All roads lead to the north: Hello Pagudpud!

For someone who works full time, manages a household, and goes to school at the same time, long weekends are P-R-E-C-I-O-U-S!!! Since most of my usual travel buddies had already made plans for the Nov 1-2 weekend, I thought of going on a solo trip. I used to do this when I was younger (medyo matanda na kasi ako ngayon). And my destination - Sagada! I've researched all I could about Sagada and was thrilled at the thought of being on the road all alone - again.

But it seemed that the universe wasn't as thrilled. A few hours after midnight, I woke up and saw several missed calls on my phone. It was a college buddy inviting me to join their all-boy road trip to the north. I didn't have to think twice and just like that, my plan of going on a solo trip disappeared. I love tagging along with this all-boy barkada - this bunch of Bisaya boys I used to share beers with in college. Boys, as travel buddies, are generally so easy to deal with, flexible, and full of adventure. So I filled my backpack with anything that my hand could reach and there I was - in a long bus ride to Pagudpud.

A trip that would have lasted for only 12 hours in normal days turned to 17 grueling hours - the downside of traveling on a long undas weekend. We arrived in Pagudpud past midnight. By this time, we have already been on several modes of transportation - the Farinas bus, two what-seemed-like-amazing-race trike rides in Laoag, another 1 and a half bus ride from Laoag to Pagudpud, and since there were no trikes at midnight, we had to beg a random guy who was driving his roofless sidecar to give us a ride to the seaside where the resorts were located.

It was drizzling when we arrived in Saud. I was dead-tired and wanted to sleep but the boys wanted to drink. So I obliged. After all, I didn't want to be a pooper pooping on their all-boy adventure. We also started plotting our itinerary for the next few days.  We were on a 4-day long weekend and we planned to make the most out of Ilocos  but spend Saturday night at the Surf & Music Festival in La Union.

Day 1 was a whole morning of beach bumming in Saud Beach and an after-lunch visit to the Bangui windmills. While Pagudpud is known as one of the country's best surfing spots,  we planned to spend the day bumming and not surfing. We stayed at Arinaya White Beach Resort in Saud, the quiet beach up north that takes pride in its white sand and lazy, steady ambiance. After the long bus ride and the mishaps of the night before, we didn't have the energy to head to the Blue Lagoon, or any of Pagudpud's popular surfing spots.

The morning was so steady and so laidback, just the way we wanted it to be. Lots of sun loving, swimming, and girl-sighting for the boys.

After lunch, we took a trike to the Bangui windmills. I've passed by here several times before but haven't really had the chance to see the windmills up close. Mehn were they so gigantic!!! I could compare them to the buildings along Ayala Ave.! We spent a few minutes cam-whoring and marveling at the thought of how it's able to produce energy for the whole of Ilocos Norte.

By 1pm, we were ready to embark on yet another 1 and a half bus ride back to Laoag. We wanted to be at the La Paz sand dunes by sunset, which turned out to be one of the peaks of this trip. Find out why in my next post.