Apayao: Luna and Pudtol

Apayao one of the cleanest province I have visited, a 3  hour ride from Tuguegarao City and used to be a part of the larger province Kalinga-Apayao until they divided in 1994. It is one of the less visited province due to its location. I went to this province from Tuguegarao City, it took me about 3 hours to arrive to Junction Luna where I hopped in a tricycle to bring me to the place that I wanted to visit and it cost me 200 pesos.

Apayao province is very laid back , you will notice simplicity and less hassle way of living, the place is clean and well-organized, you will really feel the provincial life there, the freshair will eliminate your stress and pain. It was raining that time but id did not hinder me to pursue my goal to visit the province.

I went to Pudtol, Apayao where I found the Old ruins of Pudtol Church, it is said that it was the first church built in 1600 by Dominican missionaries

There is a new church just near the Pudtol old church ruins.I stayed and prayed for a while,thanking God for my safe journey. anyway, I saw some students sitting in the Old church ruin I asked them to take a picture of me with the Old church, in exchange, I showed them my magic skills until their bell rang and they needed to go back to their class.

I only stayed for a moment in the church and went to the Public Market to look for a place to eat but we had a hard time to find one so we continued our tour instead.

The boundary of Luna and Pudtol and the nice view of Apayao province

Cordillera Administrative Region

Apayao is a par of the Cordillera Administrative Region , the CAR compose of provinces such as Benguet, Abra, Mountain Province, Ifugao, Kalinga and Apayao.

 

kuya driver brought me to the place called Apayao restaurant and hot miki, I was about to order pancit cabagan since there were no other food or delicacy from Apayao to choose from but he told me that if I want to try Pancit Cabagan it would be better to go to Isabela province which I already tried so I ordered other food instead.

After we took our lunch, We headed to the Provincial Capitol just few minutes away from Apayao restaurant and Hot miki, I was really amazed to what I saw that day because before I visit Apayao I made some research and found that Apayao is one of the poorest province in the philippines but their Provincial Capitol is really amazing, the structure, design and architecture are great I can say that this is one of the most beautiful external design I have seen.

Apayao Province Provincial Capitol

after taking some pictures in the provincial capitol I went to their tourism office to visit the staff, I will ask for their tourism brochure as a reason to visit the office, at first, It was a little bit awkward because I looked like someone selling beauty products to them but as we go along the conversation everything became comfortable. they brought me to their cultural and tourism room where they showed me some products that the Apayao resident made like coffee, wine, etc. I asked for a shirt as my souvenir.

They were really hospitable and they even asked me if they could bring me to other attractions that day but I humbly refuse because I needed to go back to Tuguegarao City but I appreciate their effort, one of the staff told me a story of one of the famous blogger who made a seminar with the tourism officers in different province held in Albay, he told me that he approach that blogger and refused to make a conversation and told him there is nothing to see in the province of Apayao. the Apayao tourism officer was dissapointed and hoping that someday people will appreciate their province and show it to the world. maybe that blogger had a bad experience in Apayao but he does not have the right to say that. To eliminate the negativity in the office, I showed them my magic skills and they were so happy and amazed, I promise to go back to Apayao because of these friendly staff and we will explore its own beauty.



The very friendly staff of Apayao Tourism office.

after staying in the office for an hour, I went back to Junction Luna and paid kuya driver then I hopped a van bound to Tuguegarao City which took about 3 hours to arrive. Apayao is clean,humble yet simple province filled with hopes that someday that local tourist will appreciate its own beauty.



How to ge there: Apayao is a 3 hour ride from tuguegarao , 4 hours from Ilocos Norte and 13 hours from Manila. you can ride a bus and van going to Apayao.


Thank you for reading.:)