miss iggy and panay's big bells

miss iggy's back at panay church in panay, capiz, in the phillipines!

this time she made it up the belfry. a climb of almost 70 steep steps, this was no little feat for this little iggy. behind her are people from the mindanao region admiring the 300-year old bells.

here she is with the biggest bell, made from 70 sacks of coins donated by the townspeople.

and inside the bell, where the current townspeople are still contributing to the bell's overall aesthetic.

for those who can't go up the belfry the church has installed a replica bell outside of the church. it doesn't offer the same experience as climbing up a steep and narrow staircase but it does offer a preview of panay's big bells.

it's been said that the louder the sound of a church's bells, the bigger its territory is. like old-school cellsites, these big bells serve an important role in sending signals to the townspeople that the church is in their country and awaiting their submission. wider clanging coverage means more land area and more prospective souls for recruitment. this is important when one takes into account that religion was used to colonize and enslave the Philippines for more than 300 years. and if these bells were made out of coins donated by the townspeople, miss iggy thinks this project was a very successful enterprise indeed!

miss iggy at the riverbank

miss iggy went to the riverside in pontevedra, capiz, panay island in the philippines to watch a fluvial parade of saints. upon reaching the riverbank she found only one saint ready to set sail. she thinks the other ones got scared of the rain.

she found this jeepney parked across the riverbank and the jeep's route reminded her of iggy sisterhood bloggers conniechiwa, who hails from pilar, and sreisaat, who hails from roxas city.

and beside saint isidore's boat, were these boats named after one of the iggy sisterhood bloggers.

metaphysical reunions are the best!

miss iggy and the chocolate hills

to promote the Miss Iggy Hiking Society, miss iggy hiked up a short hill for this view of the world-famous Chocolate Hills in Carmen, Bohol, Philippines.

it was a short climb up a hill of more than 200 steps together with other tourists from all over the world.

upon reaching the top of the viewing deck, you see this kind of view as you turn around in a circle like a panting carousel horse.

the hills certainly are alive! the chocolate hills are called such because the grass that grows on them turns brown in the summer months. but with the past changes in climate, most of the hills are more green than brown. maybe they decided to become minty hills instead. to date, there are around 1,700+ hills scattered across three towns in bohol.

being in an archipelagic country of more than 7,000 islands allows its fans a showcase of the most interesting geological formations. on the way to the hills there were a lot of islands scattered around in the farmlands such as this:

which kind of shows us that the philippines was way underwater many millions of years before. miss iggy found this fascinating.

miss iggy and easter eggs

big easter eggs are big.

miss iggy at casamata hill, bangued, abra

miss iggy took in the sights of the town of bangued in abra, cordillera province, philippines from her viewing post up at casamata hill national park. casamata hill offers a panoramic view of the town and a glimpse of the abra river by the mountainside. also popular as a picnic area and a rendezvous point for lovers, casamata hill also boasts of the shrine of Mary and the Infant Jesus (Our Lady of Peace and Victory/Our Lady of the Holy Rosary) for the devout believers.

for more places to see in bangued, kindly visit this site, lovingly put up by a team of true-blue banguedenios.

up to mt. tapyas

see that mountain over there? the one with the cross on top? well lo and behold:

mr. iggy set out to climb it. having missed the mountains, mr iggy hopped his way towards the summit in glee even with the 700+ steps paved for the ones daring to climb:

and he had a reunion of sorts with none other than his sister:

vienna vixen iggy!

their companions, gingmaganda and princess ody though, didn't think the climb as that easy. in fact, it was arduous. however they were all smiles. climbing up a mountain is no mean feat for these two (not really fit) city girls.

it's true when they say that climbing mountains are worth it because when you reach the top, the feeling is exhilarating. indeed.

Miss Iggy and the islands

In January, Mr. Coco Jam Iggy and Ms. Euro Iggy (a.k.a. Vienna Vixen Iggy) hopped on an Air Philippines plane for an island getaway to Coron, Palawan. Both were really looking forward to the trip because Palawan has been named one of the 20 Best Trips of 2011 by National Geographic Traveler. Exciting!

Miss Iggy welcomes you to the Coron Loop island hopping tour.

Starting point: the docks by the Lualhati Park near the Coron Public Market.

If you don't have goggles, stop by the market where you can rent them for Php 100.

Ahoy there!

First stop: the Siete Pecados Marine Park.

Entrance fee is Php 100.

The clear water, colorful fish and amazing corals make it a great place for snorkeling.

Don't forget to bring bread to feed the fish! The Iggys forgot to bring some, but luckily their tour guide brought a pack of Fita crackers. The fish loved it.

Next stop: Kayangan Lake.

This tranquil and beautiful lake is said to be the cleanest in the Philippines.

Kayangan Lake was definitely an Iggy favorite.

Miss Iggy's tip: bring your lifevest and goggles! Also, prepare to climb some steps. It's tiring but oh-so worth it.

Entrance fee: Php 200

The white sands ...

and turquoise waters of Banol Beach.

The Iggys loved this picturesque and quiet beach that looked like something out of a movie.

Entrance fee: Php 100

Not in the pictures but also explored by Mr. and Ms. Iggy was the Twin Lagoon (because most pictures there involved their chaperones in their lifevests either just floating or trying to spell out "Coron" or "wow" with their hands). The gang swam through an underwater tunnel to get from one twin lake to the other.

The entrance fee for the Twin Lagoon is Php 100.

miss iggy and columns

a blurry miz iggy outside the National Museum of the Philippines- National Art Gallery.

miss iggy rides the pasig ferry

miss iggy wants you to guess where she is. Hullo from Hulo!

miss iggy brandishing tickets. one for her minder and one for her, of course.

tada! she's going on a river cruise! stay afloat miss iggy!

miss iggy boarded m/v pasig also known as the pasig river ferry to see what's it like to cruise down pasig river. it's totally a world different from what we normally see when we travel by road or track in the metropolis. miss iggy recommends you try it some time.

she saw a tugboat graveyard of some sort:

and a whole lot of other live boats such as these:

she learned that the old rubber wheels on the side act as bumpers for when the boat is docking.



for the passengers' safety, there are life vests under the seats:

and an emergency stop:

in a good 30 minutes or so, miss iggy found herself in manila. and here she is under the quiapo bridge:

is all lovely, her cruise, miss iggy says. but the river still needs a lot of help:

murky river is murky.

greetings from abra province!

miss iggy by abra's famous landmark, the tunnel in tangadan. if you pass through here you are now officially in abra!

here she is in front of one of the oldest private schools in the province. it's located beside the church in the province's capital, bangued.

she also enjoyed the sights of the rural landscape. here is a shot of a family using their tractor as a means of getting around the town. notice the pink umbrella used to shield themselves against the rain.

abra has been getting bad media publicity for a few years now due to the so-called rampant violence in the province, especially during the elections. the province has been known as the land of the triggerhappy, where offenses are dealt with gunshots instead of submitting the accused to the justice system. miss iggy wishes though that abra be known for other things, such as their native delicacy, the bunog:

bunog is a freshwater fish caught in one of the philippines' largest rivers, the abra river. it is so popular that the neighboring province of ilocos norte (a hot tourist destination spot) has been importing said fish from abra to serve to the tourists. there's also the udang (shrimps that look like little lobsters because they have claws) and the sinanglaw, plus the ever-present ilocano pinakbet.

there's more to a place than what the the tv reports say, miss iggy says.

so what good thing have you done today?

miss iggy at the registry of deeds in the town of binangonan, rizal. she thought the registry of deeds is the place where you register the good things you've done for the world lately. she was surprised to know that the place catered to land ownership in the province. sorry miss iggy!

speaking of land, here she is with the philippine flag and the current slogan for the philippines: Pilipinas Kong Mahal. mahal is the filipino word for love and this slogan can be loosely translated as "The Philippines that I Love". however, mahal is also the Filipino word for expensive and some witty critics have taken it upon themselves to interpret this as the Philippines being the land of expensive things: food, utilities, education, and housing.

which is probably why this jeep hasn't been treated to a new coat of paint lately:

heh.