Vigan, Philippines

Vigan: the Most Hispanic of Asias


Tolentino
Horse tows Kalesa in front of an antique shop.
Kalesa of the night
Kalesa (charrette) descends one of the historic streets in the center of Vigan at dusk.
kalesa vigan
Detail of a renovated carriage used in a Catholic wedding held in the cathedral of São Paulo
Kalesas Station
Grandmother and granddaughter pass by a long string of Kalesas (Hispanic-influenced carriages) who serve Vigan.
Villa Angela
Interior of Villa Angela, one of Vigan's many stately mansions.
photographic hysteria
Guests at a wedding at the Cathedral of São Paulo photograph the bride and groom going abroad.
Cathedral to double
St. Paul's Cathedral mirrored in an artificial lake in front.
Angel
Kalesa's driver patiently waits for new customers on yet another scorching Vigan afternoon.
dizzying speed
Rickshaw driver speeds around Vigan.
candles of faith
Believers place candles in St. Paul's Cathedral in Vigan.
Old Vigan
Aged facades of the historic center of Vigan.
at the feet of faith
Faithful Catholic touches the base of a statue of the Virgin Mary.
Curiosity
Resident watches life from the window of an old house in Vigan
Lechon
Little girl contemplates a roast suckling pig during a birthday party.
VGN 0581
License plate for a taxi-rickshaw in the city.
Quirinus Elpidium
Historical poster by Elpidio Quirino, the 6th; President of the Philippines.
shadow concert
Resident repairs his motorcycle in a street in the historic center of Vigan.
The Spanish settlers left but their mansions are intact and the Kalesas circulate. When Oliver Stone was looking for Mexican sets for "Born on the 4th of July" he found them in this ciudad fernandina

It's Sunday.

We are in Luzon, a Catholic stronghold in the Philippines.

As ten in the morning approaches, the heat of the dry season takes over the city. It leaves her in a kind of tropical lethargy.

The coaches slumber in their kalese, a kind of carriages inherited from the Spaniards, parked in a row along the side façade of the Cathedral of São Paulo.

Kalesas Station, Vigan, Asia Hispanica, Philippines

Grandmother and granddaughter pass by a long string of Kalesas (Hispanic-influenced carriages) who serve Vigan.

After all, together, the weights of the trip and the tip, reveal financial relief that justifies the wait.

The Cathedral of the Conversion of St. Paul: the Sacred Catholic Temple Vigan

Some marriages are integrated in the homily. We enter the nave of the church in the middle of one of the ceremonies. Hundreds of believers, moved by her christian faith and a few curious outsiders.

St. Paul's Cathedral, Vigan, Asia Hispanica, Philippines

St. Paul's Cathedral mirrored in an artificial lake in front.

A sign written in red asks temple attendees to dress appropriately for the celebrations. Unaware of the insult, a foreigner right next to her confronts her, dressed in sports shorts and a bright blue shirt with colorful fish drawn in a childish line.

Candles of Faith, Vigan, Asia Hispanica, Philippines

Believers place candles in St. Paul's Cathedral in Vigan.

The faithful burn candles and more candles and whisper the corresponding prayers

Until the last marriage is consummated. In classic good manner, the couple is attacked by rice, petals and by the flashes of a battalion of semi-professional and casual photographers.

Photographic hysteria, Vigan, Asia Hispanica, Philippines

Guests at a wedding at the Cathedral of São Paulo photograph the bride and groom going abroad.

We are told that some of the wealthiest families in Vigan are represented there, something which, given the sumptuousness of the suits and dresses, which are certainly in order for you, we are inclined to believe.

The couple takes refuge in a white limousine. In its wake, the people abandon the protection of the temple on foot or by kalesa and put an end to the anxiety of the more fortunate coachmen.

We join this general stampede and head towards Syquia Mansion, one of the historic homes flags of the city and the Philippines.

Tomas Quirino and the Syquia Mansion. Legacies of the History of Vigan and the Philippines

The servant opens the gate and announces us. Tomas Quirino gets us something sweaty despite his fresh clothes to bring home.

Elpidium Quirino, Vigan, Asia Hispanica, Philippines

Historical poster by Elpidio Quirino, the 6th; President of the Philippines.

We are facing one of the sons of the sixth Philippine president. Quirinus Elpidium he led the Philippines in two terms, from 1948 to the end of 1953. He was credited with a remarkable post-war logistical and economic reconstruction, achieved with substantial support from the United States.

But they were also pointed out to the gaps in the basic social problems that had never been resolved and the widespread corruption of the administration, which also insisted on angering the population with its princely spending abroad.

Tomas was the only male descendant of Elpidio to survive the hardships of World War II. His mother Alicia Syquia and three of the brothers were killed in 2 as they fled their home during the terrible battle for Manila.

The host hides neither his resentment nor his sexual orientation. During a tour of the mansion, he shows us photographs and belongings of his father and, between expressions and effeminate gestures, tells us about the Sino-Hispanic origins of the family.

Facades, Vigan, Asia Hispanica, Philippines

Aged facades of the historic center of Vigan.

Recognition of the Spanish colony and resentment towards the Japanese

He praises both peoples and reproaches the Japanese: “the Quirinos were torn apart by them. My grandmother succumbed to a real massacre, but at a time when we took thousands of Japanese prisoners, my father and other leaders were able to forgive and sent them back to Japan.

Compassion is a very characteristic of Christians, but not all peoples know it. The Spaniards taught it to the Filipinos”.

Santa Fe, Vigan, Asia Hispanica, Philippines

Faithful Catholic touches the base of a statue of the Virgin Mary.

We left the Syquia mansion. We continued to explore the mestizo district that the Filipinos called Kasanglayan (where the Chinese live).

World War II bombs saved an impressive concentration of ancestral and colonial houses there. Japanese troops had just fled the city. This stampede caused the American bombers to abort their mission at the last minute. Vigan's historic sumptuousness was thus spared.

Historic center, Vigan, Asia Hispanica, Philippines

Resident repairs his motorcycle in a street in the historic center of Vigan.

Kasanglayan Neighborhood, Featured From The Incredible Colonial Vigan

Some houses were built by merchants from Fujian Province who settled in Vigan, married natives, and by the XNUMXth century became the city's elite.

Despite being, in a generic way, considered Spanish, the architecture de Kasanglayan actually consists of a combination of Mexican and Chinese styles to which Filipino developments such as sliding shell windows have been added.

At the window, Vigan, Asia Hispanica, Philippines

Resident watches life from the window of an old house in Vigan

In the late afternoon, we walk through what is considered the main street of Kasanglayan, Mena Crisólogo Street. This is what dozens of kalesas do in search of new passengers.

There are plenty of antique shops, bookshops and other home businesses run by small local clans with oriental features but Castilian and even Basque names and surnames, like those of the recently inscribed in chalk on the board of services we discovered at the funeral home Enrique Baquiran: Guzman, Pascual, Zamora, Urbano, Jimenez.

Kalesa-Vigan-Asia-Hispanica-Philippines

Horse tows Kalesa in front of an antique shop.

They are all a legacy of the long Hispanic colonization of the Philippines. That of Luzon, the largest island in this island nation, and that of Vigan, in particular.

Vigan and the Philippines' Colonial Past: the Hispanic and the Shortest American Good

That of Vigan was inaugurated when, in 1572, the conqueror Juan de Salcedo seized the city, then a convenient trading post on the Silk Road that linked Asia, the Middle East and Europe.

It ended on July 12, 1898, the date of the proclamation of the Philippines' independence but also the time when the United States began to replace the Spanish as its colonial power.

The Americans stayed until 1935. They returned ten years later to drive out the Japanese invaders. During this period, there were numerous cultural influences that passed to the Filipinos. We recognize them in the ease with which they speak English and in their passion for basketball.

Tricycle conduit, Vigan, Asia Hispanica, Philippines

Rickshaw driver speeds around Vigan.

The connection between the two nations and the low cost of living are the main reasons why so many Hollywood filmmakers chose and choose the Philippines to film their works, from “Apocalypse Now" to "born on the 4th of July".

Vigan's Unlikely Link to Mexico, in “Born on the 4th of July”

Unexpectedly, this latest success was linked to Vigan forever. At the time of shooting, relations between the US and the Vietnam they remained problematic. For that reason, Oliver Stone filmed the Vietnam War scenes in the jungle areas of the Philippines.

The film also includes excerpts from the Mexico. The travel of the entire team involved in the shooting to that country or to Europe would be too costly.

Instead, Stone moved to Vigan where the architectural heritage shared the traits the Spaniards adapted to their Mexican villages.

Villa Angela, Vigan, Asia Hispanica, Philippines

Interior of Villa Angela, one of Vigan's many stately mansions.

Villa Angela is another such heritage. He built it in 1870, Agapito B. Florendo um governor that concentrated total administrative and judicial powers. It would later be purchased by the prominent Verzosa family who named it in honor of matriarch Angela.

When we visit it, we come across features similar to those of the Syquia Mansion: grandiose rooms built on massive wooden planks, decorated with XNUMXth century furniture and ornaments that give it a strong sense of living.

Kalesa nocturna, Vigan, Asia Hispanica, Philippines

Kalesa (charrette) descends one of the historic streets in the center of Vigan at dusk.

The housekeeper proudly shows us her place of work. When we arrive at the room del señor, he calls our attention to a particular photograph. “As you can see, Tom Cruise stayed with us…”.

The photo shows the protagonist of “born on the 4th of July” in his early career, with the current owner of the mansion. As we are told, Willem Dafoe was also privileged to inhabit it.

And there was filmed part of “Jose Rizal”, the cinematographic tribute to the main Filipino patriot and independenceist, executed by the Spaniards 26 years after Villa Angela was completed.

Vigan, Asia Hispanica, Philippines

License plate for a taxi-rickshaw in the city.

Bacolod, Philippines

A Festival to Laugh at Tragedy

Around 1980, the value of sugar, an important source of wealth on the Philippine island of Negros, plummeted and the ferry “Don Juan” that served it sank and took the lives of more than 176 passengers, most of them from Negrès. The local community decided to react to the depression generated by these dramas. That's how MassKara arose, a party committed to recovering the smiles of the population.
Camiguin, Philippines

An Island of Fire Surrended to Water

With more than twenty cones above 100 meters, the abrupt and lush, Camiguin has the highest concentration of volcanoes of any other of the 7641 islands in the Philippines or on the planet. But, in recent times, not even the fact that one of these volcanoes is active has disturbed the peace of its rural, fishing and, to the delight of outsiders, heavily bathed life.
Talisay City, Philippines

Monument to a Luso-Philippine Love

At the end of the 11th century, Mariano Lacson, a Filipino farmer, and Maria Braga, a Portuguese woman from Macau, fell in love and got married. During the pregnancy of what would be her 2th child, Maria succumbed to a fall. Destroyed, Mariano built a mansion in his honor. In the midst of World War II, the mansion was set on fire, but the elegant ruins that endured perpetuate their tragic relationship.
Boracay, Philippines

The Philippine Beach of All Dreams

It was revealed by Western backpackers and the film crew of “Thus Heroes are Born”. Hundreds of resorts and thousands of eastern vacationers followed, whiter than the chalky sand.
El Nido, Philippines

El Nido, Palawan: The Last Philippine Frontier

One of the most fascinating seascapes in the world, the vastness of the rugged islets of Bacuit hides gaudy coral reefs, small beaches and idyllic lagoons. To discover it, just one fart.
Hungduan, Philippines

Country Style Philippines

The GI's left with the end of World War II, but the music from the interior of the USA that they heard still enlivens the Cordillera de Luzon. It's by tricycle and at your own pace that we visit the Hungduan rice terraces.
Coron, Busuanga, Philippines

The Secret but Sunken Japanese Armada

In World War II, a Japanese fleet failed to hide off Busuanga and was sunk by US planes. Today, its underwater wreckage attract thousands of divers.
Bohol, Philippines

Other-wordly Philippines

The Philippine archipelago spans 300.000 km² of the Pacific Ocean. Part of the Visayas sub-archipelago, Bohol is home to small alien-looking primates and the extraterrestrial hills of the Chocolate Hills.
Batad, Philippines

The Terraces that Sustain the Philippines

Over 2000 years ago, inspired by their rice god, the Ifugao people tore apart the slopes of Luzon. The cereal that the indigenous people grow there still nourishes a significant part of the country.
Mactan, Cebu, Philippines

Magellan's Quagmire

Almost 19 months of pioneering and troubled navigation around the world had elapsed when the Portuguese explorer made the mistake of his life. In the Philippines, the executioner Datu Lapu Lapu preserves the honors of a hero. In Mactan, his tanned statue with a tribal superhero look overlaps the mangrove swamp of tragedy.
Philippines

The Philippine Road Lords

With the end of World War II, the Filipinos transformed thousands of abandoned American jeeps and created the national transportation system. Today, the exuberant jeepneys are for the curves.
Marinduque, Philippines

When the Romans Invade the Philippines

Even the Eastern Empire didn't get that far. In Holy Week, thousands of centurions seize Marinduque. There, the last days of Longinus, a legionary converted to Christianity, are re-enacted.
Marinduque, Philippines

The Philippine Passion of Christ

No nation around is Catholic but many Filipinos are not intimidated. In Holy Week, they surrender to the belief inherited from the Spanish colonists. Self-flagellation becomes a bloody test of faith
Philippines

When Only Cock Fights Wake Up the Philippines

Banned in much of the First World, cockfighting thrives in the Philippines where they move millions of people and pesos. Despite its eternal problems, it is the sabong that most stimulates the nation.
Bacolod, Philippines

Sweet Philippines

Bacolod is the capital of Negros, the island at the center of Philippine sugar cane production. Traveling through the Far East and between history and contemporaneity, we savor the fascinating heart of the most Latin of Asia.
Iloilo, Philippines

The Most Loyal and Noble City of the Philippines

In 1566, the Spanish founded Iloilo in the south of the island of Panay and, until the XNUMXth century, it was the capital of the vast Spanish East Indies. Although it has been Philippine for almost one hundred and thirty years, Iloilo remains one of the most Hispanic cities in Asia.
Islands Guimaras  e  Ave Maria, Philippines

Towards Ave Maria Island, in a Philippines full of Grace

Discovering the Western Visayas archipelago, we set aside a day to travel from Iloilo along the northwest coast of Guimaras. The beach tour along one of the Philippines’ countless pristine coastlines ends on the stunning Ave Maria Island.
Believers greet each other in the Bukhara region.
City
Bukhara, Uzbequistan

Among the Minarets of Old Turkestan

Situated on the ancient Silk Road, Bukhara has developed for at least two thousand years as an essential commercial, cultural and religious hub in Central Asia. It was Buddhist and then Muslim. It was part of the great Arab empire and that of Genghis Khan, the Turko-Mongol kingdoms and the Soviet Union, until it settled in the still young and peculiar Uzbekistan.
Skipper of one of the bangkas at Raymen Beach Resort during a break from sailing
Beach
Islands Guimaras  e  Ave Maria, Philippines

Towards Ave Maria Island, in a Philippines full of Grace

Discovering the Western Visayas archipelago, we set aside a day to travel from Iloilo along the northwest coast of Guimaras. The beach tour along one of the Philippines’ countless pristine coastlines ends on the stunning Ave Maria Island.
Gorongosa National Park, Mozambique, Wildlife, lions
safari
NP Gorongosa, Mozambique

The Heart of Mozambique's Wildlife Shows Signs of Life

Gorongosa was home to one of the most exuberant ecosystems in Africa, but from 1980 to 1992 it succumbed to the Civil War waged between FRELIMO and RENAMO. Greg Carr, Voice Mail's millionaire inventor received a message from the Mozambican ambassador to the UN challenging him to support Mozambique. For the good of the country and humanity, Carr pledged to resurrect the stunning national park that the Portuguese colonial government had created there.
Young people walk the main street in Chame, Nepal
Annapurna (circuit)
Annapurna Circuit: 1th - Pokhara a ChameNepal

Finally, on the way

After several days of preparation in Pokhara, we left towards the Himalayas. The walking route only starts in Chame, at 2670 meters of altitude, with the snowy peaks of the Annapurna mountain range already in sight. Until then, we complete a painful but necessary road preamble to its subtropical base.
Engravings, Karnak Temple, Luxor, Egypt
Architecture & Design
luxor, Egypt

From Luxor to Thebes: Journey to Ancient Egypt

Thebes was raised as the new supreme capital of the Egyptian Empire, the seat of Amon, the God of Gods. Modern Luxor inherited the Temple of Karnak and its sumptuousness. Between one and the other flow the sacred Nile and millennia of dazzling history.
Passengers, scenic flights-Southern Alps, New Zealand
Aventura
Aoraki / Mount Cook, New Zealand

The Aeronautical Conquest of the Southern Alps

In 1955, pilot Harry Wigley created a system for taking off and landing on asphalt or snow. Since then, his company has unveiled, from the air, some of the greatest scenery in Oceania.
Miyajima Island, Shinto and Buddhism, Japan, Gateway to a Holy Island
Ceremonies and Festivities
Miyajima, Japan

Shintoism and Buddhism with the Tide

Visitors to the Tori of Itsukushima admire one of the three most revered scenery in Japan. On the island of Miyajima, Japanese religiosity blends with Nature and is renewed with the flow of the Seto Inland Sea.
Athens, Greece, Changing of the Guard at Syntagma Square
Cities
Athens, Greece

The City That Perpetuates the Metropolis

After three and a half millennia, Athens resists and prospers. From a belligerent city-state, it became the capital of the vast Hellenic nation. Modernized and sophisticated, it preserves, in a rocky core, the legacy of its glorious Classical Era.
Lunch time
Markets

A Market Economy

The law of supply and demand dictates their proliferation. Generic or specific, covered or open air, these spaces dedicated to buying, selling and exchanging are expressions of life and financial health.
Culture
Shows

The World on Stage

All over the world, each nation, region or town and even neighborhood has its own culture. When traveling, nothing is more rewarding than admiring, live and in loco, which makes them unique.
Sport
Competitions

Man: an Ever Tested Species

It's in our genes. For the pleasure of participating, for titles, honor or money, competitions give meaning to the world. Some are more eccentric than others.
View from John Ford Point, Monument Valley, Nacao Navajo, United States
Traveling
Monument Valley, USA

Indians or Cowboys?

Iconic Western filmmakers like John Ford immortalized what is the largest Indian territory in the United States. Today, in the Navajo Nation, the Navajo also live in the shoes of their old enemies.
Navala, Viti Levu, Fiji
Ethnic
Navala, Fiji

Fiji's Tribal Urbanism

Fiji has adapted to the invasion of travelers with westernized hotels and resorts. But in the highlands of Viti Levu, Navala keeps its huts carefully aligned.
Sunset, Avenue of Baobabs, Madagascar
Got2Globe Photo Portfolio

days like so many others

Rabat, Malta, Mdina, Palazzo Xara
History
Rabat XNUMX%, Malta

A Former Suburb in the Heart of Malta

If Mdina became the noble capital of the island, the Knights Hospitaller decided to sacrifice the fortification of present-day Rabat. The city outside the walls expanded. It survives as a popular and rural counterpoint to the now living museum in Mdina.
Seixal, Madeira Island, pool
Islands
Seixal, Madeira, Portugal

The Island of Madeira at the Heart

Visitors to Madeira are enchanted by its almost tropical drama. In this case, the author must confess that it was the destination of his first three plane trips. That he has a friend from there, who made him be a bit from there. From the Madeira facing the endless North. From the fearless and welcoming Seixal.
Sampo Icebreaker, Kemi, Finland
Winter White
Kemi, Finland

It's No "Love Boat". Breaks the Ice since 1961

Built to maintain waterways through the most extreme arctic winter, the icebreaker Sampo” fulfilled its mission between Finland and Sweden for 30 years. In 1988, he reformed and dedicated himself to shorter trips that allow passengers to float in a newly opened channel in the Gulf of Bothnia, in clothes that, more than special, seem spacey.
On the Crime and Punishment trail, St. Petersburg, Russia, Vladimirskaya
Literature
Saint Petersburg, Russia

On the Trail of "Crime and Punishment"

In St. Petersburg, we cannot resist investigating the inspiration for the base characters in Fyodor Dostoevsky's most famous novel: his own pities and the miseries of certain fellow citizens.
The Guardian of the World Surfing Reserve at sunset
Nature
Ericeira, Portugal

The Fishing Village on the Crest of the Surf

Ericeira has long been a land of fearless seafarers, the site of some of Portugal's most memorable moments in history. When, in 2008, the A21 motorway made it more accessible and, shortly afterwards, it was declared Europe's only World Surfing Reserve, it began to dazzle the world, in addition to the holidaymakers of Lisbon and Torres Vedras.
Mother Armenia Statue, Yerevan, Armenia
Autumn
Yerevan, Armenia

A Capital between East and West

Heiress of the Soviet civilization, aligned with the great Russia, Armenia allows itself to be seduced by the most democratic and sophisticated ways of Western Europe. In recent times, the two worlds have collided in the streets of your capital. From popular and political dispute, Yerevan will dictate the new course of the nation.
Cachena cow in Valdreu, Terras de Bouro, Portugal
Natural Parks
Campos do GerêsTerras de Bouro, Portugal

Through the Campos do Gerês and the Terras de Bouro

We continue on a long, zigzag tour through the domains of Peneda-Gerês and Bouro, inside and outside our only National Park. In this one of the most worshiped areas in the north of Portugal.
Willemstad, Curacao, Punda, Handelskade
UNESCO World Heritage
Willemstad, Curaçao

The Multicultural Heart of Curaçao

A Dutch colony in the Caribbean became a major slave hub. It welcomed Sephardic Jews who had taken refuge from the Iberia Inquisition in Amsterdam and Recife. And it assimilated influences from the Portuguese and Spanish villages with which it traded. At the heart of this secular cultural fusion has always been its old capital: Willemstad.
Earp brothers look-alikes and friend Doc Holliday in Tombstone, USA
Characters
tombstone, USA

Tombstone: the City Too Hard to Die

Silver veins discovered at the end of the XNUMXth century made Tombstone a prosperous and conflictive mining center on the frontier of the United States to Mexico. Lawrence Kasdan, Kurt Russell, Kevin Costner and other Hollywood directors and actors made famous the Earp brothers and the bloodthirsty duel of “OK Corral”. The Tombstone, which, over time, has claimed so many lives, is about to last.
La Digue, Seychelles, Anse d'Argent
Beaches
La Digue, Seychelles

Monumental Tropical Granite

Beaches hidden by lush jungle, made of coral sand washed by a turquoise-emerald sea are anything but rare in the Indian Ocean. La Digue recreated itself. Around its coastline, massive boulders sprout that erosion has carved as an eccentric and solid tribute of time to the Nature.
Braga or Braka or Brakra in Nepal
Religion
Annapurna Circuit: 6th – Braga, Nepal

The Ancient Nepal of Braga

Four days of walking later, we slept at 3.519 meters from Braga (Braka). Upon arrival, only the name is familiar to us. Faced with the mystical charm of the town, arranged around one of the oldest and most revered Buddhist monasteries on the Annapurna circuit, we continued our journey there. acclimatization with ascent to Ice Lake (4620m).
Train Kuranda train, Cairns, Queensland, Australia
On Rails
Cairns-Kuranda, Australia

Train to the Middle of the Jungle

Built out of Cairns to save miners isolated in the rainforest from starvation by flooding, the Kuranda Railway eventually became the livelihood of hundreds of alternative Aussies.
Bright bus in Apia, Western Samoa
Society
Samoa  

In Search of the Lost Time

For 121 years, it was the last nation on Earth to change the day. But Samoa realized that his finances were behind him and, in late 2012, he decided to move back west on the LID - International Date Line.
Women with long hair from Huang Luo, Guangxi, China
Daily life
Longsheng, China

Huang Luo: the Chinese Village of the Longest Hairs

In a multi-ethnic region covered with terraced rice paddies, the women of Huang Luo have surrendered to the same hairy obsession. They let the longest hair in the world grow, years on end, to an average length of 170 to 200 cm. Oddly enough, to keep them beautiful and shiny, they only use water and rice.
Jeep crosses Damaraland, Namibia
Wildlife
Damaraland, Namíbia

Namibia On the Rocks

Hundreds of kilometers north of Swakopmund, many more of Swakopmund's iconic dunes Sossuvlei, Damaraland is home to deserts interspersed with hills of reddish rock, the highest mountain and ancient rock art of the young nation. the settlers South Africans they named this region after the Damara, one of the Namibian ethnic groups. Only these and other inhabitants prove that it remains on Earth.
Bungee jumping, Queenstown, New Zealand
Scenic Flights
Queenstown, New Zealand

Queenstown, the Queen of Extreme Sports

In the century. XVIII, the Kiwi government proclaimed a mining village on the South Island "fit for a queen".Today's extreme scenery and activities reinforce the majestic status of ever-challenging Queenstown.