Wines & Prologues

As a scaredy-cat and overly imaginative girlie who, more often than not, operates on vibes, I don’t really like the way old—like really old—houses feel. Renovated or not. But I do love learning about history and old houses like these are very tempting for me to visit.

I visited alone after taking myself on a date at the cafe just beside this house. I knew this as ‘Balay ni Azurin’ when I was litte and lived just a few minutes away with my mom and grandparents.

This ancestral house owned by the Azurin-Gella family was declared as a heritage house last 2020. It was renovated to its former glory and now serves as a glimpse of the influence the spanish era brought since Panay is the second oldest Spanish settlement after Cebu.

The way the floor boards sounded against my heels, I was like, what if I stopped walking but the walking sounds don’t stop? And if you only saw me dodge the mirrors inside the rooms—I’ll have the scream queen, Ms. Kris Aquino, to thank for that. No waaaay am I risking my life for a mirror selfie inside an old house. Never. I have asthma, so I’ll pass out hyperventilating if I end up bringing ‘something’ home.

To get here, assuming you’re already in San Jose, the capital town of Antique, you just ride a tricycle and mention “Balay nga Bato”. Most drivers know where this is as this is the only one in San Jose.

The person at the café beside it that I asked from said that’s it’s open to the public with no fees. I just have to write down my name and purpose on their ledger. But a friend said that you have to ask permission at the Tourism office, so I guess it depends on the purpose? Because I was allowed to look around by just writing my name.

Aside from the great sense of nostalgia–and a little bit of delusional fear of the unknown–the house was pretty bare. There were wooden chairs that reminded me of my great grandmother’s house, which I believe was also built during the spanish era with it’s wooden floorboards separating the first and second floors.

I’ve been to two heritage houses back when I visited Cebu so I expected this one to showcase… I don’t know, more?

What was it like when the Vital family owned the place? When the Japanese used this house as a hospital during the war? The struggles and the changes it withstood over time? It just makes me wonder.

Don’t get me wrong, I love that this house got renovated, but I guess it’s the little kid in me walking to school, always glancing at this house, wondering what it looked like inside but never really had the courage to ask. I guess, there’s just a part of me that wants to be transported back in time.

Although, if I have to say one common thing about the heritage houses I’ve visited so far, I would say, I hope they would have some sort of way to tell the story behind the house in general aside from reading off of the internet.

But yes, I wish to visit more heritage houses in the Philippines. This is the 3rd of many that I plan to visit .

That’s it for now, I guess? See you again soon, driftling!

Bye-bee!