Tags: Attractions, Natural Wonders
By Edil Guanzon
SAN QUINTIN, ABRA — In an age when the world was young and innocence flowed through waters of the North, a giant roamed the landscape of what is now known as the Ilocos region. He was a hunter, a hero to the locals who were looking for honor in a world which honor had abandoned.
His name was Angalo, a mountain of a man in search of his woman, Aran. Endless was his search, yet infinite was his longing, and so he scoured the Ilocos region for his love, occasionally kneeling down to imbibe water from the springs. His heavy footfalls made even heavier by his heart, Angalo’s massive footprints carved themselves onto the young earth, leaving behind indelible marks of his search for Aran.
So goes the myth of the footprints of Angalo, or “tugot ni Angalo” in Ilocano. Locals claim the footprints are as deep as three meters, with a width of five meters and a length of 15 meters. Such gigantic footprints are said to be found in Sitio Cabaruyan, Barangay Labaan in the municipality of San Quintin in Abra. The “footprints” have since become natural pools leading to another tourist spot — the Pinsal Falls, which is six kilometers from Labaan proper.
In Abra mythology, Angalo and Aran are believed to be the first man and woman on Earth, roughly equivalent to Adam and Eve yet supersized a hundredfold. They were giants who roamed the Ilocos region looking for each other, and Angalo it was — so they say — who left behind the massive footprints which can be found at the top of Pinsal falls as natural pools of spring water. Of the 11 barangays in San Quintin, Labaan has become the most popular because of this myth.
“Angalo, ang Asawa ni Aran” has been told for generations upon generations in Abra and across the Ilocos Region. In modern times, multilingual and multi-awarded Ilocano writer Reynaldo Duque, former editor-in-chief of Liwayway Magazine, wrote about the legend as a short story for children titled “Si Angalo at si Aran” which won a Palanca award. There is even an Ilocano poem about the legend written by Godofredo Reyes titled “Da Angalo ken Aran” which was first published in Tawdi Magasin, and you may read it in its entirety here.
Tugot ni Angalo or the footprints of Angalo on top of Pinsal Falls have made this area of Abra popular, yet the waterfalls themselves — which geographically is already a part of Sta. Maria, Ilocos Sur — have their own natural beauty aside from an interesting back story. In her blog, Serdenia Arlon says Pinsal Falls is the favorite outdoor shooting spot of the late Fernando Poe Jr. It has a height of approximately 85 feet — the largest waterfall in the Ilocos Region. Yet on top of these falls in the Abra region are the natural pools said to be the footprints of the mythical giant.
So if ever you’re bound for Abra on the natural pools leading to Pinsal, tread softly. The spirit of an Ilocano giant whose massive footprints created those pools may still be alive in San Quintin.
To get there by land, Philippine local bus operators such as Partas Trans travel to Abra from Manila or Pangasinan and Philippine Rabbit takes the Baguio-Abra-Manila route. Viron Trans also has trips from Baguio to Abra. Travel time from Manila to Baguio is about seven hours. From Baguio to Abra, you will take about an hour or so.
Photos from the Flicker pages of Serdenia Arlon and Elena Cachola.
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