Tirad Pass, Ilocos Sur

With the Mayor and Police Chief of Gregorio del Pilar town

Gregorio del Pilar town

We hired a jeepney which took us on the second leg of our trip to the town of Gregorio del Pilar. After passing through the town of Salcedo, our jeepney was plying through a narrow rough road and crossed various rivers which at times were deep enough to cause some water to flow in and drench our shoes. All of us were praying that our jeep would not get stuck in the middle of a river crossing. Talk about isolation. They say the rivers are impassable during the rainy season. I can just imagine how it is to be stranded in Del Pilar town for weeks during the typhoon season. There is not even a phone or a cell phone signal in the town. I bet they have no hospital adequately equipped to handle emergencies. What happens in times of an emergency when the rivers are impassable is unthinkable.

While resting in front of a sari-sari store at the village center, a man in shorts, who turned out to be the Chief of Police, approached us and said that the Mayor is inviting us for lunch! It's a simple meal consisting of corned beef and rice, but it's a quite a big gesture considering that the farming town is poor and have nothing much to offer. This reminded me of Tolkien's The Hobbit and also The Lord of the Rings. Whenever Bilbo or Frodo and their band of adventurers made a stopover, they were welcomed, fed and treated well by their hosts before moving on to their journey.

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