Pangasinan
Pangasinan means "a place where salt is abundant", asin means "salt."
For me its a province full of historical buildings and churches,
pretty beaches, friendly people, and loads of delicious food.
 

Shortly after lunch on a sunny Tuesday Rose Sugayan Wehrli and I set off from MegaMall and headed north to Pangasinan where we would spend the next 5 days. 

En route to Lingayen, our home base for the trip, we stopped at the imposing St Raymond of Peñafort Church (right), in Mangatarem. 25.4 km later, we arrived in Lingayen; it was shortly after 5pm. After settling in at the Sugayan family home, we headed out to the Capitol (above).  The capitol, an imposing American era building, is impressive. Across the street is the attractive Lingayen Gulf War Memorial (left), that has interesting photos, and various machinery from WWII.

Next was the nearby Lingayen Gulf Resort. Formerly run by the PTA (Philippine Tourism Authority) this hotel was probably not profitable and was handed over to the Provincial Government. This is the closest hotel to the expansive Lingayen beach--nice to look at and stroll along BUT not safe to swim here as the undertow is strong. The beach was one of the landing areas of the American forces on January 9, 1945 that paved the way for the liberation of Northern Luzon.

We looked at two other hotels then went to Uncle Sam's for a simple and tasty Filipino meal.

Day 2
After a breakfast of mango and various local rice cakes, we picked up Modesto (Mo) Singson, head of the governor's MIS office, who was to be our "guide" on the next days of our Pangasinan Road Trip, then set off to the attractive Urduja House, in the Capitol compound. This is where the offices of the Governor and other provincial officers located, and it's the place to go for information on Pangasinan--we spent about an hour talking with the tourism officer and other staff members; most (particularly the tourism officer and computer staff) were very helpful and welcoming. 

Next, we headed about 10km east to bustling Dagupan City. Dagupan has the 3rd most number of banks and 3rd largest volume of trade in the country (Manila being 1st and Cebu 2nd for both). The city is also known for its seafood restaurants (especially those by Bonuan Beach--where Gen Douglas MacArthur landed on Jan 9, 1945), so naturally, come lunch time we feasted on fresh seafood. Highly recommended are sugpo (prawns) and the Bonuan bangus (local milkfish). Very satiated and 2hrs later, we set off to San Fabian (14km from Dagupan), stopping at the Leisure Coast Resort where we toured the water park, driving range, and had saw the nice-looking rooms.

San Fabian has a decent swimming beach (the sand slopes gradually) and its small, pretty church dates from 1762-65. The church was damaged by fire in 1856, rebuilt 1857-60, and its belfry was destroyed in 1945 during liberation.

At this point we headed back to Dagupan for a merienda-birthday of Mo's charming mother, Mrs. Singson. Before heading back to Dagupan you may opt to visit Manaoag to see Our Lady of Manaoag, who is believed to have worked miracles for many devotees, and the pyramids.

Merienda was at Pedrito's. Even though we were still full from lunch we all enjoyed the refreshing halo-halos and a variety of sweets. My favorites were the yemma (sweet mixture of egg yolks) and ube (purple yam) balls--very good, not too sweet as yemma tends to be.

Though it was getting dark, we still had one stop left on our itinerary before heading back to Lingayen, so off we headed to Calasiao. The first church, built in 1582, was destroyed by fire in 1736. What you see today, the lovely church of Saints Peter and Paul, was built in 1753 and completed in 1858. From the church head over to the Calasiao Puto Producers, a row of stalls across from the Plaza and diagonally across from the church. The puto (rice cake) from Calasiao is reputed to be among the best in the Philippines. It is sold in the markets all over Pangasinan and is put daily on a bus to Manila to be sold there. So far its the best puto I have had--moist and not overly sweet-perfect!

From here we drove back to Lingayen, for a good nights rest after a day of too much food!
Day 3
After picking up Mo and Jonathan Castro (a talented photographer and graphic designer who was also our other "guide") we started our trip southwest. Roads are good all the way to Infanta. We were set on going to Raton island, which is about a 15 minute boat ride from the town proper, the island is very near if not on the border of Zambales. (right photo: En route to Raton, banca with a colorful sail and the Pangasinan coastline) To get a banca, it is best to ask for assistance from the mayor's office at the town hall. The staff is quite accommodating. Ask for the tourism officer (I am not sure if there really is one or one of the staff is appointed upon need, eg like when people like us show up). Mr Alex Maniago, the town's councilor, was very helpful and eagerly showed us around. 

We were told that the easiest place to find a banca is at barangay Cato. However, we got ours near the town center--continue down the road from the town hall/police station, the plaza is on your left and the market on your right. About two small streets/paths past the market turn right and walk to the end. The people at the house at the end of the path are fisherfolk--inquire about banca availability there. After helping us with arranging a banca, Councilor Alex took us to the market (clean, though I think Mambajao Camiguin still tops my list of clean markets) where we ordered several dishes for lunch, and ate at a closed down restaurant that is past the market by the sea. Food was inexpensive--under P200 for 5, including sodas. I then bought shorts to wear (P50) as I had left mine in Lingayen.

It is obvious that they don't get too many tourists--ads to the charm of the place as we acquired the services of a banca for about an hour or a bit more and paid P320, this included a 2-foot tuna that they had caught earlier. There are no boats "for rent" so look for a fisherman who has recently returned from sea ( after several days out) who is willing to rent his boat. They asked us just to pay for gas! Which they said was P100, so we gave an extra P100 and bought their "reject" as that was the only fish available that was not heading to Malabon. It was a "reject" because it had been bitten by another fish…To us it was more than just acceptable--we had it ihaw (barbequed) for dinner--fabulous, haven't had a better tasting cooked tuna!!! It is hard to beat fresh, with or with damage.

Raton is a small, cream sand-fringed island surrounded by sparkling azure water. Part of it is privately owned (by law beach and water is public, only the inland parts are private property). The south east side has a few nipa houses that are infrequently used by their owners. A caretaker is willing to rent out the facilities IF the owners are not coming for the weekend. There is a supply of fresh water (well/tank) but you need to bring all your food, sheets, towels, toiletries, and a good supply of drinking water. Swimming off the developed area doesn't seem that great, except for snorkeling, as it is corally. On the opposite side (facing Pangasinan) there is a sandy area.

After our island hop we backtracked to the Cacupangan Cave complex in Mabini. There are 4 caves in this complex. You can either walk, wade, and swim through the 1st and continue on or you may hike over the hills to the other side of the first cave and then immerse yourself at that point to return or to continue on to the other caves. It is a short, easy up and down walk, about 20-30 minutes at a leisurely pace to the other side of the first cave. It is longer time-wise, shorter distance-wise, if you choose to go through the cave. Rose and I did the overland both ways while Mo and Jo went overland and returned through the cave. We must have arrived at least 15 minutes before they did.

 

It was after 7pm when we headed to Lucap for the night. Passing through Alaminos town proper, we noted, it was the grand opening of McDonalds (no Jollibee…yet).



enter here for part 2