Urban Rural Living

My husband told me not to write about our home. Home does not just mean our house... but Vira Hills. I just had to call it Vira Hills to give it some oomph! His selfish reasons are he does not want land prices to escalate like crazy and wants to contain the neighborhood to just a few. But I can't hold myself... I don't remember signing a nondisclosure agreement. Boo! So here I am in bed, beside my unknowing husband... Typing like crazy... Ha! Ha!




Our bay windows and veranda gives an unobstructed view of verdant greens, rice fields and rolling hills. When we moved here, I thought I won't last. I lived for 27years quite near in the heart of Laoag City's hustle and bustle. Where tricycles, cars pass by the streets in seconds. Here in Vira Hills we don't have that. You're lucky to have 3 cars in an hour that would pass by your home. No kidding!
The lack of vehicles passing our street is compensated by lots and lots of health buffs who use our terrain for running and cycling. When people ask me if what landmark is near our home, I say, we're just behind a sports complex... That is the Marcos Stadium. Tee hee!
A bonus for having just a few vehicles passing is that we have unpolluted air. You can breathe all the air that you want sans unwanted gases.
At night we sit in our porch, holding hands (yay!), listening to crickets. And if we have visitors, it's our gaiety that fills the night. Under the starry starry sky. And at times we get crazy we count the number of planes that pass the sky, or the shooting stars that fall from the sky. It's always the perfect spot to cap our day. Sigh!
I love how our neighborhood helps and cares for one another. Everyone is so warm. There is always a ready smile from the folks here. Oh and definitely no drunkards.




We get these gifts from our neighbors at times. Mangoes, caimito's (star apples), string beans... Oh my I can go on forever. Since we are lazy farmers, we exchange our cake trimmings for those. I tried backyard farming, I really did, but it is so much easier said than done. Believe me. I envisioned rows and rows of vegetables fenced with fuchsia and black bamboo sticks. Ha! Ha!
I remember, when we tried doing that, I had our house help prepare the back lawn for vegetable farming. He did, and he planted Utong (string beans), Tarong (eggplants), okra (lady finger), and kamatis (tomatoes). He was as clueless as I was, plus lazier by a few notches than me, he just threw the seeds and let it grow where it dropped. So when they did, it was a mix and match of everything... Literally like how you cook a pakbet. So I surrender, I leave the farming to farmers...




The closest to farming my son could experience. Looks so fun but I'm too much of a sissy to handle the carabao alone lest have our neighbor guide me like he did to Ava. Oh Ava rides carabaos, cows and horses in here too.
Living here is a gift from the heavens. To experience the right mix of urban and rural living. Both worlds indeed. We are just 5minutes away from the Capitol and yet it seems like we are so far from the City. I love how easy it is to switch from rural to urban, urban to rural. A few minutes is all we need. Visit us and see for yourself... You could even get lucky and have free vegetables to bring home. Yay!
The vacant lot beside ours was bought for 3M (- kit m.

Location:Vira Hills