Matutina Restaurant in Urdaneta, Pangasinan

If ever you need a good restaurant stopover along the stretch of Pangasinan to La Union/Baguio, I recommend Matutina's Seafood Restaurant in Urdaneta, Pangasinan. They have 2 branches in that city, though our group tried the one nearest to the city proper.

The ambience is very Filipino, also with lots of wooden furnishings. The food is also good at very reasonable price, which explains the huge turnout of diners. We really got a value-for-money meal at Matutina, than our very disappointing experience at the open-air food kiosk in Camp John Hay. 

Salasa and Mangatarem Churches in Pangasinan

The Salasa Church below in Bugallon, Pangasinan is the first church I visited in Pangasinan, whether consciously or unconsciously. Unconsciously because its where I was baptized almost 4 decades ago. Its also the first church I remember to have entered in the province during my childhood years. The church was built mostly on bricks, though repairs on modern times were inevitably done with cement.

Bugallon town's original name used to be Salasa during the Spanish colonial period at year 1714. The church which is also known as Our Lady of Lourdes church was built in 1747 until 1748 under Fr. Francisco Barroso. It had undergone repairs in 1874, 1885, and on later years. The town and the church were relocated to its present site after it was inundated by the rampaging Agno River. Legend has it that the image of San Andres refused to be moved while the church was being dismantled. Opposite the church on the other side of the road is the municipal cemetery.

Hundred Islands of Alaminos, Pangasinan

It was a Good Friday of April 2009 when I took the family for a day tour at the famous Hundred Islands in Bgy. Lucap, Alaminos, Pangasinan after an overnight stay in a sister’s home in Bugallon, Pangasinan.

Upon parking at Lucap wharf by 9 am, we arranged for a motorboat to take us to a 3-island tour. Motorboat rental rates are posted on Tourist Kiosk, depending on boat size and destination.

Our boat has capacity of about 10 persons for P700 fee/boat for a preset 3-island tour. Boat rental fee will increase as its capacity increases and/or if passengers opt to tour more faraway islands. There is also a minimal environmental fee of around P20/tourist for the islands’ upkeep, like the men we saw collecting garbage on each island then disposing them on mainland. The place is very organized now, compared to about 15 years ago the last time I went there.