Life on the Happy Lane!

My Pagudpud, Ilocos Norte trip was lagare to say the least, yet so full of new and exciting experiences for a desk-bound lawstude like me that I can't help but make a short checklist out of them... Rode a tricycle that overtook a ten-wheeler truck? check. Rode a tricycle running at full speed to tour a province? check. Stood beneath a gigantic windmill? check. Had my picture taken beneath a windmill? check. Nagpapikchur sa gitna ng mahabang tulay?check. Climbed my first lighthouse? check(this started my quest to climb as many lighthouses as possible). Climbed a huge white rock formation near the sea? check. Ate a suspicious-looking orange-colored, deep-fried empanada that turned out to be so addictively delicious? check. Ate a yummy banana split while drinking an equally yummy pineapple margarita? check. Watched the sunset on the beach? check. Stayed at a nice affordable hotel by the beach, with a vista of the sea? check. All these only in Pagudpud-- and all for just one day and

The author, in her not-so-prepared pose... For someone who has lived her entire life in Southern Luzon, the North seems to be a distant place cloaked in a haze of mystery and adventure, so that when my friend Lheila asked me to go with them to Ilocos , it was an offer I can hardly resist--not that I even tried to resist! How It All Started... Ever since I can remember, I have always wanted to step into the cobbled stone streets and feast my eyes on the beautiful vista of Vigan's Spanish colonial houses. In fact, I almost had the chance when my Humanities II class at UPLLB held a field trip to Ilocos. Being a cash-strapped iskolar ng bayan , however, I forgo the trip because I could not bring myself to ask for extra money from my parents. I promised though that I will manage to go there one day. The opportunity knocked once more when Lheila and Sheila (two super cool travelers!) concocted a Vigan-Pagudpud-Laoag itinerary. This time, the timing was perfect. We had no classe