Windmills

These photos were taken in Bangui Bay, Ilocos Norte, about half an hour away from Pagudpud. It was meant to be the last stop on a 4-day road trip we took in April, and we wound up totally in love with the place -- the preternatural light, the strong surf, the surreal emptiness of this stretch of beach, the 70-m. high wind turbines hugging a shoreline made entirely of smooth, black pebbles. It was sensory overload of a different kind: our ears were filled with the sound of breaking waves, the periodic whoosh of the windmill blades slicing air, and we stood, quietly giddy, as long shadows swept across the shore. A friend who had been there for the inauguration of the wind farm said it well: Who knew something man-made could pair up so poetically with nature?

In the distance we could see that a few more wind turbines were being erected. Upon completion there should be 15 in all, supposedly generating electricity to meet 30% of the Ilocos region’s power requirement. A small step but it’s in the right direction, definitely. Three cheers for alternative energy sources.