B.I.G. Adventure: Iloilo City

Since our Palawan escape supposedly for our anniversary didn’t push through, Gerald and I have been craving an adventure. Our last travel together was last May, for my birthday in Boracay. So we decided to go an adventure for his birthday this time. :)

We wanted to more laid back trip so we thought of just having city tours. Until we found about the B.I.G. Adventure which stands for Bacolod, Iloilo, Guimaras.

We were so excited because we get to visit three provinces in one travel trip! However we were worried that it might exhaust us.

Gerald insisted on creating the itinerary this time (WOW), and we realized that even if we’re going on three different provinces, it won’t be as stressful as we were thinking, since we’ll just be going around the city. We also wanted to take rests and not go out the whole day. Tita/tito mode! Haha

For Day 1, we went around the Philippines’ City of Love, Iloilo City! :)

Netong’s La Paz Batchoy

Start the day first by having breakfast! :) We went to La Paz Public Market, which is just one ride from our hotel.

Miag-ao Church

Then we went to Miag-ao church which is around 30-45 minutes away. It’s one of the UNESCO Heritage site in the Philippines so it’s worth a visit!

Sadly, it’s closed when we went. A local said it only opens twice a day (morning and afternoon) for mass.

Molo

We were on our way back to the hotel to rest but we got lost along the way. Haha. We found ourselves in the town of Molo. Since we’re already there we decided to see the place.

Ramboy’s

It was already lunch time so we looked for a place to eat. Then we found Ramboy’s.

Dinagyang Pamukaw

Early in the morning, while we were watching the local TV show, Sikat Ka Iloilo, we heard that there will be a Dinagyang Pamukaw in the afternoon. So we decided to skip a few places on our list so we can see Dinagyang Pamukaw.

Dinagyang Pamukaw is like an opening ceremony for their Dinagyang Festival next year. By watching it, we felt like we already had a glimpse of what Dinagyang Festival looks like.

However we weren’t able to finish the event because it was so crowded and we couldn’t stand the heat. Plus, I couldn’t see anything most of the time because we were standing behind a lot of people! Haha.

Roberto’s

We just decided to stay in Roberto’s to take a rest and eat merienda. Take note that their servings are good for 2-3 persons and we didn’t know that! Haha we ordered one meal each! Haha

Getting lost

After eating, we wanted to go to SM Iloilo but we don’t know how. Hahaha some roads are closed because of the event so there were no jeepneys around. We tried to walk around with the guidance of Google Maps (as always).

And you know, sometimes it’s good to get lost because you get to see beauty in unexpected places. See this view? However, up to now, I still don’t know what place this is. Haha.

After appreciating it and looking around the locals fishing, we found an SM building and when we thought we found our way, nope! Apparently, there is another SM in Iloilo which is called SM Delgado. Since we’re already there, we went inside and just roamed around. Then we just asked some locals for directions going to SM Iloilo.

SM Iloilo

As expected, the building is really huge, but we didn’t bother to explore more of it anymore because we want to go back to the hotel and rest. Tita/tito mode na nga kasi. Haha

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That’s a wrap for our B.I.G. Adventure Day 1 :) It wasn’t as tiring as it seems because we had a lot of rests and breaks in between. :)

You may also watch our travel vlog below:

Stay tuned for the next part of our B.I.G. Adventure as we explore more of Iloilo, Guimaras and Bacolod. :)