would boost tourism that the Dinagyang as we know it today began to take shape. In fact, as a testament to how it has grown and evolved, Dinagyang was voted as the best Tourism Event for 2006, 2007 and 2008 by the Association of Tourism Officers in the Philippines.

PANAGBENGA FESTIVAL
February | Baguio City
Panagbenga, or the Baguio Flower Festival, is month-long annual flower festival held in Baguio. The first one was organized in 1995. The next year, it was renamed Panagbenga, a Kankanaey term that means "a season of blossoming, a time for flowering." The highlight of this festival is the Floral Float Parade usually held during the last Sunday of February (or first Sunday of March).

TURUMBA
April to May | Pakil, Laguna
The Turumba commemorates the Seven Sorrows of the Blessed Virgin Mary with seven pistang lupi. The first pistang lupi is held on the Friday before Palm Sunday (the first of two feasts of the Seven Sorrows of the Blessed Virgin Mary) and the seventh is done on Pentecost Sunday. During these days, the image of the Nuestra Señora de Dolores de Turumba is borne on an anda and brought around the streets of Pakil in a procession amidst dancing. Other processions are also held aside from the seven pistang lupi, the last being on the third Sunday of September, the second feast of the Seven Sorrows of the Blessed Virgin May.

The schedule for 2009 is Unang Lupi (Biyernes de Dolores, April 3), Ika-2 Lupi (Pistang Martes, April 14), Ika-3 Lupi (Pistang Biyatiko, April 20, 21 & 22), Ika-4 Lupi (Pistang Biyernes, May 1), Ika-5 Lupi (Pistang Linggo, May 10), Extra Lupi (Pistang Pakileña, May 12), Ika-6 Lupi (Pistang Pag-akyat, May 22), Ika-7 Lupi (Pistang Pagpanaog, May 31), Ahunan sa Ping-as (May 30), and Domingo de Dolores (September 20).

MORIONES FESTIVAL
Good Friday | Marinduque
A pageant of wooden masks called morion, the Moriones Festival is celebrated in the towns of towns of Boac, Mogpog and Gasan. Men are colorfuly garbed and masked as Roman centurions. The festival culminates in the reenactment of the beheading of Longinus.

CUTUD CRUCIFIXION RITES
Good Friday | San Pedro Cutud, San Fernando, Pampanga
The San Pedro Cutud Crucifixion Rites is arguably the cultural event most visited by foreign tourists. It's mentioned in almost every guide book about the Philippines. It's actually the center of bloody flagellation practices that happen in Pampanga every Holy Week. The very first crucifixion happened in 1962 as part of a passion play of the barangay. Ever since, more and more penitents followed suit and thus began a cultural practice that went beyond ordinary flagellation.

PULILAN CARABAO FESTIVAL
May 14 | Pulilan, Bulacan
An annual festival held the day before the feast of San Isidro Labrador, it features hundreds of decorated carabaos and colorful floats parading along the streets of Pulilan, a celebration for a bountiful harvest.

PAHIYAS FESTIVAL
May 15 | Lucban, Quezon
An annual celebration to celebrate the feast of San Isidro Labrador and to usher in a bountiful harvest, homes in Lucban are decorated with the town's agricultural products. The most distinct of these decorations is the kiping, a brightly colored rice dough rolled into thin wafers and shaped like leaves. Other decorations include fruits, vegetables, grains and straw hats.

Also visit the Agawan sa Sariaya and Mayohan sa Tayabas the same afternoon in the neighboring towns. The highlight of Mayohan is the famous agawan ng suman in honor of San Isidro Labrador.

OBANDO FERTILITY RITES
May 17 to 19 | Obando, Bulacan
A three-day festival where childless couples, praying that they bear children, do the pandango or "fertility dance" on the streets of Obando as a procession carrying the towns patrons Santa Clara, San Pascual Baylon and the Nuestra Senora de Salambao, makes its way around town.

TAONG-PUTIK FESTIVAL
June 24 | Aliaga, Nueva Ecija
To commemorate the feast of Saint John the Baptist, the people of Brgy. Bibiclat, Aliaga, Nueva Ecija, transform themselves into mud people or taong-putik. The ritual, called Pagsa-San Juan, begins at dawn when devotees wear dry banana leaves or vines, smear themselves with mud and walk the streets to ask for alms in the form of candles which are lit at the plaza.

PARADA NG LECHON
June 24 | Balayan, Batangas
Another celebration to commemorate the feast of Saint John the Baptist, the town of Balayan parades dozens of lechon (roasted pigs) in outlandish costumes. Imagine roasted pigs wearing wigs, sunglasses, hats, and clothes! And just like in any fiesta for San Juan Bautista, expect to get wet!

APUNG IRU FLUVIAL PROCESSION
June 28 to 30 | Apalit, Pampanga
A three-day fluvial festival, the Pampanga River comes alive with gaily decorated motorboats and colorful bancas during the feast of Saint Peter. At the center of the fluvial processions is a lavishly-decorated pagoda mounted on a barge that carries a centuries-old ivory image of Saint Peter which the locals call Apung Iru.

PENAFRANCIA FESTIVAL
Third Saturday of September | Naga City, Camarines Sur
A festival honoring the feast of Our Lady of Peñafrancia, Patroness of the Bicol Region, on the last day of the celebrations, the image is returned to the Basilica in a fluvial procession along the Naga River. The procession is lit by thousands of candles from devotees in boats escorting the image.

MASSKARA FESTIVAL
Weekend nearest October 19 | Bacolod City
The MassKara Festival is held every October to celebrate the Charter Day of Bacolod City. The festival features carnivals, fairs, and a Mardi Gras-like street parade of costumed and masked dancers. It was first held in 1980 during a period of crisis. The local community decided to hold a festival of smiles, because the city is the City of Smiles, in order to pull residents out of the gloomy atmosphere.

LA NAVAL DE MANILA
Second Sunday of October | Quezon City
The La Naval de Manila is a grand procession held in honor of the Nuestra Senora del Santisimo Rosario (Our Lady of the Most Holy Rosary) along the streets of Quezon City. Before the destruction of the grand churches of Intramuros during the liberation of Manila, this tradition was held in the walled city. The image is said to be the most lavish and most celebrated Marian image in the country, and is brought around preceded by carrozas of St. Joseph and various Dominican saints.

HIGANTES FESTIVAL
November 23 | Angono, Rizal
A festival held in honor of San Clemente, it's one big party around the streets of Angono with a loud, rambunctious, and wet & wild Mardi Gras-like parade (it's actually a procession). The procession culminates in a fluvial procession in the Laguna de Bay. Higantes are colorful paper mache giants measuring about ten to twelve feet in height.

GIANT LANTERN FESTIVAL
Saturday before Christmas Eve | San Fernando, Pampanga
The date of this spectacular festival is a bit confusing but it's usually held the Saturday before Christmas Eve but not too close to it (so that would be sometime between December 15 to 21). The festival features close to a dozen 18-foot lanterns made by competing barangays of San Fernando. Each lantern is fitted with thousands of light bulbs that are controlled manually. The dynamic interplay of lights and color that precisely moves with the rhythm of music is unbelievable! It is because of these giant lanterns and the San Fernando lantern-making industry that the City of San Fernando has been dubbed the Christmas Capital of the Philippines.

April 18 is International Day for Monuments and Sites

Every April 18, the International Council on Monuments and Sites (ICOMOS) celebrates the International Day for Monuments and Sites. There is a different theme every year. And this year, the theme is "Heritage and Science." There are two major streams which is covered here: "one being the role that science (and the scientific process) has played in the creation of heritage, and the other being the contribution that science (and technology) offers to the study of heritage."

So what heritage resources become the center of attention with this theme? As ICOMOS mentions, "A structure like the Ironbridge (UK) clearly shows the influence of science and technology in its construction; not only the bracing that disperses the load but also the mining, smelting, transport infrastructure and organised labour components that made the structure possible. The Temples of Angkor (Cambodia) not only illustrate an understanding of astronomy, but also of hydrology, mechanics and the requirements for tools suitable for the quarrying of the stone, placing the blocks, and the execution of the reliefs and frescos. The site of Maritime Greenwich (UK) is noted for its association with the science of astronomy and the determination of position and time; whilst being architecturally significant, it is primarily a monument to scientific endeavour. It is also a monument to the practical application of science, as the manufacture of the transit telescope and the precision timepieces depended on the availability of suitable materials and tools. Fundamentally, without science and technology, no monument or structure could exist."

It's sad that the buildings in Manila which would been a perfect fit for this theme were destroyed during the war such as the Manila Observatory and the Bureau of Science Building (said to have some of the best laboratories in the world during its time). But there are a lot that still exist dating back to pre-colonial times such as the Stone Agricultural Calendars of Dap-ay Guiday in Besao (Bontoc, Mountain Province) which are National Cultural Treasures. Even the Ifugao Rice Terraces are a testament to advances in agriculture at that time.

The San Sebastian Church, a church made of metal, is also a testament to the science and technology behind its construction. I'm sure there are more examples out there. Do you have any?

Here are some ideas for celebrating April 18. I know it's too late for most heritage organizations to organize anything now. But you could keep this in mind for next year. Besides, we don't have to wait for April 18 to do all that because everyday is a heritage conservation day! In fact, May is Heritage Month in the Philippines!

The ICOMOS Philippine National Committee is meeting today at the Escuela Taller in Intramuros to celebrate the day.