Time-locked Ilocos is a broad hardy country blessed with impressive wide highways and stretches of narrow cobblestoned roads, antiquated towns dominated by heavily-buttressed grand churches and Antillan ancestral home

La Trinidad Valley, Benguet.  The houses are fairly noticeable when you go to the strawberry farms as they seem to stick to the mountains like scallops on ships.

Santiago is a 5th class municipality in the province of Ilocos Sur, Philippines. According to the latest census, it has a population of 16,806 people in 3,233 households.

Santiago Cove is dubbed as the “Boracay of Ilocos Sur” because of its white sands.

This picture was taken during the Holy Week of 09. I woke up early in the morning, and this is what greeted me.

There are so many undiscovered, beautiful beaches in the Philippines. A number of these are the beaches in Marinduque. But wait, I’ve been hearing some buzz about the newly opened 6-star Bella Rocca resort in Elephant Island, Marinduque. But their beach, I heard, isn’t something exceptional. But again, there are nearby islands, like Tres Reyes, which you can go to if you want to dip into a clearer beach and trample on a whiter (but kinda rocky) sand.

The water, just like the sea water in Bohol, was soooo blue.

Photo taken by Kristine Racelis (Tin, make an account )

As I look off into the distance
Watching the sun roll on by
Beautiful colors all around me, oh
Painted all over the sky
The same hands that created all of this
They created you and I

- Shawn McDonald

Tabango, Leyte
October 31, 2008