The famous Vigan Cathedral and Bell Tower

Once we got tired of walking, we hopped on a ‘kalesa’ for a longer tour of the town. Vigan is known as one of the only remaining towns in the Philippines withhold colonial buildings, cobblestone streets and for horse carts (kalesas) which are still a regular form of transportation here. Everywhere else in the Philippines was pretty much destroyed by bombing in the Second World War. Some of the horses looked pretty skinny, and I seems they stand around all day in the heat pulling carts around; and while I felt pretty sorry for them, at least (I hope) the money from the rides go some way to help their keep. Our ‘driver’ was really friendly and took us past the main tourist sites of the city. Even though it was quite dark, it was a nice way to see the town. The end of the ride took us up Villa Crisologo, the famous street in all the pictures of Vigan which is closed off to all ‘motorised’ transportation and which is so picturesque. It was a great way to end the day.

Our accommodation - Grandpa's Inn and Restaurant

The next day we all headed off to ‘Mango town’ – well the Illocano translation of Mangotown, which was a little weaving village. There we bought up pretty big after watching some local women working at their looms. I wandered around a little and met a Pilipino man who lived in New Jersey but had returned here to his home as his aunt had died. A tractor drove into the little square (cornered by a school, health clinic, this man’s house and his nieces weaving business) to load bags of corn which a woman and her children were bagging for animal feed. The tractor was just a seat and wheels pulled by a tractor motor – it was strange without the tractor body – and the corn was drying on the floor of the square and the school basketball court. It was such an everyday, rural town setting which really was so far away from everything we know in Australia. And talking to the ex-local resident who now lived in New Jersey – everyone here is just so friendly, willing to share their stories and their lives and eager to know about you, where you are from, why you are here – just to be friendly. It’s a really nice aspect of the Pilipino people here. After some pictures, we headed back to town for some lunch.