Pagburnayan Factory

This is located at the corner of Liberation Boulevard and Gomez St. My DH and I visited the Pagburnayan factory but it was raining so hard that day that it kind of dampened the tour. We have not met the owner of the pottery Mr. Fidel Go but his staff were very accomodating and friendly. They gave us a tour inside the factory and walked us through the process of making the clay jars and it was really very interesting. When I was young, we used to have some clay pots in the house that were used for cooking rice. We also had a clay stove and we used some firewood that we gathered in the forest to cook our food. I also remember my late mom using a clay jar whenever she makes "tapuey", an Igorot wine that is used for special occassions. The tapuey is red rice that is cooked and fermented in clay jars until it becomes wine. I never really gave any thought on how these things were made until we visited the pottery in Vigan. Now, I have a better appreciation of these things that I used to take for granted. 

  

HOW TO SELL YOUR OWN POTTERYWanting to sell pottery on the side? How to start? We, along with Fidel Go, advise you to chart the following for a successful crack at the trendy and gritty business of pots.

1. Where to begin? We advise you to ship some test items to friends to see how they hold up. Perfect your product first before shipping a real order. Have good looking boxes and packing materials even at craft shows. Look for a good supplier for boxes and packing materials. Look at the post office website and see if their free boxes will work for you. Also, download their software and use a debit card to print postage. Start by arranging the pickups online.

2. Do you need a legal business name? Yes and no. Your real name can be your business name. If you pick a business name, you will have to get a bank account with that name, because people will want to write checks. It doesn’t cost anything. If you register with BIR, just ask for a tax ID number. When processing requests, we recommend Paypal to process your credit card orders. They have a debit card you can use, so you can buy postage as soon as the customer pays.

3. Where can you feature your pots and jars? You can set up a booth at home thew way it would look at a presentation in a craft fair. If you want to take it to another level, take a picture of it and send it to organizers of fairs. Join trade fairs, for this is a perfect avenue to gain clients. Get the names of shows from newspapers or websites. Use their search tool to find craft fairs. Remember the craft fairs will start advertising for crafter about 2 months in advance.

4. Other marketing strategies? Some start with a freebie site, like geocities.com. When profits start coming in, upgrade to a paid site. You can pick a template and then just plug your content in.

( Source: Agribusinessweek.com)

Crisologo Museum

The Crisologo Museum is found on Liberation Boulevard and Reyes Street. It houses the memorabilia and other prized possessions of the late Congressman Floro S. Crisologo, the uncle of Mr. Chavit Singson who owns the famous Baluarte in Ilocus Sur. The late Floro S. Crisologo was shot in the head while he was attending the 4: o'clock mass inside the St. Augustine Church on October 18, 1970. His murder is still unsolved to this day. His wife who was then the Governor at that time has decided that they will not seek revenge. Instead, to honor his memory, they turned their home into a museum to so that the crime will not be forgotten. In the center of the library which is located on the ground floor of the museum, a glass box containing the bloodied clothes that the late governor was wearing are on display. The late Floro S. Crisologo was known as the man who was responsible for making landmark legislation that benefited his countrymen up to this day such as the laws behind the creation of the first University in Northern Philippines and the establishment of the Social Security System.  

In the 1970's , there was political turmoil in the whole country. Shootings and political intimidation were rampant at that time. People who were fed up with the government joined the NPA and there was dissatisfaction and unrest among the people who felt oppressed by the rich people. One co-worker who is from Ilocos told me at one time that people from their place are passionate about their political candidates. The people defend their "pet" candidates against the rival candidates and their supporters to the extent of severing ties with old time friends and even close family members who dare to go against them. They will not hesitate to kill people like they kill chickens for no apparent reason. People get killed everyday and there was fear in the hearts of the community. It was a time of political dynasties and warlordism with goons and guns that made the place a dangerous place to live at that time. Living there then was like living in "The wild-wild west". However, that was all in the past now. This time, the place is a peaceful and pleasant place to visit. Since the place has been declared under UNESCO as a Heritage City, it is now a booming tourist destination with its rich history dating back to the Spanish era.

Old Churches and Belfry in Vigan

My DH and I went visiting old churches in Vigan after we checked in at the Aniceto Mansion. The St. Paul Metropolitan Cathedral also known as Vigan Cathedral is facing the Plaza Salcedo and on the side is Plaza Burgos. This is a big imposing baroque style architecture with its thick buttresses on the sides to protect it from earthquakes and typhoons. The bell tower or the belfry was built a few meters away from the church to keep it safe should the church come down during an earthquake. The original church was built on this same site in 1574 on orders of Juan De Salcedo, the conquistador and founder of Vigan. The chapel made out of wood and thatch material was damaged in the earthquakes of 1619 and 1627. Another was built in 1641 and this became a church. When the seat of the diocese of the Nueva Segovia in Cagayan was transferred to Vigan in 1758, this elevated the status of the church and it became a cathedral. In 1786, Governor Jose de Basco ordered another structure to replace the existing church. With the coming of the Augustinian friars in 1790, the cornerstone of the new church was laid. The church was finally completed in 1800.

The St. Paul Cathedral is on the left side of this Belfry.

The old and the new. McDonald's Restaurant is just beside this Belfry.

We hired a young man with his kalesa to take us on a tour to visit one of the oldest surviving churches in Vigan. This is St. Augustine Church which was built in 1590 and the Bantay Belfry which sits on top of a hill was built in 1591. The church was partly damaged during WW11 so it was reconstructed in 1950. On the grounds of the church is a statue of Our Lady of Charity, the patron saint of Nueva Segovia who is said to have watched over the city for many centuries. My DH and I climbed the wide stone stairs leading to the Belfry tower and we took turns taking pictures of ourselves for posterity and then he decided that he wants to go inside the tower. I was game at first but as we climbed higher and higher on the circular stairway of the tower, my fear for height got the better of me and my knees started shaking. It was really a hilarious situation. I just stood there clinging on a wooden post and I could not take another step forward because I was too nervous. I was only 4 steps short to the top and in spite of my DH coaching, I still could not make it. I just kept on laughing hysterically at myself and nothing my DH could say would make me climb the last 4 steps to get to the top. So I just stood where I was clinging for my dear life and I urged my DH to go ahead and he made it to the top. I was still able to get a good view of the entire area from where I was standing and it was really a beautiful sight to see. I wish that more people will visit this heritage city.

Front view of St. Augustine Church

Our Lady of Charity, the Patron Saint of Nueva Segovia. It is just on the side of St. Augustine Church.

Side view of St. Augustine Church taken from the hill or Bantay. 



The Belfry of St. Augustine Church

Aniceto Mansion

Aniceto Mansion

This is the reception area at the lobby of Aniceto Mansion. The two arched doorways at the back leads to the dining room area.

In one corner of the dining room area is a deep well where one can actually draw water but people have been using this as a wishing well.

I like the arched doorways with the french doors in the dining room area of Aniceto Mansion. 

Each table has four low-ceiling arched doorways with thick columns that encloses each area. This makes one dining table like a private dining area.

My DH just goofing off on the wide stairways like a young boy.

A tall grandfather clock in the hallway leading to our bedroom.

It was so hot even at night so we kept the air con running all night through. 

We moved out of the Vigan Heritage Mansion after spending only one night with them. We wanted to experience staying in another mansion which is why we went to Aniceto Mansion the next day. This mansion was built in 1840 and was owned by  Leona Florentino's father. The mansion used to be the residence of Don Mena Crisologo, a political and literary figure at that time. The wealthy Spaniards who were more prominent in their status in life had their homes much nearer to the plaza and the church while the less prominent families were located much further from the center of the plaza. The ownership of this mansion is now with the Aniceto family who restored the place and maintained its old-world charm. This mansion is next to the Vigan Plaza Hotel and is much nearer to the Plaza Burgos, Plaza Salcedo and the St. Paul Cathedral.  

The ceiling in the bedrooms are high but the room itself is somewhat narrow. The bed is pushes against the wall and at the back of the bed is a wide wooden french windows with white curtains as you can see in the last picture. Just beside the chair near the bed is a door that leads to a small veranda at the back overlooking an open courtyard below with some trees and other plants which is really nice. It's just that the veranda is too narrow like maybe two feet wide only. My DH likes to smoke outside at night so this small veranda was really perfect for us.  At the foot of the bed is a 3-feet tall tv stand with the tv of course. Inside this tv stand is where guests can keep their things. Behind the tv is the bathroom with hot and cold showers. They had a friendly staff but they seemed to be short with manpower at that time because we had to ask for the bathroom stuff before they brought these things to us. What we liked best in the place is the restaurant with its very cozy set-up.

Vigan Heritage Mansion





This is about our short stay in Vigan Ilocus Sur when we went to visit the place for the first time. We stayed for one night at the Vigan Heritage Mansion. It is located at the corner of Liberation Boulevard and Crisologo Street. The end of the cobble stone pavement of Crisologo Street is just a few steps across from the mansion. My DH made a real good job in making our itinerary for this trip which is why we did not waste too much time figuring out where to go when we got there. We arrived at the mansion late in the evening and most of the shops along the streets were just getting ready to close for the night. We had a corner bedroom with air conditioning and a television. What really surprised us is the modern hot and cold shower in the bathroom. This is a 118-year old house built in  1885 and was home to the late three-term governor of Ilocus Sur, Governor Pedro Singson.  His daughter Julie Singson Manahan restored the place to its full grandeur and and at the same time, installed modern amenities for travellers. So, we got to experience living in a 19th century old house with all the modern amenities in it which was one of our goals in this trip anyway. We liked our bedroom but the only drawback was that we could not open the windows as they seem to have been nailed together. We thought that maybe it's for security purposes that they had the capiz windows tightly closed because the bedrooms are facing the street below. We liked listening to the clip-clopping sounds of the horses drawing the kalesas whenever they would pass by the mansion but other than that, the place was very quiet. We talked about  the people that lived in this place during the Spanish era and what life must have been like then for them because of cultural differences. Nothing beats the imagination of course and these heritage places are living testimony of the past.  The mansion by the way has a view deck at the rooftop with a bar on the side and one could get a good view of the whole heritage city. We liked the sitting area inside the nipa huts. It's a fantastic place to hang out and just enjoy the scenery.   Below are some of the pictures we've taken of the place, hope you enjoy the pics.

Frontage of Vigan Heritage Mansion

Side View of Vigan Heritage Mansion

Wide capiz windows in the living room of Vigan Heritage Mansion 

Dark wood furnitures in the living room of Vigan Heritage Mansion.

Beautiful capiz shell windows in the bedroom but the windows were nailed together so we could not open them.

A bar on the side and a picnic/sitting area at the rooftop of  Vigan Heritage Mansion.

The view deck at the rooftop of Vigan Heritage Mansion overlooking the Heritage City.