Tatoy's, Ted's Batchoy, & One Lourdes Dormitel

During our 2D/1N stay in Iloilo, we stayed in One Lourdes Dormitel at the corner of Fuentes & Ledesma streets on the back of East West Bank. Inspite of it being far from the more popular hotels in Gen. Luna St., I can say that it has perfect location for budget travellers like us. 

First, the public utility jeepneys pass in front of it when we went to Ortiz wharf (drop off to Guimaras) , Miag-ao (church tours), Villa (lunch at Tatoys or Breakthrough), and to other Iloilo towns. Second, the Iloilo public market is within walking distance if you need to buy pasalubongs like dried seafoods. Third, the Robinsons Mall is just a block away. Fourth, SM Delgado and the other major establishments in the city are less than 10-minute walk away.

We got a family room for only P950 nett per night with 2 double beds that could comfortably accomodate 4 adults. Usual amenities like towels, soap, and shampoo are included. The closet is quite big for the room's size. 

Iloilo Church Tour

One thing that attracted me to visit Iloilo is the presence of very old churches which are mostly within an hour's drive from each other. So after doing Guimaras last Saturday, kids and I embarked on a tour of some notable Iloilo churches the following day. We traveled about 70 minutes and 40km southwest by jeepney from our hotel to our farthest church destination. 

We passed the scenic seaside towns of Villa, Arevalo, Oton, Tigbauan, Guimbal, then Miag-ao. If the kids are not with me, I might have traveled up to the last Iloilo town San Joaquin, along the boundary of Antique province.

I decided to start with one of their most famous churches -- the Santo Tomas de Villanueva church or more commonly known as Miag-ao church. It is one of the only 4 baroque churches in the country inscribed on UNESCO's World Heritage List, built between 1787-1797 by Augustinian friars. 

One of its most interesting feature is its unique and well-preserved facade with deeply-incised relief carvings, giving it a nice three-dimensional view. The bas relief shows St. Christopher as a farmer carrying the child Jesus in reaching for the coconut tree. Papaya, guava trees, banana leaves, and other Philippine flora and fauna are also sculpted on the facade, although they are out of scale to emphasize the Filipino theme of the facade.

Iloilo Jeepneys

"Sa lugar lang"...

The Ilonggo phrase above is what we hear when a passenger of an Iloilo public utility jeepney wants to get off on a point somewhere on the jeepney's route. In Tagalog, we say "Para po" which means to stop, and lugar means place in Tagalog, so the Ilonggo phrase above could also be a shortened instruction to stop in that place along the jeepney's route. 

In my parents' native tongue of Pangasinense, lugar means to ride and lugaran is the place or vehicle where a person will get a ride. Somehow, it is quite amusing if you see the same word's related meanings on different Filipino languages.

Anyway, I just like to show some photos of jeepneys in Iloilo. They may have the same engines and transmission like the jeepneys in Luzon, but their bodies are very different from Sarao-inspired jeepneys in Luzon. However, they are similar with some "XLT-design" assembled jeepneys that ply the Nueva Ecija and northern Bulacan routes.