Cape Bojeador Lighthouse

About 25 kms. out of Pagudpud, past Bangui, on our way to Bauang (La Union), we made a short stopover at Cape Bojeador Lighthouse, Burgos town’s famous landmark.   Designed by Magin Pers and Pers in 1887, first lit on March 30, 1892 and still in use, this 19-m. (57-ft.) high lighthouse, also known as the Burgos Lighhouse, is one of the highest in the country.  It is perched on 160-m. high Vigia de Nagpartian Hill, between the low shrub Ilocos Mountains and squat coral cliffs facing the northern portion of the South China Sea.  A 45-km. (1-hr. ) drive from Laoag City, it could be reached by steps from the Maharlika Highway at Km. 536.  The octagonal lighthouse, topped by a bronze cupola, was made of lime, sand and water reinforced by a mixture of molasses and a sticky by-product of the rubber tree known locally as ablut.   

The rocky Cape Bojeador coastline

Too bad we couldn’t climb its narrow iron spiral staircase to the lantern room (now a modern electric lamp powered by solar panels) and its viewing gallery surrounded with decorative iron grille work as the lighthouse was then undergoing a much-needed rehabilitation and we could only admire it from outside. Just the same, we still had a breathtaking view, from the hill, of the surrounding expanse of the rough and rocky coastline of Cape Bojeador and the whitecaps of the South China Sea.