The long drive itself was bound to clear my mind already. A good four to five hours on the road, looking out the window and enjoying the changing scenery, usually has a “cleansing” effect. On the way, we discovered new routes that actually cut your travel time in half. Here’s a tip for those driving up north for the Holy Week, Quezon City residents have the option of using the Mindanao Avenue exit to the NLEX. It spares you the agony of sitting through the traffic of SM North-Munoz until Balintawak. Located at the Quirino Avenue-Novaliches junction, the ramp automatically takes you to MacArthur Highway in Valenzuela, Bulacan. That’s around 30-40 minutes off your drive time.
After enduring the stench of the piggeries of Bulacan and Pampanga, you have the option of using the SCTEX at Dau. Again, this road will reduce your 3 hour drive to a mere hour and a half. You don’t have to deal with the heavy traffic from the heavily-populated towns of Mabalacat, Bamban, Capas and Tarlac City where tricycles on the highway have the “King-of-the-Road” attitudes.
SCTEX cuts across Pampanga and Tarlac lands, specifically the great Hacienda Luisita. The long stretches of asphalt and concrete are a stark contrast to the endless tracks of sugarcane fields and other plantation crops. You might also enjoy a closer look at Mt. Arayat as it rises against clear blue skies. Occasionally, you might even see a few birds from the nearby Candaba swamps.
In Tarlac City, there is a rotonda area which directs you to either take the road going to Cabanatuan, Nueva Ecija, the usual route towards Baguio (which is the commonly used track) or the city proper of Tarlac which has a shortcut to the lesser known towns of Pangasinan. For those heading for the Hundred Islands of Alaminos or the beaches of Labrador and Bolinao, the latter is the perfect road to take. It just goes straight up, with minimal vehicles or traffic on the road. It allows you to avoid the tricycles and heavy traffic from Gerona until Urdaneta, as well as the circuitous backroads of Sta.Barbara and Lingayen.
On the other hand, should you happen to get lost (like we did) and reach Urdaneta inadvertently, you can do a sidetrip to Manaoag and do a quick visit to the Blessed Virgin of Manaoag, enjoy the old churches in Lingayen, or catch a quick seafood lunch from the freshest catch of Dagupan. So here’s another tip for the Holy Week, while you do your Visita Iglesia at the numerous old churches of Pangasinan, you can also gorge yourself on your favourite Bangus, prawns or squid.
At Sual and Labrador, the changing panorama might confuse you. One moment, you see the perfect coastline, the blue sea and rushing waves on the beach, and then suddenly, you are in the rolling hills of Mabini and Burgos. The twisting roads can give Naguilian Road a run for its money in terms of the breath-taking views – the distant coastline and the vast Pangasinan plains. Soon the hills’ red earth and white sand beaches give way to a rocky, gray landscape. These coral mountains characterize the westernmost towns surrounding the Lingayen Gulf. It all ends at Bolinao which boasts of freshwater caves carved into coral mountains and powdery-soft white sand beaches. Once more, the stark contrasts of natural formations make for an interesting site-seeing trip.
As with Life, there is no such thing as getting completely lost; you just get detoured once in a while. You still get to where you want to go, and end up where you’re suppose to be.
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