This is a picture story of our visit to Cape Bojeador last year sometime August 2008.

Cape Bojeador is a lighthouse built by the Spaniards in 1898 to guide Spanish galleons.

It is located on top of a hill called Vigia de Nagparitan in Burgos, Ilocos, Norte.

The hill overlooks a picturesque view of the China Sea.

The Spanish structure was beautiful as it was rustic.

It was warm and sunny when we came. The weather perked up our mood for playing around

and posing for a lot of pictures.

The structure has several patios that offers a majestic view of a seemingly unspoiled nature.

No wonder the Spaniards chose this site – functional as it is aesthetic.

Going up the stairs is like a trip down memory lane two centuries ago.

The winding stairs up the lighthouse was squeaky. It can only accommodate a few people.

This is the last among the flight of stairs to the lighthouse.

No matter the scare and sweat tingling down my spine, I still can afford to pose for pictures. I just could not let the experience and the scene pass me by.

Manong is the caretaker of the lighthouse that now becomes a tourist attraction.

This is a view from the lighthouse.

Simply breathtaking.

Cape Bojeador is a good destination for travellers who want to feel a touch of history and nature rolled into one.

Author’s Note: This article uses virtual reality technology to provide an immersive experience. Adobe Flash 9.0 or above is required to view the 360-degree VRs. Average VR size is 2.0Mb each. Yellow ‘hotspots’ are clickable.

So I got an invitation from Honda Cars Philippines a while back… to test drive the all new Jazz… for 2 days… in picturesque Ilocos Norte! My first thought was to clear my schedules, refresh my memories of Ilocos, and pray that we’ll have fair weather during those days. Alas, I guess I didn’t pray hard enough.

Having seen the 2008 Honda Jazz in the recent 2nd Philippine International Motor Show, I can say it is indeed a beauty. The new Jazz expresses dynamism and a super-forward looking form that you can readily see at a glance. The new body structure conforms to a variety of design requirements, including safety and spaciousness. This is a car that merges seemingly contradictory traits to genuinely enhance people’s lifestyles; the design is sporty yet spacious; performance is powerful yet efficient; utility is compact yet capacious, comfortable yet versatile.

Among the new exterior features of the all-new Jazz are: the push-lift fuel lid that is synchronized with the door lock; the larger side-view mirrors providing 30% more visibility (as compare to the old Jazz); a wider 80-degree angle rear doors that open for easier loading and unloading; bigger front and rear lamps that provide more distinctive styling.

As one enters the Jazz, you immediately notice the spaciousness of the interior, couple that with the wider glass area and larger front windshield makes you feel almost boundless. The cockpit is an awe-inspiring 3D design with large-diameter meters of sculpted surface and hairline accents; this exudes in a sporty and advanced feeling that contributes to enhanced visibility. One notable new feature in the dashboard is the fuel consumption meter; a first for small cars, this instantaneous and average reading of fuel consumption provides a LCD display of fuel utilization that translates to better economical driving.

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So what was it like for a 2-day test drive with the Honda Jazz in Ilocos Norte?

Our first day was rather gloomy… rain clouds seem to follow us from Manila to Loaog; the only time we felt the warm sunshine was for a few minutes at 30,000 feet! We arrived in Honda Cars Ilocos before noon and after a sumptuous lunch and briefing, we all put on our Jazz t-shirts and did the 1st challenge: the utility contest. This challenge aims to show the spaciousness of the Jazz and by configuring the seats, you can stuffed big and long items together almost effortlessly. After which, it was finally time to do our test drives. The drive towards the town of Burgos is both idyllic and relaxing, along the way, we performed several more trivia challenges from counting palayoks (urn), haggling prices of some local commodities, to interviewing the caretaker of Cape Bojeador lighthouse; and lastly, en route to our resort, a treasure hunt in Paoay Church. We reached our place of accommodations after sunset, dinner was coupled with a picture sharing session, and a light social capped the night.

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Waking up in the Bali-inspired Playa Tropical Resort the next day, all well rested and up for another days’ activities; with weather a lot better, I took the wheel, this time of the 1.5 Jazz, on a leisurely cruise. Our group started the drive from Currimao to Saud Beach in Pagudpud; stopping at the town of Bangui to appreciate the giant wind turbines and more photo-ops. Compare to the 1.3 model we drove yesterday, the 1.5 Jazz feels much more ‘solid’, acceleration is more responsive, and a host of other features and technologies such as the paddle shift makes driving more enjoyable.

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We started the Eco Challenge after lunch. Four teams, with two teams driving the same engine displacement models pitted against each other in a ‘race’ of speed and fuel efficiency. With Ulysses Ang of motioncars.com at the helm and this writer as navigator, it took us about 1.5 hours to cover a distance of 66Km and consumed 2.9 liters of fuel, a 22.67 kilometers/liter average on uncongested rural roads. The other team did much better with a 30.39 kilometers/liter finish!

Of the 4 teams in our batch, each team won a challenge or more: team 4 of Jouel Lacampuenga & Kankan Ramos won the utility challenge and the eco challenge in the 1.3 category; team 2 of Marvin Tan & Albert Goquingco won one category of the photo contest; team 1 of Roy Medina & Iñigo Roces won the utility challenge, the treasure hunt, another category of the photo contest, and the eco challenge for the 1.5 category, they also emerged as the overall winner; our team ate the most slices of pizza, oh wait… that wasn’t a challenge!???

All VRs taken on October 15, 2008; with the exception of Bangui Wind Turbines, Poaoy Church and Cape Bojeador Lighthouse taken on December 2006. The author can be reached at:
fung@firefly.ph

F-U-N is in ILOCOS! There’s so much to love and see! The place is so historic that it takes you back in time. I so love Pagudpud! It’s ivory sand is nice and the water of course. We went to Pagburnayan, Baluarte, Vigan Heritage Village, Malacanang of the North, Pagudpud, Bangui Windmillls, Cape Bojeador, Baccara Church, Paoay Church, Sarrat Church, St. Pauls Church, The leaning Tower of St. Williams, Bantay Church, Santa Maria Church, Convent Ruins, Patapat Bridge, Paraiso ni Anton, Grand Water, Syquia Mansion, alot! and there’s more that I’ll visit SOON!

With our tour guide which is the BEST TOUR GUIDE EVER! Rainier Alvarez. He is a Wedding Planner by profession, but also a part time tour guide. Her sister owns Travel Ilocandia Travel and Tours so, he helps her sister to manage their business. He said that He loves his homeland that’s why he loves tour guiding tourist. Actually, he acts as my inspiration because his wisdom is really admirable. I remember he said “There’s money in Tourism. Pag minahal mo yan, mamahalin ka rin nyan.”  After hearing those comes realization to me, I mean he’s right. I have to love what I do so it’ll love me back. I’ve learned so much from him. But he doesn’t know it. Hahahaha!

Ms. Angela Alvarez-Lao is kuya ra’s sister. She owns Travel Ilocandia. She is a Tourism Graduate from University of Sto. Tomas and now? She’s The Secretary of Tourism in Ilocos. She’s a successful woman. That’s for sure. She is also one of my inspiration because of her achievements and her perseverance to reach her goals. Kuya ra told us she got FLAT 1 in her thesis about the mystery of the Paoay Lake. Nice!

Mr. Pepito Alvarez, the father of ate angel and kuya ra. He’s so cool! I remember his song tem bones! hahaha! He was our speaker about heritage tourism and he brought the Baroque Shell which is so nice. He told us it is where the design of the Paoay Church came from because of it’s design that protects itself from earthquake. TEM BONES TEM BONES TEM BONES TEM BONES!

ILOCOS LOVE! It’s a dreamland! It is definetely the place to be. I’ll be back soon. and I know I will enjoy everytime spend. The long drive is so worth it. Hopefully this summer, I can visit Ilocos. We’ll go Pagudpud! yeah. hahaha!

You want fun, exciting, historical, worth your sweat and walk? GO to ILOCOS baby! I promise, it’s so worth your time, money and effort! I know, I kept on saying how good it is. But hey! It’s so TRUE!