In the presence of modern technology where children are now engaged with smartphones, laptops, facebook and partying (on which I'm against if done by the little kids the wrong way - "insert fling, smoke and hard drinks), I reached a quiet village surrounded by mountains called Mt. Ati, Mt. Bullagao and Mt. Mabongtot. The little village is called Palang which can be reached by crossing the Abra River in the town of San Quintin in the province of Abra. From this village, there you can visualize a legend that is still very much alive. A legend that has been a part of the living and culture of the people in this remote little village in spite of the revolution of the modern world.

In this part of the country, hidden by the mountains, there exists the most legendary footprint of all the legendary footprints of Angalo. The thing here is that many people are aware of the story of Angalo and Aran (characters of an Ilocano myth) but few are knowledgeable of the existence of this footprint maybe because it is just hidden, inaccessible and very impractical to visit if your purpose is only to see this (unless you are a fanatic of mysteries, legends and local folklore).

But for me, being interested with this type of stuff, I don't mind exerting an effort as long as it won't cost my life. In the long run, walking down a remote, less visited place gives me euphoria. But the question now is, where is that legendary footprint?

I remember the person whom I talked at the San Quintin Town Hall that the Angalo Footprint is the most famous landmark in this town and probably this landmark is bringing the town on map.

The only predicament is the fact that reaching the place would be very difficult. But he said to me that as I cross the river (on which I just did), I will be able to at least visualize the footprint. So imagine how big or gigantic that footprint is!

I have already discussed the story of the legend of Angalo in a previous post wherein I personally encountered one of the footprints in Sudipen, La Union. But as I was telling, this one is the most famous along with the other footprint at the top of Pinsal Falls on which I failed to see. So I have to say that this is the most famous pair. This footprint I am chasing now is the right foot, while the other one in Pinsal Falls is the left one. But as I said, there are many footprints scattered to different towns up north.

So now, I would want to act as an elder as I narrate the story of Angalo and Aran from the Ilocano mythology as has been passed from generation to generations. These two giants are equivalent to Adam and Eve in the Ilocano mythology. The only difference is that they are super-sized;

Once upon a time, there were two giants who inhabited the planet named Angalo and Aran. These two giants are believed to be the first inhabitants of the planet.

But the woman Aran is missing and so the giant male Angalo's longing to see for the woman was infinite. He continually searched for Aran and to be able to look for Aran he roamed the whole Ilocos Region. 

Upon his search, he left massive marks, and these are the gigantic footprints carved into the young earth. Angalo also drank from the springs of what is known now as Pinsal Falls in Sta. Maria, Ilocos Sur and he has to kneel thereby creating other depressions. Those depressions are now natural pools at the top of the waterfalls and the largest of those natural pools with the shape of a footprint is claimed to be the footprint of Angalo.

Now here in San Quintin, the footprint is carved in a village called Labaan, it is still far from the place where I am standing now. But just because the man assured me that I can see the footprint by going to Brgy Palang where I am standing now, I pursued the adventure. So that would be a very gigantic footprint! Angalo must be a very super-sized man!

Right now there is no one who can help me go near the footprint. So I have to stay here and see the footprint for myself from afar but I still long to see it up close. It is claimed by the residents that it is 3 meters deep, five meters wide and 15 meters long! Whoah!

Now, using my camera, I tried to zoom in to the next mountain within the reach of my naked eyes and I noticed a depression in the area. I have encircled it for emphasis just in case you can not notice it.

Ok, I think we have to get more closer. Check out the photo below if a footprint is already evident.

That's the only photo I can give for the mean time. But I hope this will give us an appreciation to an Ilocano mythology which has passed from the mouth of different generations because of the presence of these claimed pieces of evidence that a giant once inhabited the world. Mind you, there are many footprints in different towns and it makes this myth more interesting to probe. What a co-incidence!

For you to better appreciate it, I have borrowed some photos from jojof who has captured that landmark in a closer degree.

I shouldn't have been posting these photos because I still have plans to personally go closer to this landmark and capture my own photos but for the sake of appreciation, I am posting it now.

Ok, this is considered by the people of San Quintin as their greatest tourist attraction that tourists may not even want to see because of remoteness and the lack of knowledge about this Ilocano myth that exists in this Cordillera province of Abra. The search is not over yet, this is just the second footprint and I am still under warm-up! The search for other footprints would be more epic.

As I cross the river back to where I came from, I again observed a very great thing that I bet you will most likely agree too to be good (I hope so). Before I left San Quintin, I have told myself I will blog this encounter and I noticed this one after I saw this footprint from afar. To be continued...