Hi hivers! I'd love to share with you how this last trip was one of the best travels together with my mom.
She's been dreaming of travelling to the northern part of Luzon, which was one of her bucket list items.
Just to share, she was diagnosed with cancer in 2013. After that, she had been living her life intentionally.
As a person who loves to travel, I would share my trips with her. Tell stories about the place and give her some feedback and sort of honest reviews.
When I visited Ilocos Norte and Ilocos Sur, I gave her a keychain and wrote her a letter. I encouraged her to put it on her bucket list so we can go there if the situation permits.
At that time she had been to a series of tests and had been very hectic with all the lab tests and therapy. So it was very challenging for her to travel to places.
Yet the heavens listened to the desire of her heart. We finally were able to fix our schedules and made an itinerary for our trip to Ilocos.
I set her expectations that it would be a very long drive since we would travel by land. Yet, I saw the excitement in her eyes. Finally, the long wait was over.
We arrived in Vigan five hours after we left Manila. We had our family breakfast in one of the famous restaurants there. We tried their bagnet (crispy pork) and it was perfectly done.
After the delish breakfast and enjoyable chitchat, we roam around the area. It was cool to explore the place as it's like a big garden.
Then, after we went to the place, Vigan City, where the architecture is very beautiful.
It gave us the Hispanic feel, where the infrastructure is the one that I could see in books during the Spanish era.
We walk along the cobblestoned street and explore the beautiful souvenir shops. There were also kalesa or horse-drawn carriages that made our sightseeing more enjoyable.
My mom took advantage of having a picture taken with the coachmen and posing to be like the dona (rich lady during the Hispanic times) which made us laugh.
After that, we then headed to Baluarte Zoo, which was another adventure for us.
The Safari tour was interesting. We saw preserved animals in a very big museum such as wild bears, etc.
We also had an opportunity to encounter animals such as the giraffe, and we got the chance to feed them.
The encounter with the giant tiger was also nerve-wracking. Even though it was securely chained. Yet, I couldn’t remember my mom twitching; she’s a really real warrior.
Well she's really the type of woman who barely twitch with life's challenges. Her smiles and laughters won't be forgotten.
For sure her last days here on earth were full of smiles and memories because of this last place that she visited which was a dream destination for her.
